Mira sighed as she leaned back in her chair, stretching softly. The morning had been slow, with only a few patrons signing in. Hopefully, the rest of the day would be nice and peaceful. Of course, she was wrong.
The door slammed open and Mira sat up, ready to welcome whoever had entered. However, to her surprise, it was Levy, tears running down her face as she ran in.
"Levy ,darling," Mira gasped, quickly standing up," what's wrong?"
"Where's Gajeel?" Levy exclaimed, ignoring the question completely.
"He's not signed in yet," Mira said slowly, before frowning as Levy burst into tears again," Levy, what's wrong?"
"He-He's gone!" she sobbed, sinking to the floor. Mira immediately hopped over the desk, dropping down next to the girl.
"What do you mean?" she asked, her tone serious.
"I-I woke up to this," Levy stammered, shakily pulling a bit of folded up paper out of her pocket. Mira grabbed it and quickly scanned over it, before looking up, a dark aura around her.
"What?!"
Levy continued to cry, oblivious to her surroundings.
...
At the same time, Natsu heard the commotion and glanced out the break room, where most of the staff were hanging out. He saw Levy in tears and headed back in.
"Ummm… Levy's crying," he said awkwardly to the room. He wasn't great with crying, but assumed he should let them know. His girlfriend would probably be able to help.
"What?" Lucy gasped, before rushing out the room. She was followed by everyone else, who ran to the lobby.
"What's going on?" Gray yelled, as they crowded an inconsolable Levy and Mira.
"Gajeel happened," Mira seethed, handing him the note. Gray quickly scanned it before growling in anger.
"What the fuck?!" he yelled. Everyone began to yell, now curious as to what the letter entailed. As it was passed around, noises of anger and confusion erupted, masking Levy's sobs. As Juvia read the note, she was quiet however. She pushed her way through the crowd, before dropping to the ground next to Levy. She then turned to everyone.
"Juvia needs everyone to shut up," she yelled, causing everyone to quiet down. She then turned back to Levy.
"Levy, I need you to think. Okay?" Juvia said softly. Levy looked confused, but nodded, sniffling.
"Juvia knows Gajeel wouldn't do this," Juvia said, causing everyone to begin yelling at her. However, one icy look from her silenced them again.
"But… the note," Levy said softly, crying.
"Gajeel wouldn't leave a note," she said, shaking her head," He'd tell you. He's not a coward. So you need to think."
"About what?" Levy exclaimed.
"Gajeel has plenty of enemies still," Juvia continued, causing everyone to frown.
"Juvia, my dear, I believe the time has come to tell everyone about you and Gajeel's past," a voice said. The group parted to reveal Makarov.
"You're right," she sighed, before explaining to the group. Everyone seemed shocked that sweet Juvia was an ex-criminal, except for Gray, who Juvia had sworn to secrecy earlier in their relationship.
"But what does that have to do with the letter and Gajeel's disappearance?" Wendy asked, quietly, worried for her friend.
"Look at the letter, Levy," Juvia insisted, handing it to her.
Levy looked at the letter, wiping the tears from her eyes. She looked at each letter, each pen stroke. It took a few minutes, but then she saw it.
It was so obvious that she wanted to slap herself.
The capital letters.
The perfect spelling.
The punctuation.
Gajeel was improving, but he always made mistakes.
This wasn't Gajeel.