As the morning light shown down through the trees, the dragon rose. It ate a quick breakfast of iron, courtesy of Levy, before thinking of how to spend the day.

Lately, the dragon had been visiting the shrimpy human on an almost regular basis. The first trip had been out of pure curiosity, but each time "Gajeel Redox" returned to Magnolia, he found he was actually enjoying himself.

Looking up at the sky, the dragon pondered why he repeatedly visited her in that cursed form, rather than remaining a dragon and waiting for her to come to him. There was no doubt that she would return at some point to check on him, so why did he constantly go to her instead? No answer could be found; he only knew he wanted to see her.

The air went still as his body began to shift.

Gajeel Redfox entered the magic headquarters, expecting to see the blue haired mage where she always was: in the back with her book, practicing her spells. However, today was different. Levy seemed a bit off, as if something was seriously on her mind. Her face looked pale, but it couldn't be due to fatigue. She just had a day off!

'Wonder what's eatin' her…'

Deciding it would be best to leave her to her thoughts, Gajeel got to work on his own chores. Still… it was difficult to ignore her odd behavior. There was this nagging voice in his head that he should do something, but what could he do to help?

'This is why I'll never understand females…'

Things were quiet that day. Sure, business flowed like usual, but the dynamic of the staff was lacking in energy. With Levy in her state of mind, Gajeel could not reach her; when he asked her a question (with her nickname tagged on the end, of course), she didn't react like she normally did. Instead, she simply answered his question and went back to her thoughts. Even Laxus seemed to recognize that teasing was pointless today, so he chose to nap in his spot. In the depths of his mind, Gajeel was almost dying; he had to know what the hell had affected her like this!

He opened his mouth to say something, but it immediately shut when she jumped at the sound of the door opening.

Out of the corner of his eye, Gajeel observed the newcomer. He had never seen this guy before, but to the dragon man, he looked like a complete whack job.

"Good morning, Miss McGarden."

Levy stiffened the moment she was addressed by the man. She gulped before greeting him, and her voice cracked as she spoke.

"G-Good morning, Master Jose."

Gajeel was baffled by the encounter. '"Master Jose?" Is this guy really important or somethin'?'

He glanced down at the shrimpy human. There was definitely fear in her eyes, and Gajeel didn't like it.

"I was wondering, my dear," Jose continued, "if we could continue our conversation? We never did get the chance to be properly acquainted."

"I… I do not understand your request, Master Jose. We never really started a full conversation in the first place, so what is there to continue?"

Jose only smiled, which gave Gajeel the creeps. "That may be so, but there is something I was hoping to ask you. Makarov had rudely interrupted us last time, so I didn't get the chance to bring it up. Why don't you take a break so we can go someplace nice and have a small chat?"

Nothing came out of Levy's mouth; she was frozen. Her face was growing paler and paler. The girl was seriously spooked.

"Oi," Gajeel cut in. "Hate to break it to ya, but there's too much work to get done. We ain't got the time for chit-chattin'"

Thankfully, Levy snapped out of it. "Oh… yeah, that's right."

She turned back to Jose and gave a quick bow. "Apologies, Master Jose. I need to get back to work."

Levy scurried to the back, secretly relieved that Gajeel had spoken up. Now the two of them stood alone in the front of the shop. Jose had remained silent, but he observed the intimidating man with narrow eyes.

"I don't believe we've met…"

Gajeel returned the look with hard, ruby eyes. "Name's Gajeel. I hang around for work. Now if you ain't here for business, then beat it. I already said we're busy."

From the back, Levy could have fainted. Just hearing the way Gajeel spoke to a wizard saint was mortifying! He most likely had no idea who he was speaking to, but that wouldn't stop Jose from stirring up trouble for him! She was about to hurry back and mediate the situation, but Jose had already turned to leave.

"Creep," Gajeel muttered. Levy had to agree with that one.

Master Makarov had returned shortly afterward. As he smacked his sleeping grandson with a paper fan, Levy had decided to withhold the information of the other wizard saint's visit. Nothing really happened, so there was no point getting the master more worked up than he already was. Luckily, Gajeel seemed to think the same thing.

Later that day, Levy was given the task of delivering herbs to Porlyusica, the town healer. She had already learned from prior experience that the journey to her hut was quite the walk; she hid her home in the forest located near the outskirts of the village. The old woman truly detested human beings, so she isolated herself as much as possible. Sometimes Levy wondered why such a person was a healer in the first place…

Despite the woman's bitterness toward all humanity, she was acquainted with Master Makarov since their youth. He was one of the few people who knew of her location; it is truly an honor when one thinks about it.

Levy chose not to complain about the task. Yes, the walk was long, but it was not as long as her trips to the dragon's den. Besides, she had found that she could not focus on her work because of Master Jose; what if he discovered her dragon? She was so worried she could not bring herself to visit her dragon out of fear that Jose would follow her.

This walk was what she needed. It was the perfect opportunity to attempt to sort her anxious thoughts.

…Or it would have been. Yet a certain stalking giant that shall remain nameless had announced he was going with her.

The entire journey, Gajeel hovered over her. Some would say his behavior was like that of a mother hen. Levy saw a completely different animal; he seemed more like a mama bear, ready to ferociously attack anyone who came near her! What had him so concerned? The only thing to be afraid of was Porlyusica's broomstick!

"Ya know, I've had my fair share of fights, an' I've met some freaky opponents," Gajeel grumbled while rubbing the back of his head, "but that lady takes the cake!"

Levy couldn't help but laugh. They were walking through town on their way back from their errand, which had ended in a frenzy with a woman violently swinging a broom at them. "That's just how she is. You get used to it."

"How the hell can ya 'get used to' a crazy old chick swinging a broom at ya like yer some kind o' rat?!"

His outburst only caused Levy to laugh harder, which made the giant scowl. But at least she was smiling again.

Suddenly his eyes narrowed as he sensed something approaching… fast. He recognized that presence.

Without a word, Gajeel placed his arm around Levy's shoulders, stopping her in her tracks. Before she could question him, he pulled her in front of him as something crashed where she had been standing! The girl blinked in surprise as the dust cleared.

"Jet? Droy?"

"LEVY!" the duo cried out as the jumped to their feet. Jet and Droy were local mages that made frequent appearances at the headquarters ever since Levy came into town. It was obvious they were infatuated; their lovesick cries were not exactly subtle. To tell the truth, Levy ignored it, but they irritated Gajeel. What kind of men would use so much energy chasing after one girl? Sure, he used his magic to change his entire form on an almost daily basis just to spend time with Levy, but that was different!

He broke from his thought as the two morons swooned over Levy, completely ignoring his presence.

"Levy! Did you hear? Apparently, there's another wizard saint in Magnolia!"

"Yeah! He's Master Jose, a user of shade magic! I hear his magic is really creepy stuff…"

A light bulb flickered on in Gajeel's mind. 'Master Jose? Wasn't he the guy that showed up this morning?' One look at Levy answered his question; just mentioning his name had her terrified again.

Oblivious to Levy's discomfort, Jet and Droy continued their one-sided conversation.

"I hear Jose's here because of some rumor about a dragon."

Gajeel's ear twitched.

"I heard that, too. Sounds like he believes he can actually control one with dark magic."

Gajeel's entire body tensed. So that saint was after him? No wonder Levy had been spooked!

"Like that can happen!" Droy laughed. "Everyone knows that dragons don't exist!"

"Maybe the old man has some screws loose!" Jet added.

"Or you simply lack any inquiry."

The duo froze at the sinister voice behind them. They turned to see Master Jose himself standing behind them! The two were left completely speechless! However, the saint walked past the statues of Jet and Droy, instead approaching Levy.

"Miss McGarden. Has the workload lessened? Seeing as you are out on the streets, perhaps now you have time to-"

Gajeel stepped in front of Levy, shielding her from the creep. "She ain't goin' nowhere," he growled.

Jose frowned, but he did not retort. Instead, he slightly bowed his head.

"Some other time, then," he said as he turned around and walked away.

'Definitely can't trust that guy.' Gajeel thought.

A deep scowl remained on Jose's face; he had failed again, and it was infuriating! He was so close to locating that dragon! The key was Makarov's apprentice, Levy McGarden.

There was no doubt about it; he had definitely sensed a strange sort of magic when he first met that girl. It wasn't her magic. He had confirmed that when he met her that morning; the aura was gone at that point.

"So she had to come into contact with the owner of that magical power."

She was hiding something. The aura as well as her reactions around him was proving his point.

But his task was proving to be more difficult than he had originally anticipated. Apparently, this "Gajeel" served as Makarov's guard dog. With him around, it would prove to be difficult to get the young apprentice alone.

"It seems I need a more forward approach."