It's my spring break, so here's a chapter! Also, re-read chapter 2 peeps, it's been revised. Currently revising chapter 3 as well, so take a look for that.

Gajeel scratched his head and with his saddle over his back, head towards the meeting point at a relaxed pace. He had agreed to meet Levi there at 8 in the morning, and then they would head out to the harbor where the day's exams would await them. It was a big day for her, and what a week it had been!

Gajeel stretched his muscles, as had been a habit of his over the past week every morning. Wake up early, get ready, head out, stretch, and then meet Levi at the spot. This way he was stretched by when he got there, and they could start their agenda for that day. This reminded him of their routines in general, and just how much training they did. In truth, she struggled. During her breaks or after she went to sleep, he would train himself to get stronger. He didn't like excluding her like that for the fun, but ultimately, Gajeel's style was simply better suited to having some alone time. He had also gotten his condition up, and was temporarily at a high in his power. Even if he would be exhausted the next day, it would be fine. After all, this was the day he had promised Levi in order to help her get to S class.

This was the day he felt he owed her, and this was the day she had worked hard for as well. And he was also incredibly excited. Part of her doing her best meant him doing it too. A rematch with Salamander… a chance to take out the woman who beat Aria… Gajeel was waiting anxiously to test his strength. He hadn't been able to measure his power growth, and he was looking forward to it.

Gihihi, when it comes to fighting, no one's more eager than me!

Gajeel was grinning to himself, when he heard a familiar cat call up to him.

"Gajeel, don't forget to look after Levi. I did it over this past week, but I'm not coming this time, so you better be on your alert."

"Tch! Yeah, yeah. Didn't I say? I'd beat up anyone in her way. She'll be fine. And we're gonna crush everyone there!"

As Gajeel laughed to himself, Lily shook his head. Is he just going to keep calling it a contest to crush people? If he goes in thinking like that, he might waste this chance.

"Hey! Lily, Gajeel!"

The two looked up, and saw a small but energetic girl waving at them.

"Hey guys, what are you standing around for? We need to get going!"

Levi was smiling brightly, and with the dawn sun behind her, she looked radiant. Gajeel nodded approvingly; she had evidently slept well enough, and looked ready.

"I'm surprised you didn't shiver all the way here, shorty!"

"Shut up!" Levi pouted. "I'm perfectly fine." Levi didn't want to admit that Gajeel's image of an ocean spinning and spinning was what helped her calm her mind.

"Now, now, you two. Let's get focused for a second." Lily piped up.

"Sure, sure. Okay, listen up!" Gajeel took charge. "Look at this place again. Where we've been training. Think about all the times you ran, sweated, got hurt, dodged Lily or made strategies."

Levi nodded.

"No, actually THINK about it. Remember it, re-experience it."

Levi looked confused, but closed her eyes and did so. Within seconds, she was frowning and looked very upset.

"Okay, that's enough. How did that feel?"

"Terrible! You're a demon!"

"Now," Gajeel said, ignoring her, "how much worse would it be if you didn't take the fullest advantage of all of that?"

Here Levi paused to consider.

"It would suck. It would be the worst. And… I don't want it to happen!"

Gajeel nodded.

"Good. That's enough then. We're heading out. Let's go."

"Yup!"

Levi then reached out to Lily, and held him up as they walked.

"N-now Levi, I can move on my own."

"Hehe." Levi found over the past week that Lily was not only a very polite, kind and respectful cat, but also quite cute. She would carefully erase images of his true form out of her head when need be.

"Tch. Boy, do you look stupid Lily."

"Haha… well, I wouldn't say this is all that bad."

Lily grinned at Gajeel, with a somewhat subtly mocking look. Gajeel scowled.

That again. This cat…

Every time. Every single time Lily got either hugged, held, patted or even touched by Levi, Gajeel would see that look coming his way. That annoying, useless, pointless look.

Yeah, I get it, a girl is holding you. The hell does that have to do with me!

But man, Gajeel's fists did clench a bit seeing Lily sitting there, all comfortable like.

"I wonder how Lu-chan and the others are doing." Levi was blissfully unaware of the tension building around her.

"Let's hope they aren't doing as good as us."

"Yeah, yeah. Don't worry; for this I won't go easy on them."

The walk continued a little while, and the two of them took deep breaths preparing themselves.

Gajeel looked at Levi, and felt a small surge of excitement at the day. Feeling a little odd at that sensation, he mentally shook his head, and assured himself it was due to the soon to come pleasure of fighting strong enemies.

He turned to her face once again, and saw a bright smile. He then looked a little lower, with the corner of his eye, and noticed how her skirt wrapped around her waist so snuggly.

His eyes widened.

What- what the hell is that?

He looked away. But, his curiosity was burning. He looked again, this time lower and saw how much of her legs were revealed under the flowing rim of her skirt.

NO!

He shook his head physically this time.

Levi noticed, and gave him a confused look.

"Gajeel?" Levi's words were met with a grumble.

Lily noticed the response.

Wonder what's biting him. Hope he doesn't go into this acting like a jerk on purpose.

But Gajeel was only thinking "jerkish" thoughts. He tried to become all mean and ruthless inside his head to erase the images of Levi's lower half from his brain. It was something he had done back when he was younger to toughen up, and a habit he kept for rare situations.

Levi, albeit confused, shrugged it off. Gajeel wasn't fully understood to her just yet, and she figured he had his own way of looking at things and dealing with things. But he didn't look too bothered, so she let it go.

And indeed, he wasn't. Soon he was thinking about the day ahead, and together Gajeel and Levi headed off, ready for the challenge.

On the boat was a sort of tense atmosphere. The guild mates were all friends, and wanted to be warm to each other… but they could not shake the fact that in no time at all, they would be fighting against each other. The people of Fairy Tail always fought. It was how they became closer to each other, and grew. It's thanks to this mentality that Luxus' sudden coup which forced the guild members to attack each other did nothing.

However, a challenge in which the goal was not only to fight, but to win- that was different. Every single group wanted victory, and every single group had a strong desire to reach that level. As such, the guild members were at some unease, looking at each as enemies.

However, the guild could not hold such an environment for long.

"Blugh… I'm gonna… blugh!" Natsu dredged along the deck, suffering from his sickness.

Lucy complained greatly of the heat, not missing the chance to show off her body. Gray took a step further, stripping entirely.

Frikking idiots.

Gajeel shook his head at the idiotic environment; already the guild had turned the mighty challenge of their futures into a fun game. People were laughing, poking fun at each other, and unusually relaxed with all things considered. The master was in his own room somewhere, and the rest of the guild had to spend the time together until he made his appearance.

Despite Gajeel's scorn for the casual environment, he couldn't help but notice how Levi looked so much more relaxed in it. He couldn't sense the same tension from her anymore.

Gajeel signed inwardly, supposing that perhaps this really was the best for her, and making enemies out of her friends would be too much to manage. Maybe looking at this as a friendly competition would be best.

"It's gonna start soon, isn't it…" Gajeel turned around to see Levi looking up at him.

"How do ya know?"

"From how long we've been at sea, and from how fast we've been going, I have a feeling we'll see the Island soon."

"Ha, is that right? Good! Be excited."

Levi smiled weakly, but then wandered off. Gajeel supposed some butterflies just couldn't go away that easily.

Gajeel himself felt a little odd. In a sense, this was a great challenge for him. Getting to fight and crush his enemies and rivals. But, every time he looked at Levi, he began to think about her winning or losing. He really didn't like how he felt a sense of nerves in that regard; not about how he would do, but about whether he could make her succeed or not. After all, he said so confidently he would make her S – Class.

Gajeel normally had no issues with confidence. But his confidence once got his guild destroyed. And another time, when he supposed he could fight Luxus alone, it was Ivan's advice which forced the idea in his head that he would need to work together with The Salamander. Being confident then would seriously have killed him.

So, today Gajeel felt a little less sure about his confidence. If he thought that he had to make Levi win, he couldn't help but worry about how he had no choice of failure in the matter. This idea of being depended on so heavily – and so personally – was not pleasant.

I'm here to fight. I'M HERE TO FIGHT.

Gajeel found himself easing up suddenly. Fighting… pure, raw fighting. It felt so much better to just limit his mind to that. No stress, no trouble, just fighting. Sure, he would do it for Levi's sake, but essentially, it was just a fight!

"Gajeel, you're really sweating!"

Gajeel turned around to once again see Levi looking up at him. Gajeel hadn't realized it, but he was starting to get a headache, and beginning to sweat.

"Would you take something off? You're gonna get a heat stroke! Look at Gray, he's preserving himself."

"That stripper is just being a damn pervert. And did I say I was in trouble? I'm fine."

Gajeel moved away and sat at a free table.

"But Gajeel!" Levi was about to whine, when suddenly she stopped.

Gajeel became curious, and looked over. He saw Lucy beckoning Levi over, and making a gesture to imply Levi should pull in her ear.

Lucy whispered something which made Levi blush despite the heat, and Levi shook her head and moved away. Then Levi turned to see Gajeel.

Their eyes met, and Levi seemed to gulp and shook her head even worse, scurrying away. She looked quite ashamed of herself.

While many would be curious about what had happened, Gajeel heard it with his own special ears.

"Levi-chan, if you want to see him shirtless, be more smooth about it!"

Gajeel scoffed at the bunny girl's stupid comment. An idiot could tell Levi was just not the type to think like that.

Although, seeing how embarrassed she was meant that she was not immune to those ideas. Gajeel found himself grinning slightly at her reaction. But somehow, this reminded him of his earlier thoughts, and the strange feelings he had in that regard. Gajeel decided it would be important to focus his thoughts only on the fighting, yet again.

Time passed, and finally Makarov made his appearance.

Gajeel watched patiently as he explained the first exam, and grinned upon seeing the layout.

Fighting. Good, pure fighting. Great!

"In the 'battle' routes, two teams will meet up and fight, with the victor passing. In the 'hard battle', you will have to defeat the S – Class mage to pass! With 'quiet', you can just proceed without fighting."

Gajeel raised an eyebrow at the haphazard presentation of this test.

Levi's eyes widened. "But then… something like this…"

"Your goals in the first exam are power and luck!"

Despite the exclamation of some of the guild members, Gajeel laughed. What a crazy idea. Still, fighting with everything on the lines in such a risky manner appealed to him.

"But then, worst case, only three teams will pass…"

Gajeel saw Levi's uncertainty. Grinning, he put his elbow on her head, and looked forward.

"Cool!"

Levi looked up, and Gajeel was glad to see his confidence somewhat eased her. However, she also looked slightly annoyed. What happened?

Whatever it was, both of them suddenly paid attention to Makarov's finishing words.

"EXAM START!"

Gajeel was taken by his excitement. How ideal… such a rash and crazy exam was just what he wanted.

"Let's go, happy!"

The Salamander flew out with his cat, but crashed into an invisible wall.

Gajeel hissed; those damn runes! Wait… wait a minute!

"Wait, Levi's here!" Gajeel heard someone exclaim this, and was happy to see her bringing out her pen and instantly studying the runes.

Whether he realized it or not, Freed had done Levi a great favor. Giving a challenge only she could overcome, and letting his taste the benefits of her own ability were ideal.

In a few seconds, Levi undid the runes.

"There, it's done!"

Gajeel watched the others looking on in awe. He felt a surge of pride inside him.

Levi then turned to Gajeel, and winked. Gajeel's eyes widened as he realized the meaning of the gesture, and he grinned. They both dived into the water, and Levi's words confirmed his understanding.

"But only for me and Gajeel!"

"Gihihi!"

Perfect! Not only did Levi follow Gajeel's ideas of helping herself before teammates, but she had a chance to show what she could do to everyone. Also, Gajeel found himself feeling a bit of comfort. To understand Levi's ideas from such a simple expression was something he did not expect… most likely a symbol of how closer they had gotten.

But Gajeel didn't want to think about how they got closer, or anything like that. The ideas were just piling on and on inside him, and he didn't know how to deal with these delicate feelings which felt like they were doing him more bad than good, with worrying or confusing him.

So, rather than allowing his ideas about the bookworm to confuse him any further, he just swam. He swam hard, and pushed with force against the water, allowing the waves to cleanse his thoughts and cool his body.

"Gajeel, wait!"

But Gajeel did not want to wait. He just kept going. He finally reached the shore, and found himself panting as he reached. He went fast, and was now tired. In the distance, he could see Evergreen reaching another part of the land. As he peered and looked even further, he saw the barrier had just been removed, and many moving mages were about. He also saw Levi in the water, struggling to move forward. She was not a bad swimmer, but he had really left her behind. As she neared the shore, he held out a hand for her to grab.

She did so, but had a scowl on her face as he pulled her up, and began panting heavily while trying to speak.

"Why… did… you do…" She paused, and stabilized her breath more. "That was mean, you… just left… me there, you know!"

"I wanted to go ahead and stop that antenna head from dropping any runes." Gajeel lied openly. He did not want to think about the previous ideas he had.

Levi frowned, finding his response a little odd.

"Still, you can't expect to keep up with you like that."

Gajeel looked away. "Yeah, I got it. My mistake. Come on, let's go."

The two walked forward, and did not have to travel far to see the paths. They saw that the "B" path had been taken.

"Hmm! The antenna head team should be there. Maybe the one next to it will have the fight option with them. You could take on his runes, and his partner ain't tough… they'd be a good match."

"Well, we don't know for sure if they are gonna be there or not though. It was meant to be a maze, so we probably won't see them, you know," Levi reasoned.

"Yeah, yeah, fine. Let's leave this to luck, then." Gajeel stepped forward. "You coming?"

"Umm, yeah… I am."

Gajeel frowned, upset with the atmosphere between them. If they entered a fight like this, who knows what would happen? He sighed, and went up to her.

"Look."

Levi raised her head slightly, but then lowered it again. Gajeel could tell the fear was gripping her.

"Look."

But Levi still did not look up. She told herself she was upset at him, but really, she was once again a little jittery. What if she came up against Gildartz? What if she messed up, and forgot her seals at a crucial a moment? Each battle was a matter of victory, some of them even of survival. But to know that such an important battle was just steps away…

But once again, as he had done so many times, Gajeel cut off all of Levi's thoughts, and focused her attention fully on him.

He placed his hand under her chin, and tilted her head up to him.

"Listen already! You're ready for this. You practiced, you trained and you're in top condition. I'm here too, and I'll make sure ya do it. Ain't gonna be any problems. Okay?"

Levi looked up, and saw his unnerving, unyielding look. More of a stare than a gaze, more stern than gentle. Levi almost laughed at how even when trying to comfort her he could look so intimidating. And she did remember her practice. But rather than thinking of the exercises or the strain or the studying, she only saw him.

She saw him entering his room, she saw him helping her go to sleep, she saw herself getting her hair ruffled or getting lifted up on his shoulders, and she saw his face during his moments of laughter.

And then she felt ready.

She smiled up at him, and he removed his hand. They walked forward to the entrance, and moved through their path. At first, a dark tunnel greeted them, and they could barely see anything.

And then, they saw a sign pop out of the ground, and they both put their guard up.

"Congratulations, luck is on your side! This is the quiet path. Go ahead until the light, and wait for your fellow companions!"

They both quietly stared at the stupid pop up figure of Master Makarov grinning with a victory sign in his hands. They looked at each other, then the path again.

Levi reacted first.

She gasped, stumbled, and then laughed. Then she giggled and became giddy, and felt like things were looking up. What uncanny luck!

Gajeel saw all this, and suddenly felt a trickle of frustration which quickly multiplied.

"God… GOD…. GODDAMMIT! What the HELL is this shit! Are you serious! Eight paths, and we get the only one without any FIGHTING!"

Gajeel did not like it. He didn't like the lack of violence, he didn't like that his speech was wasted so stupidly. And he didn't like the small relief he felt at watching Levi look so thrilled at their fortune. He was pissed.

Levi was a bit surprised, but did not care, as this was the best possible outcome. She would reach the rest of the exam, knowing that maybe luck really was on her side.

However, Levi would soon find out two things. First, that luck really wasn't supporting her much after all. And second, that despite going on the 'quiet path', her companion's complaining would make the walk anything but quiet.

And the plot is about to thicken! With those introspective monologue, hopefully Gajeel's words will make more sense. If he is having thoughts like these, maybe the way he is acting in the actual chapters around this area will click more.