Levy glanced around the crowded guild hall warily as she fumbled with the stack of books in her hands.

"Damn, this is too difficult!" she grumbled to herself.

Jet rushed over to help her out, his fluffy ginger hair bouncing on the top of his head like a cloud. "Let me help you, Ms. Levy!" he exclaimed as he plucked the stack of books out of her tiny hands. "You know, you really shouldn't be carrying all of those by yourself. No offense, but you're too small."

"Well, usually I don't have to because there's someone around to help me..." she was briefly distracted by memories of Gajeel rushing over to help whenever she tried to carry too much.

"Oh, come on, Shrimp, you know you shouldn't carry so much. You'll fall and break your skinny little neck." she could almost hear his voice saying. It made her heart ache.

"Oh, stop being a worrywart, Levy-chan. Natsu and Gray are out there looking for Gajeel again today. Who knows, maybe they'll find him this time!" Jet scolded, patting her head with one hand as he carried her books over to the nearest table and see them down. "Here you go, don't try and carry so much next time, eh!" he waved a friendly goodbye as he walked away.

Levy rolled her eyes and sat down, reaching for the nearest book. "I should stop thinking about it so much. I've got work to do." she mumbled.

"What are you reading there, Shrimp?" Gajeel's voice continued to haunt her.

"Nothing that concerns you," she'd reply, and he'd chuckle.

"That just makes me want to know even more, unless it's lame nerd stuff."

"And what if it is?"

"I'll sit here and watch you read it anyway."

Levy sighed and put on her magic reading glasses that allowed her to read at the speed of light. She needed to focus and stop thinking about Gajeel. Like Jet said, Natsu and Gray were out looking for him. Maybe they'd find him today, or at least find a clue as to where he is. She had to keep her chin up and just do her job, as if nothing was wrong.

She opened the book, and her reading glasses immediately went to work, allowing her to process the words on the page so fast that, to everyone else around her, she looked like she was just flipping through the book as fast as she could.

"Damn, those glasses sure are something." Gajeel's voice said, right by her ear.

Startled, she abruptly slammed the book shut and took off her glasses, her head shooting up. Her eyes darted over the surrounding area, searching for the source of that voice. But there was nothing. She received a few curious, worried stares from some guildmates who saw her little outburst, but other than that, nobody payed attention to her. And that unsettled her. This time, Gajeel's voice had sounded so real, so close that she'd been overcome by the sensation that he was standing right behind her, watching her read like he always did.

With a little groan of exasperation, she tried to find where she'd left off in the large book. It only took her a moment. But the voices found her before she could even start reading again.

"I wonder how you manage to read so much in a single sitting, even with those fancy glasses of yours. Don't you ever get tired of reading?" Gajeel's painfully familiar voice questioned.

"Nope, because these books have knowledge, and knowledge is treasure." she'd tell him, with a hint of annoyance in her voice. "So you think I'm reading, but in reality I'm going on a long, adventurous treasure hunt."

Gajeel would chuckle and reach out to rumple her messy blue hair. "Okay, Shrimp. Whatever you say."

"Fuck." Levy closed the book and set it down. She seriously couldn't focus. Maybe she should stop trying to read and just go on a job or something. She tried not to think about how Gajeel used to tell her off for cussing, even though he did it ten times as much as she did. "Focus, you idiot. Focus." she decided to put her books away and go for a walk. Maybe that would ease her troubled mind.

"Where are you going, Levy?" Mirajane asked, as Levy walked away from the pile of books she'd left on the table.

"Just out for a quick walk. I'll be back." Levy replied, tersely.

She hurried out the door without speaking to anyone else, ignoring those who asked where she was headed. She really didn't feel like talking to anyone at all. She just needed some space.

As soon as she burst outside, she realized it was raining. Dark clouds spread over all of Magnolia like a blanket. Ice cold droplets of rain splattered on the ground and on her pale skin. On any other day, she would've gone back inside to complain loudly about the weather. But today, she welcomed it, because it felt like the sky was crying with her.

She looked up into the rainy sky, feeling so lonely she might collapse.

"Why'd you leave me, Gajeel? Why'd you have to go and run away like that? Do you ever think about anyone other than yourself?" she wondered out loud.

Of course, there was no response. Not even a memory of Gajeel's voice.

She huffed and started walking, deciding to check her little mailbox that she left outside the guild for people to send letters and job requests specifically to her. It ensured that her nosy guildmates like Lisanna, Natsu and Bickslow wouldn't mess around with her mail like they did to everyone else. Surprisingly enough, she actually got a letter.

She reached into the little metal box to grab it and darted under the cover of a nearby tree so she could read it without the rain ruining it.

"Huh. I don't usually get mail, so this is... Odd." she said to herself, as she turned the envelope over to read the address on the back. She did a double-take and a little cry of surprise escaped her lips. "Gajeel?!"

Indeed, the name on the back of the envelope was plain as day: From: Gajeel Redfox. To: Levy (Shrimp). He had listed the guild address, but there was no return address. Obviously he didn't want anyone knowing where he was. Shocked into silence, Levy tore open the envelope and nearly dropped it in her haste to get the letter out. Not even bothering to put on her magic glasses, she began to read. The handwriting was shockingly familiar. A small smile graced her face. Gajeel was alive.

The letter read as follows:

Hey, Shrimp.

I'm really sorry I've been gone for so damn long. I know you're probably really upset with me. I know I should've sent word sooner just so you knew I was okay. But yeah, circumstances wouldn't allow that.

So, before we discuss where I've been, I'm fine. I'm alive and okay. And I miss you, but I can't come home just yet. I hope you'll forgive me some day for leaving you like that. I hope you know that I'm far from forgiving myself for doing that. All I've wanted this past month was to get back to you. But again, I can't.

You remember those books that were stolen from you? Well, I got them back. I chased those crooks for three days straight until they made the mistake of forgetting to cover their tracks. I killed two out of three. The last one got away, but not without injuries. I gathered up your books and started for home, but then I began to wonder why those outlaws wanted them in the first place. You'll laugh, but I actually read one of the books from front to back. And that's when I realized that I couldn't let anyone get their hands on these books.

By owning them, you put yourself in so much danger and I'm sorry, but I can't allow that. If protecting you means keeping you out of danger before it even happens, then that's what I'll do.

So right now, I'm all the way across the continent. I'm about to board a boat that will take me to the deepest corner of the ocean. I'm going to drop your books over the edge there. That way, they'll never be found and the unforgiving sea shall destroy them long before any sort of dark guild or person with ill intentions has a chance to get their hands on them. I'm sorry, but it has to be done. I'm mostly doing it for your sake, but I'm also doing it because these books absolutely must not end up in the wrong hands otherwise the world as we know it will end.

I'm gonna get rid of these books, and then I'm coming back for you. I promise. I swear on my life that I'll be back.

It'll be awhile before I make it back to Magnolia. But I'll come home.

Now, I should probably get going before I run out of space to write. Keep your chin up, and don't you ever forget that I love you and I'm here for you. I'll be back before you know it. Tell everyone else at Fairy Tail that I'm alive and well, and that they can stop searching for me because they'll never find me, what with how far away I managed to get.

I'll see you soon, okay?

Sincerely, Gajeel

Levy couldn't stop crying as she read the closing paragraph. She just couldn't believe that Gajeel was alive and well. A small part of her was angry with him for not writing to her sooner, but she understood why he did it. He needed to keep her safe. He was looking out for her.

She was pretty upset that he was just going to destroy those ancient texts of hers, but she knew it was necessary if he said it was. They did have some extremely powerful spells in them that seriously could destroy the world. She wasn't even sure why she decided to keep them. He was right, it was just attracting all the wrong kind of attention to her. Those books were better off at the bottom of the sea.

But all that mattered was the simple fact that her Gajeel was alive.

To be continued...

I'm thinking this is just gonna be a three-shot at this rate. Which means the next chapter might be the last. I'll consider adding some more that are just cute fluffy stuffs, but other than that, this story should be wrapped up pretty quickly. I'll admit I'm intentionally keeping this one short because I have a bunch of other things on my plate that I need to work on. For example, my friend and I are doing a collab that she's gonna post on her Wattpad. She came up with the plot, I'm writing it. So I have to do that for her, and then of course I have to work on my Tokudeku fic. I also want to start a Kirikami fic. So yeah I'm super busy lol.

Hope y'all enjoyed this chapter! Pls leave a review and tell me what you thought! See y'all later, byeeee!

-UltimatexAdmin