Chapter 4

Gajeel owned an old farm house not far out of town that he had fixed up soon after joining the guild. He and Lily had had to fix it up again after the seven years they were gone, and the place showed the work put into it. Levy couldn't help but smile at the thought that Gajeel lived on the opposite side of town as Natsu.

The pair planned to return to the Guild a little later in the evening after stopping at Fairy Hills for Levy to get a clean set of clothes and a scarf to cover the new marks on her neck. She didn't really care who saw, getting them felt amazing and she they tied her to Gajeel, but then he mentioned Erza and she hastily agreed to the cover.

When they had first started walking to her place Levy had slowly brought her hand towards Gajeel's wondering if a little hand holding would be allowed. Gajeel, who saw the movement from the corner of his eye grabbed her hand without hesitation and gave her a reassuring smile. He used his shadow magic to slip them into her apartment through the window, and when they were back in the street their hands intertwined once again.

That was how they walked into the guild, which caught everyone's attention. Ignoring the whispers and smiles of their guild mates Gajeel started to lead Levy to his table, only to have the small bluenette pull him to a stop.

"Wait, I was just thinking about that code. I know it's your job, but would it be okay if I ask Freed to take a look? He might have some ideas I haven't thought of yet."

"The council will compensate anyone who I say helped. I don't see any problem asking him."

"Great can you go talk to him while I get the stuff from the Library?"

"Sure, just don't take too long or I'll have to come find you again." His quit response caused Levy's face to redden as she quickly left his side.

He turned and headed up for the second floor where he knew Laxus and his group hung out when they weren't on a job. Even though the second floor was open to all the guild members it was never heavily occupied.

"Hey Gajeel, You finally hook up with little blue!?" Bickslows loud yell greeted him as he neared their table.

"Hey Bickslow" Choosing to ignore the question didn't stop the tongue waggling cackle sent in his direction.

"What do you want?" Laxus attitude was generally shit, but at least he got strait to the point.

"Need Justine's help cracking a code." He quickly explained the job, finishing as Levy walked over to the table next to them putting down a stack of books she could barely see over.

"What do you have so far Miss Levy?" Freed moved to join Levy at the other table letting Gajeel take his seat. They quickly flowed into a conversation that no one else in the guild could follow.

Gajeel felt a sudden stab of jealousy. He had always thought that Levy and Freed would be good together simply because they could keep up with each other's racing minds. Just as his mood started to sour an image from earlier that day came to his mind of Levy sitting on his counter telling him how she felt. Levy had chosen him and not Freed Justine; he turned away from the geniuses with a smirk back on his face.

"The Thunder Legion takes jobs farther out then most of the guild. Any of you hear about these Zeref worshipers?" He leaned over the railing catching Mira's attention as he finished the question, motioning for a beer.

"Don't those groups usually summon demons hoping the negative energy will bring Zeref to them?" Evergreen was the last person he expected to comment, and his face must have shown it. "What? I pay attention."

"That's usually the case. From the report they are looking for a hammer, if it has the power to summon a demon that might be why they're looking for it."

"The only item I've heard of having that kind of power was that lullaby thing, and I'm sure cheerleader said you could feel the evil coming off it. If this hammer is like that then I wouldn't think they would just grab random people with hammers. Oh Mira did you bring refills for all of us? You're a woman after my own heart you know." Bickslow's comment with hanging tongue earned him an evil Mira glare as she sat down the new beers and took away the empty mugs.

"She's going to kill you someday Bicks." Laxus stated with a chuckle.

"Only in my dreams, and she's in her Satan Soul: Halphas but she's also naked."

Gajeel choked on his beer as he watched Evergreen hit Bickslow in the face with her fan calling him a disgusting pervert. His coughing fit stopped with Laxus thumping him on the back almost sending him face first into the table. He was about to comment on the blonds strength when a groan and a thud from the other table caught his attention.

The thud had been Levy's head hitting the table. "Are you kidding me? I can't believe I missed that!"

"Don't worry Miss Levy sometimes all it takes is a fresh pair of eyes." Freed reassured her with a quick pat on the shoulder. "Would you like me to help you finish it? We can split the page in half."

"Thank you that would be great."

Gajeel decided not to ask just yet how they figured it out as the two started quickly writing on multiple papers. Knowing how complex the code was and what type of cipher was used could give some clues as to where the creator was from.

About an hour later Freed and Levy set down their pens. When they stood up with the papers to move to the table with the others Levy looked for a chair to pull over only to have Gajeel loop an arm around her waist and drop her into his lap. Levy tried to push down the blush that flared at the sudden public display, but failed miserably.

"Well that answers the scarf question; which for someone who doesn't usually wear them you pull it off very nicely." Evergreen said with a warm smile. Which threw Levy off a little; she and Evergreen had never been close.

"Thanks Ever."

"Enough with the girl talk," Bickslow commanded with a smack on the table, he was already on his fifth beer. "What did we learn?"

Levy let out a sigh "I missed the Common." Besides Freed she only got confused expressions in response. "The code had a combination of two ciphers, shift and square. Those ciphers were used with a mix of Fiorian, Boscan, and Common. I missed the Common. I thought they were just switching between Fiorian and Boscan."

"That sounds complex for a small group to use. So what does it say?" Laxus really was a man of few words.

"By the Order, find the Thunder Hammer. The holders last known location was the Island Country of Caelum living in the Village Orion Five years ago. Holders age at the time seventeen, name Ivy Beltrum. Holder was last seen on the outskirts of River Village in Fiore two years ago. Holder is female with brown hair, blue eyes, and is tall. The hammer can change size and slightly resembles a rock hammer when in its smaller form. Holder must be captured alive with the hammer. No exceptions. Praise Zeref may he forever reign." A silence hung in the air as Levy finished reading the decoded message, her head turned to Laxus the proclaimed Thunder God. "Have you ever heard of a Thunder Hammer?"

"No, it sounds like it would be a weapon so you might want to ask Erza. Does the name Beltrum sound familiar to anyone else?"

"No," Freed shifted closer to the table as the others shook their heads. "It mentions the word holder quite a bit could it be referring to holder magic? Maybe this hammer can only be used by a holder mage like Miss Lucy."

"If that were the case they wouldn't need this woman alive, they could have any holder mage use it." Gajeel said with some irritation, he was starting to get frustrated. All they knew was that they need to find a girl with a hammer before the worshipers did, and considering this girl hadn't been seen in two years she could be anywhere.

Levy rested her hand on Gejeels arm. "Let's take a break and come back to the problem later." She turned back to the Thunder Legion with a smile. "If you guys see a girl with a hammer let us know."

"No problem little blue, you can leave the books here. Go have fun with your new man." Bickslow slurred with a wave of his hand.

"Thanks Bicks."With an eye roll Levy hopped off Gajeel's lap and headed with him down the stairs.

Laxus watched as the new couple walked through the lower level to get more drinks from Mira, who at seeing the pair holding hands had started rambling about babies and Kinana had to finish their order. He would never admit it but he was jealous. Not specifically of Gajeel he had no interest in the little bookworm, but the idea of having someone.

He had stopped picking up at least a couple girls a week months ago. Now it was maybe one or two a month, and he always felt unsatisfied and frustrated after.

His grandfather had told him that he would get to an age where he wanted something serious and when that time came Laxus had to buckle down, find someone, and give the old man some grandbabies. Laxus had walked away at this part of the conversation.

He had considered asking Mira out at one point, but he knew about Freed's crush on the bar maid. He also knew Mira could drive him crazy, and he didn't want to be with someone he could willingly get into a fist fight with when angry.

With another glance at the iron dragon slayer and his small women Laxus turned back to his drink wondering how the hell relationships even worked. The only happy lasting one he had ever seen was between Bisca and Alzack, and seeing just the one didn't give him a lot of faith on the subject.