Gajeel woke up fairly early in the morning. Levy was in his arms, breathing steadily. She was going to wake up much later, since she had been up translating late at night, thought Gajeel to himself. Good, that gave him time to think and plan. He wriggled free and sat up. The truth was what Levy told him had scared him more than he let on. In that moment, he thought it would be better to appear calm to assuage Levy's panic. But now that he had his thoughts to himself, he could let his mind loose on what he truly thought.
He got up and started pacing around. The guys had been surprised that someone had accompanied Levy, which meant they had always planned on dealing with whoever delivered the document to the Taylors'. They also had a contingency plan in case someone did come with her, which meant his life was in danger too. That's not a problem, he thought. He had been in life threatening situations before. In fact, he liked fighting with his life on the line. But now that Levy was a target too, he needed to be careful. He couldn't just go charging like Natsu at whoever stood in his way. Thinking that, he smiled to himself a little. No, he needed a plan. The two men were highly organized, most likely wizards, and with the way his luck was, powerful.
He stopped pacing and looked at the clock in the room. It was 7 a.m. With any luck, he could return before Levy woke up. He wrote a quick note to Levy in case she did wake up, and left for the Taylors' house. On the way, he desperately tried catching a whiff of the two men, but couldn't. Feeling slightly relieved, he carried on. In due course, he reached the little cottage and stopped in his tracks. He caught the scent of the second one, the one taking orders. It was very faint but unmistakable. He had to rethink his approach of questioning the Taylors'. He had to get information, but without letting them know something was wrong in case it wasn't. After all, the man could've just been staking out the house. He entered the house, thinking of what to ask them. Little did he realize he wasn't going to need to.
Adam was holding his head in his hands, and Delia was trying to console him. The house was a mess, as if someone was trying to search for something. "Hey! What happened here?" he asked. He thought of asking about the man, but decided against it; the lesser information he volunteered, the better. He smiled to himself. Levy had taught him that. His resolve of protecting her increased.
"A man broke in last night. He grabbed me by the collar and kept shouting, 'where is the translation the Fairy Tail girl gave you?' I told him it was right there on the desk, but he took one look at it and screamed 'Liar!', and proceeded to tear the house apart looking for it. I kept telling him that was it, but he wasn't convinced!", Adam said, and got up. "Please, you have to protect us!", he said, grabbing Gajeel by the collar. "Darling, please let go of him", Delia squeaked. Gajeel grabbed Adam's hands and led him back to his chair. "We will, but we need some information", he said. "Sure, what do you want to know?" Adam asked, "Hey! Where's your partner?" "She's still asleep. I came early because I-" Gajeel considered what to say for a moment, "had an uneasy feeling". "Well, you were right about that" Delia said. "What was the document you gave Levy to translate?" asked Gajeel. "It's my father's work, he was a writer. He wrote a lot of interesting stuff, but lately he had begun writing everything in a different language. He wouldn't tell us why, and kept saying we had to get this translated after he passed on. I was just following his instructions when I asked your partner to translate it". "I'm sorry for your loss. If I may ask, when did he pass?" "Last month" "And what is in those documents?" "Why don't you just ask your partner?" "I would, but for one, she's asleep. Secondly, if it was something serious or remarkable she would've told me. But now that you were attacked, their has to be something important to those men in that document".
Adam suddenly looked up. "Men?", he asked. Oops, Gajeel thought to himself, he had slipped. Levy was the one who usually did the talking, so he wasn't used to it. Fortunately, this would not be hard to recover from. "Man, I mean man. Slip of tongue", he assured Adam. For a moment, he wasn't sure it worked, but Adam seemed convinced. Gajeel cleared his throat. "So as I was saying, there must be something in that document that is of interest to that man. What is it?" "I honestly don't know", said Adam, "it mostly looks like a random collection of words. Just some symbolism and stuff like that, nothing important. But I'm not surprised; father had gone mostly senile in the months leading up to his death. That's why I'm surprised why his ramblings would be this important to the burglar". "Can I see it?", asked Gajeel. Delia nodded, and got the document from their bedroom for him. Gajeel studied it carefully, and found nothing suspicious or out of order. "Can I keep this?", he asked. Adam nodded, and he put it in his pocket. "Oh, one more thing", he said. Raising his arm, he turned it to metal and fashioned a small bell out of it. "If you get any more trouble, ring this bell. It is made of metal from my own body, so I will know when you ring it. It's not as convenient as a communication lacrima, but it's not as obvious either", he said, handing it to them. They thanked him profusely and he went on his way.
As he walked back to the inn, his mind started to wander. Levy wasn't used to life threatening situations; she had never been on a dangerous mission, unless you counted Tenrou island. Now that she was in his life, there was absolutely nothing he wouldn't do to protect her. He loved every moment he spent with her, the walks, the dates, the picnics. He suddenly had a brainwave; something Levy said to him on their last picnic before they left for Badger Island. Promising himself that he would listen to what Levy said more often then on, he sprinted the rest of the distance.
He entered his room to find Levy awake and livid. "You went to the Taylors' without me? Why?!", she asked, enraged. Gajeel was taken aback a little. He had never seen this side of her. He made a mental note to never tick her off again. "You were sleeping. But that doesn't matter, I've solved it!" he cried. "What do you mean?" Gajeel told her everything that happened. Levy's expression transformed slowly from anger to worry. "Are they okay?", she asked. "They are. I gave them a bell to alert us in case they have any more trouble". "You said you solved it. What are the men after?" "The answer is not in the translation, but in the original document". "Please don't build up the suspense. Just tell me". "I'm getting there. If I remember correctly, you said you had to translate from multiple languages, right? You had a lot of books around you". "Right, but what does that have to do with the burglary?", she asked. "Think about it, the document was right there, but the burglar wasn't convinced. Which means he knows what the document contains. So, what if you made a mistake in translation?" Levy's eyes narrowed. "First you leave me, and now you're saying I'm not good at what I do?" Gajeel bit his tongue. He really needed to work on his talking skills.
"I mean what if, instead of multiple languages, what if it was written in only one language? One in which the meaning of sentences relies heavily on the context?" A bulb seemed to go off in Levy's head. "Eurithanian!" she exclaimed. "Exactly", he said. "You came to that all on your own? I'm impressed", said Levy in a sarcastic tone. "Hey! I'm smart! Maybe not as much as you, but-" Levy kissed him before he could complete his sentence. "Of course you are. I was just messing with you".