A/N: I don't think I have mentioned this yet, but this story line takes place after Tenrou and before the Grand Magic Games. If you have read Dictionary, you probably already knew this. Also, thank you to all who follow, favorite, and especially those who review.

Disclaimer: Roses are red, violets are blue, and I don't own Fairy Tail, even though I really want to. Satisfied, lawyers?

Thesaurus

Chapter 4: The Book

The hour Gajeel, Levy, and Pantherlily had to spend before they boarded a train was a complete disaster. They'd picked up their things from the guild, said good-bye to their friends, and then they'd left. Oddly enough, neither Jet nor Droy had been seen that entire time. Who knows what they'd been doing?

Gajeel hadn't cared a bit that Levy's 'lapdogs' hadn't come to see her off, and had proclaimed so loudly in the street just outside the guild's doors. "Who needs stalkers like them anyways?" He'd gotten a disapproving look from Lily and a smack on the shoulder from Levy. (It was the highest place she could reach on his person.)

As for what they did the entire hour, well Gajeel suggested they go look for scrap metal. And so that is what the trio did. The iron dragon-slayer led them to a dump he said he'd been to before, and was soon on his knees; digging for some quality iron.

"This is disgusting!" Levy told him as she sunk down beside him. She'd already been spooked by a stray cat, nearly stepped in an unidentifiable substance, and had watched Lily stare sadly at a pile of old kiwi rinds.

"He does this all the time," Lily said from beside her, shifting through garbage. "It's actually a pretty good way to get free scrap metal. Food is food, I suppose." The bookworm didn't know what to say to that, so she delicately shifted old newspapers aside to look at what lied underneath.

"Hey, is this piece good?" She called as she unearthed something silver and heavy. Gajeel had looked it over and then he'd bitten a large chunk out of it. "Hm." He hummed while chewing. She took that as a sign that the metal had been satisfactory.

"Well…we just blew half an hour, so we'd better hurry it up to the station." Lily remarked as he glanced at the sun overhead and then at Levy's watch. They'd ended up jogging to the train station in order to make it on time, and made it with five minutes to spare.

"That was a big waste of time," Levy panted as she scoured the surrounding crowd for the Master. "I thought there would be someone to see us off…" It was then she felt a tap on her shoulder and whirled around.

"Jet, Droy!" She managed as she was tackled by her two teammates. "Can't breathe!" She was saved when Gajeel unceremoniously tugged them off of her. The duo was dropped on the ground and landed hard.

"We've got a train to catch. Tell her good-bye and we'll be on our way." He spoke to them coldly, and from beside him, Lily smirked. 'That jealous dragon.' Indeed, Gajeel had looked more than a little miffed when the blue haired girl had been swept up by two men that were now too old for her after the seven year time skip. 'Old perverts…'

Levy shrugged the incident off as the whistle for the train sounded, loud and clear. "I'll see you when I get back, okay?" She bid her two friends good-bye and hustled after Gajeel to board at exactly three o' clock. She, Gajeel, and Pantherlily found a place to sit near the back.

Lily yawned and leaned back against his seat. He had a feeling that this train ride would be a long one. The first couple minutes of their ride were shrouded in an awkward silence. For some reason, Gajeel seemed a little uncomfortable. Lily shot him a look and Gajeel sent a weak glare at the exceed.

"Too many people in here, is all," he muttered, referring to the over packed state of their train compartment. Levy gave him a worried look that eased the strange sensation in his stomach and made his cheeks warm for some odd reason.

The iron dragon slayer rummaged for a scrap of iron to gnaw on when silence again pressed down upon the trio. Other passengers stared at Gajeel as he chewed the iron that had been found in the scrapyards earlier that day.

Across from him, Levy opened a book. Gajeel strained his neck to see the cover of it. "The-soar-us?" He asked aloud, confused. What book had a title as long and as dumb as that? She nodded distractedly and kept skimming through the tome. Her brow wrinkled in concentration as she turned a page and nodded to herself.

A good ten minutes later, Gajeel spoke up. "What is that thing?" He was wondering how something so bland could hold her attention for so long. 'Not like I'm jealous of some boring book…' Even though it had enraptured her more than he ever had, or that she seemed content to rifle through its pages rather than talk to him. 'It's not like you try to get her to talk to you, iron lug.'

"Oh?" She said, finally tearing her gaze away from the pages. "This is a thesaurus. I'm trying to discover how I could upgrade my magic with it." Because she used solid script, she could make words come to life. If she could figure out a way to make her root words more powerful, it would help a lot. Then there was also the prospect of adjectives and such…

Levy was unaware she was speaking aloud to her companions, and they both stared at her as she rattled on. "…and of course, there could be a way to configure different suffixes and prefixes into the words to change their effects!"

"Do you think you could try one right now?" Lily asked, curious. She had sure sounded like she knew what she was talking about. What if she was able to make him solid script kiwi by using that book? Or maybe she could reinforce her solid script iron to make Gajeel even stronger.

"I-I suppose I could try something harmless…" She flipped through the large volume on her lap until she stopped at the 'f' section. "Alright, since fire is one of my main words, let's see what there is to upgrade it." Levy had to bypass the alternative synonyms for fire, like enthusiasm and such, and then she glanced over the remaining choices.

"I think that combustion sounds decent…" She took her stylus out and held a palm out. "I want to keep the word elevated so nothing catches on fire," she explained. And then she was writing. Each letter was written with a flourish and was connected to the last.

When the word was finally hanging in the air, two things happened simultaneously: the letters caught aflame in a blazing sweep, and then Levy promptly fainted. Gajeel panicked and lunged across the booth to catch the small female, and Pantherlily grabbed a glass of water from a neighbor to put the powerful word out.

"What the hell!?" Gajeel grumbled as he shook Levy lightly. After the incident, the conductor had wisely advised them to not use any more magic on the train, and to keep watch on the young woman lying unconscious beside the dragon slayer.

That had been nearly half an hour ago, and they were bound to reach Haregon in less than 25 minutes. Levy hadn't stirred at all. "My guess is that 'combustion took a serious toll on her energy." Lily stated, trying to comfort Gajeel. "Ten letters opposed to the four that fire has; she just needs to rest."

That didn't do a whole lot to discourage Gajeel's worry. The shrimp was a tiny little thing, so who's to say how much the drain of magic could affect her? But his woes were set to rest when a dozen laboring minutes later, doe brown eyes met red.

"You're an idiot, shrimp!" He roared at her after she'd sat up and recognized her surroundings. "Don't play around with that stupid book anymore; you'll just pass out again!" Levy was about to retort when Lily caught her eye and shook his head slightly. That's when she realized that his tone was more worried and relieved than angry.

She smiled to herself as the train stopped at their destination; Gajeel had a heart, one bigger than anyone in Fairy Tail ever would've guessed from his rough exterior.

A/N: And there you have it, Gajeel is a softie at heart. ;) Hope you weren't waiting too long for this update.

REVIEW REPLIES:

1fairytaillover: Lol, I agree. Sweet torture from the astute adorableness!

Taria Robotnik: ^_^ Well, I love the Sonic fandom and your profile picture. They're very awesome! (Whoo!) And you are wonderful for saying that! Thank you very much! I try my best to keep the characters the way Mashima intended them to be.

Darkmyr-InuYashaFan: Thanks! And holy crap, I love Inuyasha as well! Anywho, I will give that book a try, and thanks for your review. :)

MsSlicingClaws: XD Lol, Cats are hilarious! I agree they portrayed the cliché damsel in distress thing that gets old after a billion times. Thank you! And holy crap, write faster! I eagerly await your next update!

Ulcassi: I kind of did direct him to a scrapyard! XD I answered this question in the AN at the top: Before the Grand Magic Games and after the 7 year time-skip. And thanks for catching that stupid mistake of mine, I've revised that! (Geez that was a huge fail :P)

Review, or I'll tell Freed that you've got a crush on Laxus! XD (That won't play out well…)