When Levy woke up the next morning, her whole body ached, but she bore it with some pride.
She rubbed her eyes sleepily and scanned the room for Reya's sleeping body. She only saw her sister's large duffel bag plopped in the middle of the room, already stuffed and zipped up.
She frowned in disappointment. Reya was planning to leave already? She hadn't said anything to Levy.
Reya exited the bathroom, already dressed and shoved a toothbrush into a pocket on her bag.
"Morning, kiddo!" she sang cheerfully. "Want breakfast?"
Levy slid out of her bed, grabbing her robe and slipping on slippers before walking across the room to the kitchen. Steam curled from the tea kettle's spout, so she poured herself a cup of tea and joined Reya at the table.
"What's going on Reya?"
"Time for me to shove off, kiddo. I'm sorry. That job needs a little more urgency than I anticipated."
"How long this time?"
Reya stretched her hands out in front of her in speculation.
"No idea. As usual," she said. "But as usual, I promise to write and come back when I can."
Levy sighed heavily.
"We really didn't get to spend a lot of time together this time."
"I know, and I'm sorry about that too, kiddo. But you know what? I learned a lot this visit and I'm really proud of you."
"Me?" Levy was baffled.
"Yes, you! When I left you two years ago, you were still so scared of your own shadow, relying on Jet and Droy to protect you. You were hiding behind your books and studying more than living. I worried for you; worried you'd never find yourself in all those pages."
Reya grasped her little sister's hands across the table.
"But now, I can see courage in your eyes. And I felt it yesterday on the field. It will take time and more training, but you have it in you now. That determination, that spirit to fight for what you care about. And when the time comes, I believe you will be unstoppable, kiddo."
Levy's eyes brimmed with tears at her sister's heartfelt words. She had always felt so inferior to Reya's abilities. Yet, Reya was telling her that she was capable; that someday she would be unstoppable. That she was proud of Levy.
"Levy, I love you so much. And I will miss you so much, but I feel good leaving now because I know you can take care of yourself now," Reya said with certainty.
"Thank you, Reya," Levy managed through sobs. "I'm proud of you too!"
"Psssh!" Reya scoffed. "Nothing to be proud of with me. Just glad we have each other."
As Levy's sniffling died down and she dried her eyes, Reya cast her sister a sideways glance.
"Better now? Good. There's something we have to do before I go," she stated.
"What?" Levy asked.
Reya rummaged in Levy's dresser for some clothes and threw them at her sister. Then, she slung her duffel across her back and winked at her sister.
"We're going to give your bravery a bit of a boost today, kiddo!"
That afternoon, Levy walked warily into the guild. She seemed nervous, her eyes shifting and her hand rubbing her arm. Lucy spied her and waved her over to the table she sat at with Natsu and Gray, going over the specifics of a new mission.
"Where's Reya?" Lucy asked brightly.
"She-" Levy covered her mouth. "She had to leave. A job."
Her friends eyed her suspiciously.
"Are you ok?" Lucy asked with concern. Levy was acting strange.
"Mmmmhmmmm," she murmured back before setting herself down on Lucy's bench.
She gradually relaxed as her friends resumed their conversation and the atmosphere became happy once again, but she remained a bit stiff and quiet.
Word got around the guild that Reya had left on a job, leaving much of the guild a bit somber and sad to see her go. But most waved kindly to Levy as they passed, making sure she wasn't too downtrodden by her sister's sudden disappearance. They'd all grown used to the McGarden sisters' patterns over the years.
It wasn't long before Gajeel and Pantherlily ambled over to the group, smirking as usual.
"So Shrimp Senior has left the building, eh?" Gajeel snorted, hovering over Levy's head where she sat. "About damn time!"
"Gajeel!" Lucy reprimanded him. "Levy misses her sister. You could be a little more sensitive."
"Tch, yeah right," he sneered as Pantherlily shot him a stern look. "Ahh…you ok, shorty?"
Levy nodded gingerly, eyes on the table.
"What's the matter, shrimp?" Gajeel teased, ruffling her short blue hair from behind. "Cat got your tongue?"
"Not exactly," she said carefully.
She slowly opened her mouth to reveal a small dark red jewel nestled in the center of her pink tongue. Her friends gasped in awe.
"It was a goodbye gift. From Reya," she explained, blushing. "To make me brave."
Before anyone could twitter excitedly over their friend's shocking new piercing, they all whipped around in time to see Gajeel's eyes roll back into his head as he fell flat on his back.
"He's out cold!" Pantherlily announced as Levy smiled behind her hands.
I'm going to be braver today, she thought.
~Hi, I didn't realize this story was marked as 'in-progress', but this is all I planned to write. I pictured this happening before the S-class trial. Levy seemed to go from being pretty minor to having a more centered role and her interest in Gajeel spiked on Tenrou, so this is my own personal 'missing chapter' in their story.
In any case, I have a few other stories for them that I'm still working on (I don't like posting unless its complete because I know how frustrating it is to wait for the end of a good story) so I will post those as soon as they're done. Sorry again- didn't realize this wasn't marked as 'complete', but glad to see it was a good read for some people. This was my first stab at fanfiction (so many inspiring stories on here!) so I was super nervous! So, thanks!~