A/N: Wow, so many kind reviews. On dictionary, one of my favorite authors on this site reviewed and made my entire week. Thanks kurisu313, go check out his stories, they're great! (And they are GaLe, which means that I am obsessed now.) Not to mention that he gave me two favorites, a follow, the whole package! :) Could cry from all that happiness.

Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail, though I've asked Santa for it a million times. Seriously Santa, you mean old dream crusher.

Thesaurus

Chapter 6: Journey

When Levy woke up, the sun was already high in the sky and the birds were making a racket. Ugh, she'd slept in! "Gajeel, we've got to go!" She'd raised her voice because she couldn't see him, so she was startled when his voice came from so close.

"Don't shout, shrimp. We'll leave after I finish." The blue-haired girl was about to ask 'finish what?' when she felt a tug on her legs. "Oh!" She was, needless to say, surprised. Bandages were wound tightly over the few scrapes and many bruises she'd received from Nyx's shadows.

'Did he really do this?' She wondered. Just then, Pantherlily's ears could be seen emerging from the pile of blankets on the other bed. His stomach was also swathed in bandages where he'd taken a direct hit from the same shadows as Levy.

"He insisted on patching you up first, so I did this myself," Lily smirked. The bookworm didn't know what to say. She'd always thought Lily was first priority for Gajeel, and to hear that he'd made sure she was taken care of first…

Levy's cheeks flamed as she realized what the situation insinuated. "Uh, G-Gajeel, are you done yet?" The iron dragon slayer looked up from her legs and simply nodded. She breathed a sigh of relief and quickly got out of the bed. "I'll pack and meet you two in the lobby so we can head out!" And then she disappeared into the bathroom.

"How'd her legs look?" The black exceed asked as his partner stared at the door Levy had vanished behind. Gajeel's red irises were fixated on the door, as if he were waiting for a hint of blue to show she was coming back out.

"Her legs were fine, besides the fact that they're short and all," the iron mage tore his gaze from the door to look at his exceed. "How's your stomach, Lil?" Despite taking care of the bookworm first, he'd still been worried for his cat.

"It's fine. Honestly, I was more worried about that nosebleed you about had this morning when you were going to wake her up," Lily chuckled. This morning had been hilarious, watching the big, hulking iron dragon slayer try to find a gentle way to rouse the girl. He'd blushed fire truck red when Levy had rolled over and exposed too much of her 'little shrimp leg' to him.

The blushing brute in question blushed faintly and rolled his eyes. He then turned around to stuff a couple of things into his duffel, and then made his way to the door. 'A quick escape to the lobby before that damn cat can throw anymore jibes at me.'

~* Levy *~

Levy smiled to herself as she tugged a brush through her unruly hair. She'd woken up to something she'd never thought she'd see: the dragon slayer tame and gentle. His facial expressions had been cute, almost. He'd acted childish when Lily had addressed the fact that he'd gone to her, first.

As the bookworm slid a black and white bandana into place, she swung her bag onto her shoulder. Today, they journeyed to Valletta! Their mission would start and there would be nothing but the forest, her, Gajeel, and Pantherlily for the duration of their walk.

"I'm ready!" She announced as she walked into the lobby. Gajeel was leaning on the counter and chewing on a bolt, Pantherlily seated beside him. At her exclamation, both males turned to her, and then to the door.

"Let's head out, shall we?" Lily asked, settling on Gajeel's head. All of that bushy hair made for a comfortable resting place for a four hour journey. His tail fell in front of Gajeel's nose, and the dragon slayer grabbed for it.

"None of that, Lily, its freaking annoying," the tail disappeared from his vision, and a satisfied Gajeel turned to the girl beside him. "Hope you're up to a long hike," he grunted. Truth be told, the man was worried for the shrimp beside him. She'd just been attacked, what if all of the walking put more strain on her damaged legs? But she didn't seem to notice any pains or discomfort, so he'd let the matter be, for now.

Around the trio from Fairy Tail, countless trees blocked out any view of the near ocean that they would've had. Gajeel could still smell the tang of salt in the air, and Levy could hear the occasional crashing of waves against the distant shoreline, but the sight of the vast blue waters was lost. Strangely, Lily didn't seem very happy about this at all.

"It's the ocean!" He cried out from atop Gajeel's head. "It's blue and huge! Just imagine Happy when he hears of all the fish that roam the ocean foam…" His black eyes gleamed in an odd way Levy had come to recognize. Ah, there was the old out of character Pantherlily. He got like this when he strongly loved or disliked anything.

"We'll get to see it when we get back from our mission," Levy reassured him, smiling. The black exceed nodded and turned over in his position in Gajeel's mane of hair. He had an odd expression on his face, and the ocean seemed all but forgotten.

"Hey, Levy. Do you think you could carry me for a while? Gajeel's porcupine here is getting kind of uncomfortable," the shorty in question complied, completely missing the triumphant look on the exceed's face and the frazzled one his partner wore.

The next hour continued in this fashion: Levy carried Lily, who taunted Gajeel from his position. The faces he could make were pretty frustrating to the iron dragon slayer, who had an idea of what his cat was trying to play at; the jealousy card.

It was speculated, but not known for sure, that the iron mage was a clingy person in a half-asleep or unconscious state. He'd grabbed on to Lily plenty of times, but only recently had the sleeping Gajeel called out for shorty.

Pantherlily smirked at those memories. 'I suppose Levy would make for an excellent teddy bear for Gajeel…' Or maybe that was his inner Mira speaking. Whatever it was, the exceed could tell Gajeel wasn't too happy with two of his favorite things out of his grasp with each other, of all things. To him, it probably felt like a low double betrayal.

"We're almost there," Gajeel said bluntly. He'd been watching the girl and his cat for a while now, and clenched his fists at the undeniable cuteness the pair exuded. What he wouldn't give to haul both of them onto his shoulders so he didn't have to look at them anymore…

"Half n' hour, give or take. Good thing too, cuz' I'd rather not bulldoze through anymore trees," Gajeel kept his red irises locked on the path ahead, not daring to risk being pulled into an overwhelming aroma of cuteness. At that thought, a random 'perfume!' punctured the air and all three traveling companions shuddered.

"What do you say we walk a little faster?" Asked Levy, nervously glancing behind her. Ichiya-san didn't seem to be of the sort that stalked people in the woods out in the middle of nowhere, but she'd rather not take any chances.

"Agreed," Lily and Gajeel said, increasing their walking speed. Thirty minutes was cut down to nearly twenty thanks to an abnormal fear of a Blue Pegasus weirdo. "Now we just need to locate the town hall," Lily thanked Levy and hopped out of her arms. "Something tells me it'll be in the middle of town."

They turned a corner, and ran into an absolute unexpected disaster.

A/N: "Oh, AJ-chan, you bastard! Fancy leaving us all offs on a cliff-hanger after you slack off and just post the new chapter now?" Aha…well, life is busy. And it kind of sucks, at the moment. Hope none of you are too angry at me. It's only been a week and a couple o' days…

RANDOM NOTES:

I think I'm going to watch Fushigi Yugi. Chichiri and Tasuki are freaking growing on me, and all because of this awesome fanfic I'm reading.

Go listen to Amsterdam by Coldplay. Don't know why, but it's hitting me deep today.

REVIEW REPLIES:

Miss Rune: Ah! I see you've changed your username. I like it though! And Heehee… It's certainly an interesting and good story. Much better than my fail of an Inuyasha fanfic. :P Thanks, and Lily does have an excellent outlook…Kukuku…

MsSlicingClaws: XD I was looking forward to your response! I'm really glad you liked her intro. I'll make sure to squeeze in a ton of cute moments for you in the upcoming chaps, even though things are about to escalate into the serious… Thanks…^_^ and Lol. She'll talk, I promise!

1fairytaillover: I don't know if it was pervy. Yet. ;) We'll see in the future about that though… *evil laughter*

XD-RaNdOmNeSs-XD: Thank you for noticing that! I laughed at that one, even. Haha, give the guy a call and we can take over my town tonight! Yes they are called that, and welcome to the team! ;D

Guest: No pressure! AHHH NO FREAKING PRESSURE!

Nadeshiko Redfox: Long time no see you awesome you! And Lol. I was watching the 4th season, so that's probably Laxus is on my mind lately. Hah, Gajeel did the whole wrapping thing and he DID kick their stupid butts. Double the score for GaLe, ne? *bows* thanks! I don't know how good my fight scenes are *sweatdrops* and if there is anything I can do to make them better, let me know.

Darkmyr-InuYashaFan: I agree with you! And thanks. Lily's adorableness will rule over all!

RoronoaZoro87: Ah, sorry! ^_^' Here is your update. Hope you enjoyed.

JincyXNamyFTW: That review made my day! Seriously. And it was a Monday! :D I'm so, so happy you are a GaLe fan now because of my work. I love your pairings by the way. And sorry, I have no clue what Grand Chase is…

Review, or I'll tell Helga to sit on you, no da! (Crap, Chichiri is getting to me! NOOO!)