Gajeel's POV

I tugged on my heavy boots, which were now much too big for me because I had lady feet. Of course, my lady feet only made me angrier than I already was. I growled as I wiggled my toes inside of my boots, unhappy with the empty space inside. It was a reminder of the annoying spell that had been cast on me.

I felt a gentle hand on my shoulder and looked up. Levy stood over me, smiling, "Don't let it get to you. I'll fix all of this soon enough."

"You don't even know if it was this Sonoma girl who cast the spell," I growled. I felt my anger slip away from me. Somehow Levy had that effect on me.

"It doesn't matter if she is or isn't, we'll figure this all out soon enough," she said, sitting beside me. It bothered me that she towered over me. I found myself sitting up straighter.

I sighed and closed my eyes, nodding slightly, "Alright. I guess I trust you."

She laughed a little, "You guess?"

"I guess." I opened my eyes and looked at her. I felt something stir deep down when she stared back at me, though I wasn't sure what it was.

"Just in case this person is dangerous, I want you to stay close to me, alright?" I said.

She sighed, "She's not going to be dangerous."

"I don't care. I want you close to me." I realized that what I'd just said sounded differently than I'd meant it to...how did I mean for it to sound?

She stared at me, a little shocked. A slight hint of pink crossed her cheeks and she hid her eyes behind her hair. "Ok. I'll stay with you," she said, "And…you should stay with me…"

I smiled. That was exactly the answer I wanted, "Of course." She leaned towards me and smiled. I found myself leaning towards her, my muscles moving on their own.

"Guys! You ready to go? Natsu says he picked up the scent," Gray said, barging in.

"Great timing, Gray," I growled. He grinned a little and then slowly backed up, easing the door shut behind him. Levy cleared her throat and got to her feet. She smiled at me, "We should go."

"Yeah…we should," I said, standing beside her. We headed for the door.


Levy's POV

Did that really just happen? Did I imagine that? My mind was reeling as we followed behind Natsu. Gajeel's footsteps were right behind mine, his big boots thunking against the cobblestones. I listened closely, taking in every sound he made. Occasionally he would sigh deeply, most likely out of boredom. Since I was listening to him so closely, I was able to react quickly when he tripped. I caught him and he clung to my shirt. He growled, "Stupid boots."

I laughed and helped him return to his vertical position, "Shouldn't you just…not wear them?"

He looked horrified, "Not wear them? That would be admitting defeat!" He stalked off and I jogged to catch up to him again. It only took me a few strides because his legs were so much shorter than mine were.

We walked side by side, occasionally our arms bumped and a tingling sensation shot through my body, causing my face to heat up. I'd look at the ground so that no one would notice. I was sure that if Lucy noticed, she'd ask me about it. I did my best to hide it, but it was nearly impossible. I'd known from the start why I'd ended up in the infirmary with everyone…who it was that I was in love with. Unfortunately, I was walking right beside him and he seemed unfazed.

I kept replaying the moment in the infirmary over and over again in my head. What would have happened if Gray hadn't walked in? Would I have kissed him? Would he have kissed me? Had Gajeel seemed frustrated when we'd been stopped? My mind was buzzing when I smacked into the person walking in front of me, which so happened to be Erza. She grabbed my wrist and gestured in front of them. Natsu had paused. It felt like we hadn't been walking long, but I guess we had been. Maybe my mind, being so preoccupied, had made the minutes pass more quickly than they actually had.

"I think she's in here," Natsu said, straightening. He made sure to stand close to Lucy to comfort her.

"Alright, let's go in," Jellal said, leading the way.


Jellal's POV

I pushed the door open and took in my surroundings. I was inside what seemed to be a café of sorts. Small tables were set up in the center of the room and booths lined the walls. Large windows looked out over the street where we'd just been walking.

"Hi, can I help you?" asked a waitress, bounding up to us. I stared at her and then turned to Lucy, "Is she in here?"

"Don't be rude," Erza scolded. She walked up to the waitress and said, "Has a girl called Sonoma come in here recently?"

"Yeah, I think Sonoma was her name. I just brought her the check. She saw you and then asked for her check. She went out the back way," said the waitress, pointing to the door at the very back of the café. I scowled and turned to Lucy and Natsu, "Good work, you two. Looks like we've found the culprit."

"She's not a culprit…that makes her sound like she stole something," Lucy protested as we headed for the back door.

"She did steal something…my dignity," I grumbled as I swung the door open. I stepped out into the alleyway.

"Which way?" I asked, looking to my left and right.

"Left," Natsu said, sniffing the air. I nodded and crouched into position. My magic swirled around me and I took off. My meteor magic was useful when I was chasing people. You'd be surprised how often I have to chase people.

I soared into the air and scanned the alleys behind the buildings for the girl. Of course, there were a lot of people. There was one, however, that was running as if her life depended on it.

"There," said a voice. I whirled around and saw Erza, having requipped so that she could come with me. I smiled to myself and nodded. We both dove, closing in on the girl in seconds. She yelped as I snatched her out of the sky. She struggled, "Put me down! I didn't do anything!"

"Only guilty people say that," I said, "And I'd stop struggling if I were you…I mean, unless you want to die."

She looked down to her toes, which were dangling high above ground. She yelped and grabbed at me, clutching my shirt tightly.

"Put me down! Oh, God! Put me down!" she screeched.

"Calm down, if he drops you, I'll catch you. We're not going to hurt you, we just need your help," Erza said, lowering herself so that she could see Sonoma better.

"Why would I help members of Fairy Tail?" she hissed. I growled and dropped her the last few feet as I landed in the alley again. The golden glow that surrounds me when I use meteor magic faded. Sonoma was shaking and curled up into a ball, "Was that really necessary?"

"No, but I don't take kindly to being turned into a woman," I said, crossing my arms.

"Are you alright?" Lucy asked, kneeling beside Sonoma.

"I'm fine," she said, sitting up and leaning against the wall of the café.

"Were you the one that cast this spell on us?" Natsu asked. His voice was gentle, which annoyed me. I know I was being a little harsh—maybe if she hadn't made a run for it I wouldn't be so angry—but I didn't really care. Erza elbowed me and I grunted. I nodded, signaling that I understood why she was annoyed with me.

Sonoma sighed, "How did you figure out it was me?"

"I—" Lucy began, but Natsu cut her off. "I followed your smell," he said. Sonoma narrowed her eyes, but didn't say anything.

"We need you to tell us the words you used for the spell…so we can undo it," Gajeel said.

"Yeah, ok," Sonoma said, reaching for her pocket.

"You're being unusually cooperative," Juvia said.

"Well, it's not like I have much of a choice. Besides, judging by the fact that I was just flying up in the air, the spell didn't work…"

"What does that mean?" I asked.

"It was supposed to take away the entire Fairy Tail guild's magic…"

"Well, instead it changed our genders," Gray grumbled.

"Yeah, I can see that," she said, pulling a crumpled piece of paper out of her pocket. She handed it to Levy. "Those are the words…just take them," she said. She stuck out her wrists. We all stared at her.

"What are you doing?" Natsu asked, leaning forward.

"You're going to arrest me right. Come on, cuff me," she said, completely serious.

"We're not going to arrest you!" Lucy said, "But can I ask you something?"

"Obviously," Sonoma said.

"Why did you do it?" Lucy asked, kneeling beside Sonoma. She didn't look angry or annoyed…just curious.

"I've seen the destruction that Fairy Tail can cause…I guess I just wanted it to stop," she said, letting her head slouch.

Lucy laughed and Sonoma's head snapped up in surprise, "That makes sense. I can't blame you."

"What?" Sonoma said, shock clearly showing on her face.

"We destroy a lot. I always figured that someone would take action against that," Erza said.

"Yeah, well I didn't destroy anything," I said, "Actually, I'm not even part of this guild."

Erza draped her arm over my shoulder and I scowled, "Cheer up, Jellal. We'll be back to normal soon."

I took in a deep breath, held it, and then let it out slowly, "You're right. Sorry."

"Apparently I messed up in more ways than one," Sonoma grumbled, "It wasn't supposed to affect anyone outside of the guild."

"It's most likely because he's an ex-Fairy Tail member," Levy pointed out, examining the piece of paper. Natsu stepped forward and offered Sonoma a hand. She stared at it for a few seconds before taking it. She nodded respectfully as she got to her feet, "I'm not sorry."

"We know," Lucy said, smiling, "We'll let you go, but don't do it again."

She scowled, "I guess it was pretty stupid…I just didn't want anything else to be destroyed."

Lucy hugged Sonoma and her eyes went wide in shock, "I turned you into a man and you still want to hug me?!"
"Yep!" Lucy said. She squeezed Sonoma tightly and then let go. Sonoma stared after us as we walked away. Lucy was smiling as we left the alley. I found myself smiling, too.

Erza nudged me and I nudged her back. We didn't have to say anything to understand what the other was thinking, so we didn't. We were quiet as we walked back to the guild, though the others were talking nonstop. Erza and I just walked in silence, occasionally glancing at each other. I smiled. It was strangely nice being back at the guild. I began to wonder why I'd left in the first place. I'd said it was for training, but that was a lie. I was just tired…tired of everything. Maybe, just maybe, it hadn't been the right choice. Looking at Erza, catching her looking at me, I was almost certain that I'd missed it. I'd missed her.


A/N: Announcement! There will be two more chapters after this one. The next two chapters will be full of romantic goodness, so look forward to it. Don't forget to leave a review! :)

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For some reason I was nervous. I'm not sure why. I guess I wondered to myself whether everything that happened while we were under the spell was just that: a spell. I found myself wishing that the spell wouldn't wear off so that we could stay like this. I didn't want it to all fade into distant memory, just like a dream.

"Luce," he said. I looked at him and he smiled. He reached out and took my hand. That's when I knew it wouldn't fade away. It wasn't a dream. It wasn't just a spell.