Found & Forgotten

Chapter 9

The group, Panther Lily having rejoined them, stood in Buddleia's main train station, staring around in awe. The entire station was within a huge stone building, with swooping arches leading up to elegantly coloured stained-glass windows. Gajeel was still slightly motion sick, but that didn't stop him from appreciating the beauty of the building they were stood in.

Well. He was looking around and wondering how good the iron frames of the windows would taste. He could see that Levy was enjoying the aesthetics of the building they were in, though. Now that Gajeel was free of the horrible, lurching movement of the train, he could think clearly about what he'd heard Levy and Erza talking about.

Ok, fine, I like him, Levy had said. And, if Gajeel remembered correctly, she'd been blushing as she said it. A nudge in the ribs from Gray brought him back to his senses.

"What are you grinning like a baka at?" Gray asked in an almost bored manner.

Gajeel forced his face back into a more normal expression for him. "None of your business." He told Gray gruffly.

"Couldn't have something to do with a certain bluenette now, could it?" Gray pressed, a teasing glint in his eyes.

"Don't know why you'd think that." Gajeel muttered, crossing his arms and turning to Panther Lily.

Lily glanced at Gajeel, who clearly wanted him to change the topic of conversation, and chuckled. "I'm with Gray on this one, Gajeel, I'm afraid." Lily told him gravely.

"Traitor cat." Gajeel glared at his Exceed.

Lily just shrugged and started talking to Gray. Gajeel turned his attention back to Levy.

"-so beautiful!" she was saying. "Isn't it, Erza? I really hope the Tosho Sekai has some books on the architecture of this place that I can buy!"

Gajeel, wary of his expressions this time, smiled to himself internally as Erza, jolted by Levy's mention of their mission, leapt into action and started ordering everyone around.

"Right everyone, we need to keep on track with the mission! First we're going to check into the hotel where we'll be staying for the next week, then, once we've dumped our stuff there, we'll head straight to the library and start searching. Remember, try not to destroy everything!" Erza instructed, then starting marching out of the station, barely giving Levy time to take a photograph of the windows she'd been admiring so much.

Ten minutes later the group arrived at the hotel and were shown to their rooms.

"We're sharing?" Gajeel asked in surprise.

"Hai," Erza nodded. "We can't afford a room each, so I'm sharing with Levy and you, Gray and Lily are sharing a room."

"At least it's not with Natsu," Gray muttered, shouldering open the door to the boys' room. Lily followed him.

Levy clapped her hands together. "I've always wanted a room mate! This will be such fun!"

"Hai, until you find out how loudly she snores." Gajeel remarked, rolling his eyes.

Erza turned to him, expression dark and eyes glowing with anger. "Would you like to repeat what you just said?" She asked Gajeel with deliberate slowness.

"Uhm..." Gajeel backed off as Erza advanced towards him.

"You're no better than Natsu!" Erza exclaimed.

Gajeel, back against the wall now, saw no other way out than to blurt, "I'll get you a strawberry cake!"

Erza eyed him suspiciously. "It had better be a damn good strawberry cake." Then she turned and entered the girls' room.

That left Gajeel and Levy alone in the corridor, staring at each other. Neither of them knew what to say. As he watched, Levy's face reddened slightly. Gajeel, looking at Levy's embarrassment, suddenly realised just how much Erza had humiliated him in front of the girl he liked. He dropped his eyes from Levy's face and proceeded to look at anything but her until he figured out what to say.

"Gajeel-" Levy started.

Panicked, Gajeel interrupted her. "See you later, shrimp." Then he turned and entered his room.

"Smooth," Gray commented.

"Shut up!" Gajeel growled at him.

Levy, meanwhile, was stood in the corridor, gaping at the door Gajeel had just disappeared through. He'd cut her off and then just...left. It hurt. She'd thought that perhaps he might be starting to think of her as more than just a girl, a teammate, a friend, but now she was almost certain that she was mixing her hopes up with the facts. Just then Erza stuck her head round the door.

"Are you coming in?" she asked. "You only have ten minutes to unpack before we're meeting to go to the library."

"H-hai," Levy answered, following Erza into their room.

Fifteen minutes later, Gray, Gajeel, Lily and Levy were standing in the corridor, waiting for Erza to meet them. Gajeel had many scathing remarks on timeliness running through his mind that he could've directed at the red-head but, considering the embarrasment he been through not too long ago, he decided just to keep his mouth shut. Levy snuck sideways glances at Gajeel. Luckily for her, he was too wrapped up in his thoughts to notice. Unluckily for her, Gray wasn't.

Gray knew full well that the two liked each other. That was the reason he was currently smirking as he noticed Levy watching Gajeel. Between him and Erza, they would definitely manage to get the pair to finally admit how they felt about each other, before they returned from the trip...that way he would have at least some good news to give Natsu and Lucy. She would be just fine by the time they returned, Gray told himself. He didn't know what Natsu would do if she wasn't.

Erza chose that moment to emerge from her room.

"Let's go!" She told them, marching along the corridor.

"Do you know where we're going?" Levy asked, concerned. Erza didn't have a map, and Levy was almost certain that no one from Fairy Tail had ever visited Buddleia before, so how could Erza know where she was going?

"Positive." Erza replied, leading them out of the hotel and turning left. "We just need to head for that big glass dome." She pointed in the vague direction of most of the city.

"Well, if you're sure..." Levy dubiously followed, the boys trailing after her, all of them knowing better than to argue with Erza.

Ohayo, minna-san!

Gomenasai! I didn't mean to update late! Only, my uncle, aunt and two little cousins (one is 4 and the other is 8 :D) were over yesterday. I loved seeing them all again! One of my cousin's loves minecraft, and the other loves Frozen, so I managed to appease them both with the ice castle (based off of Elsa's) I'd built in minecraft. XD They're so cute and I love them!

Anyway, back to Fairy Tail...or this chapter of my story...do you think Gray and Erza will manage to get Gajeel and Levy together? At least getting Levy to admit her feelings out loud is a start...

Also, do you think they'll find the Tosho Sekai without any trouble? Or will they get lost on the way?

Oh, and gomenasai again, I promise there's more NaLu in the next chapter!

Please comment! And arigato for all the reads and votes, it means so much to me everytime I check the story and the number of reads has gone up!

Matte ne, minna-san!