Author's Note: Fillerish, but a little bit longer and a little bit more Lucy and Natsu. I know I've kind of neglected them in favor of Levy and Gajeel, but they'll slowly start creeping back into the limelight of the story.

XXXVII: Wasn't There Before

Lucy was so relieved that Levy was okay, she started to cry when she caught sight of her. Natsu thought that she was being a bit dramatic, but he supposed that was just Lucy's nature. He was happy Levy was okay too, though she was soaking wet and looked like she'd rolled around in the mud.

That night she didn't stay up in the library. She got a shower and went right to bed. Lucy said that she looked better rested, despite her fright for the day. Natsu had to agree. Even he'd begun to grow concerned for Levy's health over the past couple days, as he watched the purple shadows under her eyes grow darker and her shoulders more slumped. It was as if some invisible opponent was slowly defeating her in battle. He wondered if that opponent was the curse, or if it was homesickness.

The storm carried on into the next day. Natsu had never liked the rain, and he found the constant din of raindrops on the metal roof annoying. It made a for a snappish Fire Dragonslayer.

When he went to get breakfast that morning, he was surprised to see that there were two new additions to the usual quartet made up of him, Lucy, Happy, and Pantherlily. Gajeel and Levy sat at the table, poking awkwardly at their plates while Lucy chatted animatedly with the latter. She was probably so excited to have her friend back that she didn't notice the tense atmosphere around the table.

Natsu plopped into his seat on her other side, shooting Happy a raised-eyebrow look. The blue cat shrugged and munched on some fish, his eyes darting nervously from Gajeel to Levy and back. Gajeel nudged at his plate. His eyes flickered up at Levy. Levy, as if feeling this gaze on her face, tore her self away from her one-sided conversation with Lucy and gave him a small smile. Pantherlily looked approving.

Natsu pursed his lips and glanced at Lucy, who was utterly oblivious of the entire exchange. What the hell's going on? he thought to himself, taking a large bite of pancake. Wasn't he usually the last one to pick up on these kinds of things? Or was he just imagining it?

As the day went on, he noticed other things. Pantherlily was in an exceedingly good mood, jovially ordering them to clean this and polish that, never burdening them with hard work. He heard Levy's voice when he passed the library, and peeked in to see her reading a book aloud to Gajeel, her previous work abandoned at the table. Later he caught them walking down the corridors, deep in conversation.

What was going on?

Lucy was the self-proclaimed expert on what she called 'social economics,' so Natsu decided to ask her. She laughed when he did. "It's obvious, Natsu," she giggled. "Levy-chan and Gajeel are falling in love."

"Huh?"

"You know. Love."

"I know what love means, Lucy," Natsu said, exasperated. "I'm saying 'huh?' because it doesn't seem like Levy and that guy would get along that well. He beat her up and he's keeping us all here against our will."

"Not really," Lucy said. "I think that if we wanted to leave, we probably could. There just isn't any reason to right now, because we'd be breaking a deal. Levy's forgiven Gajeel about before, anyway; he did save her life. Pantherlily's been trying to get them together for a while now. It's about time they got a move on."

"But why?"

"One, because if Gajeel falls in love and that girl loves him back, the curse will be broken. I don't think Pantherlily believes that there's another loophole, no matter how good Levy is. You saw how she was beating herself up over it," Lucy explained. "And two, they would make the most adorable couple ever!"

"But I thought you didn't like Gajeel?"

"I changed my mind," Lucy said, pursing her lips.

Natsu sighed. "You're such a weirdo, Lucy."

"I am not!"

Natsu watched Levy and Gajeel for the next few days, and now he was definitely sure that something was different. But they didn't look like any sort of couple to him. Whenever he saw two people in love, they were always holding hands and kissing and stuff. Levy and Gajeel didn't do any of that. When they went on walks there was no physical contact whatsoever.

"Well, they're not just going to do all that right away," Lucy said when Natsu asked again. "They might never do all that mushy stuff. They don't seem like that kind of couple to me."

Levy and Gajeel didn't do much but walk around the castle or hole themselves up in the library. Levy would alternate between working on the curse and reading the novel that Gajeel was now completely invested in. When the Iron Dragonslayer wasn't with the blue bookworm, he was out in the courtyard garden staring at the red rose. Natsu wondered what was up with that flower, but he knew Lucy wouldn't know the answer to that particular question, so he didn't ask.

Sometimes Levy helped them with their repairs on the castle. It was almost done, and Natsu had to admit he was pretty proud of the work. He was an expert at destroying things, so when he actually helped make something whole again it was kind of a big deal for him. Lucy smiled and laughed at his enthusiasm, agreeing with his testament.

One day, Pantherlily finally announced that the castle was all fixed up. "There aren't any other repairs to be made. Good job, everybody."

Natsu felt a swelling sense of relief and pride. Levy said that she thought the castle was beautiful. Gajeel crossly muttered something about "If Metallicana were here..." Natsu knew how he felt, in a way. Dragons had a tendency of hoarding, and this clear, open space in the cavernous iron stronghold was probably in direct contrast of the piles of riches that the Iron Dragon had kept to fill the emptiness. There was a finality about the repairs that said that maybe, just maybe, they would stay like that forever.

Natsu hoped not. For his sake and Gajeel's.

But Levy was transfixed by the remarkable improvement the repairs on the castle made, and Gajeel forgot all about Metallicana's would-be opinion of the place.

"It needs a name," Lucy said, looking around.

"Why even bother?" Gajeel snorted. "It's not like I get a lot of visitors."

"No, but every castle needs a name."

Levy pondered it for a second. "I think we should name it...Iron Rose."

"Why that?" Pantherlily inquired.

"Yeah, it's freakin' girly."

"Because it's made of iron, obviously, and it's beautiful, like a rose. Also, there's that rosebush in the courtyard. I think it would be appropriate, don't you?"

No one, not even Gajeel, could argue with her logic after that. And so, the Beast's iron stronghold was officially dubbed Iron Rose Castle.

They had dinner together again that night. Things were a lot more relaxed now that the others had adapted to Gajeel and Levy's presence; and it wasn't just because of the influence of alcohol. Natsu was pretty sure that Gajeel had broken out a guitar and was singing by the time the meal was over, but he wasn't entirely sure. He might've been dancing with Happy and then a mop, but that could've been a figment of his imagination too.

Eventually, through the combined efforts of Lucy and Happy, he managed to separate with the mop and stumble upstairs to his room. Apparently it wasn't, though, because the next morning he would wake up next to Lucy, not knowing how on earth he'd ended up in her bed.