Chapter 4: Revenge

"Rats! He left before we could punish him!" Levy exclaimed, suddenly noting the absence of their 'prisoner'. Gajeel waved off her words.

"I think he's been punished enough, seeing as we took all the rings he was carrying. I'll... catch up with him later..." he cackled with a terrifying grin. Levy shivered.

"We could sell these rings at a magic shop downtown, in the Magnolia flea market," Levy suggested, to which the dragon slayer scowled.

"I just so happen to hate that place," Gajeel muttered under his breath.

"What?"

"No, nothing," he interjected hastily. "Let's go."

~ o ~

"Y'know, Lushy," Natsu said thoughtfully. Lucy steamed.

"It's LUCY, you big maggot!" she hissed, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, whatever." Natsu shrugged. "Anyway, I was thinking, it's been a while since Team Natsu's gone on a mission, the whole lot of us, right?"

"Right," Lucy agreed. Erza shook her head.

"If this is leading to where I think it's leading..." She got up from her seat and towered over the table, her scarlet hair electrified in the air. Natsu gulped.

"N-no, it's not that I want to disband the team or anything!" he gasped hastily. Erza gave a creepy smile and sat back down.

"So, what is it?" Lucy took up the courage to ask, glancing tentatively at the smirking ex-quip mage.

"Why don't we go on another mission, sissies?" he suggested.

"If you're asking in a formal way like this, I think something seems fishy," Erza said.

"Fish?" Happy came swooping over.

"No, not fish! I said fishy! As in, something seems fishy!" Happy slumped onto the bench in disappointment.

"You don't have to get all riled up for something like that," muttered Lucy, her heart pounding. Erza glared at her, then smiled sweetly at Natsu, "Go on." Natsu gulped.

"A-anyway, I've already chosen which one..." he mumbled cautiously, and drew out a large piece of parchment. Erza took it from him and her face suddenly turned blue, then white.

"Is something wrong?" Lucy asked cluelessly. Erza's mouth opened, then closed.

"I... Natsu, this is - We can't!"

"Why not? It pays really well."

Lucy snatched the paper from them and read: "LOST RING! PLEASE FIND!" Details were scrawled messily underneath, as if whoever had been writing it was in a hurry. Lucy squinted to read the tiny script:

Ring description: rose gold, with rose imprint (it was my mother's, her name was Rose)

If interested please apply at my house on Applegreen Drive, which is in the town of Jambo.

Reward: 2,000 JEWELS

"Looks like the hirer is throwing away so much money for only a ring." scoffed Natsu. "This should be easy; a little effort with a lot of money!"

"It must be very important if he's paying so well," Lucy observed.

"I smell something fishy," Erza repeated.

"There's nothing fishy about Natsu choosing such a profitable job, and there's nothing fishy about paying a lot for a ring that is likely one the owner finds dear," Lucy said.

"Aye!" Happy agreed.

Erza sighed and nodded. "Let's go find Grey, then." She would come along, but she would be on the lookout for anything suspicious.

~ o ~

"Where've ya beeeeeeen~!" chorused two voices, the owners of the voices bonking their heads together. Levy scowled. How annoying! Did Jet and Droy really think she wanted them around, being overly protective of her and cracking weird jokes to impress her, all the time? That nonsense was the reason she had escaped to the park in the first place. She felt a cold hand clasp her shoulder, and looked up to see Gajeel's silver teeth - fangs - glinting at her. She shuddered. This stranger... was terrifying, even if he was the one who saved her...

Jet and Droy frowned. "Let go of her, you nutcase!" Jet said, shaking a finger.

"Yeah! You heard us!" added Droy.

"Shut up," said Gajeel, low and menacing. He let go of Levy, who felt oddly cold once he did so.

"Y-you guys," Levy began, but it was too late. The threesome were in the middle of a huge fistfight, right in the doorway of the guild! "Why don't you stop... please," she begged, but they were too involved to hear her.

"How dare you hang around with our Levy," shouted Droy. "Take that!"

"That's right," Jet hissed. "I'll bet you were out somewhere, trying to find Levy. What'd ya do ta her?"

"It's not worth fighting you guys," retorted Gajeel, and pushed them away.

Levy felt somehow relieved when she noticed the fighting had ceased... but not for long. Her fellow members of Shadow Gear took one look at the back of the retreating dragon slayer, glanced at each other, nodded, and pounced. Gajeel, with a roll of his eyes, whipped around and greeted them each with a punch in the gut. As Levy watched them reeling on the floor, curled up like shrimps, Gajeel snatched the chance and whisked away. "Weak tea," he scoffed to himself as he stalked off.

"Jet, Droy... you guys OK?" Levy asked, trying hard not to chuckle.

"Y-yeah, anything for you. It was nothing! We'll get him next time," assured Droy, his face twisting in obvious pain. Levy sighed as Jet joined in, agreeing.

"That ironhead! So full of himself," croaked Jet, trying to sound big and superior but really only the weak-headed fool that he was, especially in this kind of situation. Levy sighed again.

"You guys, I don't mind you fighting for me - but please don't do it again, alright?" She tried to sound as nice as she could, but one half of her was nagging her to laugh, and the other side tugged at her to scream and scold. "I'm..." she took a deep breath. "I'm really disappointed in you two." Jet and Droy stopped moaning and looked at each other, pain in their eyes. She glanced away from them and went on. "Fighting just for me when your opponent is innocent.. that's wrong. And I don't want it to happen again!"

"..Innocent? How can you say that? He destroyed our guild and hurt all three of us!" fumed Jet, leaping up from the ground. "I don't know why Master allowed him to join Fairy Tail anyway, after all of that."

"Can't you be quiet and listen to me? Now, tell me: if I ever did anything to hurt you guys, would you forgive me if I asked?"

"Of course, but that ironhead never asked," Jet said, seeing what was coming. Levy heaved a big breath and tried to keep her temper under control.

"He is asking... in his own way. A man's pride is something to be valued, isn't it?" Jet and Droy exchanged glances. "He's not about to come kneeling and begging to be forgiven, but he is trying his best to fit in with everyone. Can't you see how hurt he is to be left out? No one is accepting him, and your unjust actions aren't helping!" Levy suddenly realized she was shouting, but she couldn't stop. "Why do I have such ungrateful friends! You could at least be friendly!" She gave a Look to each of them, and for a moment the three sat in awkward silence.

"Y-you're right," Droy said quietly, pain in his voice. "We weren't thinking. I promise to do my best and-" his voice choked "-if you want to do missions with iro- ah, I mean, Gajill... Gajeel? ...then I guess that's OK."

"What? Since when did I say I was forming a team with that ironhead?" exploded Levy, putting her hands on her hips.

"Well you seemed so intent on being his friend and all-" Levy started to laugh. "Hey! There's nothing funny about that!" Droy looked hurt, and Levy struggled to control her laughter.

"Alright," Levy gasped after a moment, a few giggles escaping before she was calm again. "Now," she said, regaining her serious mode. "Here are the rules:

"One: I want you two to keep your tempers under control. If you trust me, then you will know that I can take good care of myself.

"Two: No matter how much Gajeel gets on your nerves, keep you fists and your words to yourself, alright? I can handle him without anyone else's help.

"Three: Let me have some time to myself! A girl needs to be with her girlfriends sometimes, or otherwise alone, reading a good book and settling by herself.

"Four: Uh... Actually I think that's it," Levy said, blinking. She looked up at her friends. Jet and Droy looked sad. After an awkward moment, Jet spoke up.

"Levy... I never knew you didn't want us around that much. We really like to be around you. We thought that you liked it when we fought for you," he said, turning his back to wipe away an unwanted tear.

"Y-yeah..." Droy whispered, his fingers twitching. Levy felt a sudden feeling of fright. Did they really think she didn't want them as her friends? Sure, it could be annoying whenever they butted in like that, but...

"Hey, I never said that you can't be my friends," she said soothingly. "I mean, no matter what, we'll always be team Shadowgear, right?"

The boys were quiet for a second, then burst into smiles. "Yeah!" Levy grinned.

"Let's do our signature Shadowgear signal!" she cried. "Three, two, one..."

"Umbra Apparatus!"*they shouted, pumping their left fist in front of them and clutching their left upper arm with their right hands. "Aeternum!"*

No one noticed Jet's hardened face.