In Secret (Sequel to Behind the Scenes)

Resolve

Levy's P.O.V.

"...vy. Levy... LEVY!" I was suddenly aware of Droy, standing next to me, reading my notes. "Huh? What?" I asked, realizing I'd been spacing out. "You weren't looking at what you were writing," Jet said. "Usually when you zone out while translating, you look at your writing and mumble... Trying something new?"

I glanced down to see that I'd been writing, and freaked out a little bit. Ryos - shadow, Sam - teleport, Steven - light? Solar? I fought the urge to scribble out my notes, since that's not something I normally do. I didn't want to tip them off that I was writing something that didn't have anything to do with our job. "Oh! Y-yeah. I was trying something new. Hang on, I'm almost done!" I smiled at my friends, hoping it didn't look as fake as it felt. I shifted my pages around to hide the names and finished my translation. I was truthfully almost done with it, which was why my focus had shifted back to the kids. I'd translated something on solar power in this manuscript, and it reminded me of one of the little boys, Steven. He had a type of Light magic, but I couldn't quite classify it. I thought it might be solar.

I'd gone to see the orphans a few days ago, before Shadow Gear left to do this job. I'd talked to them about what magics they were hoping to learn, so I could look into ways to help Gajeel train them. He's a very talented wizard, at least at physical magics. Some of the finer points, not so much. Anyway, there was a little boy there who was terrified of the dark, so he wanted something to create light with. He'd really loved the light I'd made with my Script magic, but his dyslexia made words hard for him.

I glanced up at my teammates to see if they were still interested in what I was writing, but I needn't have worried. Like usual, they were lounging around, bored out of their minds, while I did my part. I hid a sigh, frustrated again that I was always holding them back. When we'd first made our team, we were all about the same, physically at least. But, our early teens had been nicer to them than me. They sprouted up and developed muscles, and I stayed about the same. This time I did sigh.

"What's wrong, Levy?" They asked in unison. "Nothing." I mumbled back, stacking up my notes. "I'm done though, let's go see our client." I tried to look cheerful, but I don't think they were buying it. "C'mon Levy, tell us what's wrong?" Droy really doesn't like it when I get upset.

"I'm just so useless! I hold you guys back! I can't do a stupid job by myself because it's not safe for me to travel alone being so weak and small, but it's not fair to make you guys follow me on jobs just to sit around and do nothing!" I fought down the lump in my throat, refusing to cry on top of everything else. They looked at each other, over my head of course, and then started walking with me again. I knew I wasn't the only one who'd thought about this then, since neither of them argued with me at first.

"You're not useless, Levy. We're not going to say we're not bored sometimes, but we're a team, no matter what!" Jet replied, though he didn't sound very convincing. "Thanks, Jet. Let's just get this finished and go home." I busied myself looking at my notes, slipping the one about the orphans into my dress pocket when they weren't looking. I'd promised a certain dragon slayer that I wouldn't tell anyone about the kids, and I wouldn't break my word. Even if I didn't understand his lack of trust for the guild. I guess he didn't grow up in a good guild, like I did. He doesn't understand yet that Fairy Tail is more like a family than anything else.

I would never tell anyone, but I thought it was super sweet, what he was doing for the children in that warehouse. It was fun watching him interact with them. I found my mood improving as I thought about being back with them in another few days.

Once we'd turned the manuscript over to our client and gotten paid, we jumped on a train and settled in for our ride back to Magnolia. Our train car was pretty comfy, which was good since we'd be on it for more than a day. Jet probably could have run there in half the time, but since we're a team he stayed with us. There were bunks that folded out of the wall to lie down on, and each of the boys were stretched out on one already. I bent my legs and settled a book onto them so I could take some more notes about the magic I wanted to teach Steven.

Before I knew it, I was struggling to read. I looked up, blinking hard, to see that almost all of the light had left the car. The sun was setting outside, and both of my friends were asleep. A plate was sitting next to me with a cold sandwich and an apple. I missed dinner again. I wonder if they tried talking to me? I'm such a horrible friend.

I picked up my apple and turned into my stomach to look at the sunset. It was a beautiful pink color, although right at the horizon it was red. A deep red that had me thinking about a pair of eyes. I let my mind wander as I munched on my apple and stared at the fading colors. I definitely think I could get the big lug to train me with the kids! They can let me spar with them, since they're closer to my level than anyone else I know! With that resolve in my mind, I finished eating and stretched out to sleep.

We got to the guildhall just about lunch time the next day, and decided to just eat there. I went by Fairy Hills to drop off my stuff and pay my rent with my job earnings. When I got to the hall, I looked around for a certain black haired man, but didn't see him. I saw Jet and Droy waving, and acted as if I'd been looking for them the whole time.

While eating with my friends, Lucy and Natsu had showed up too, I kept casting a quick glance around to see if Gajeel had shown up. I was really anxious about training, and wanted to ask him before I chickened out. But he never showed up. My teammates said they'd catch up with me later and headed out on a quick job that I really would just get in the way on. I waved them off with a smile, trying to hide my relief. "Well, Lu-chan, I'm gonna head out too. I got a new book earlier that I want to read!" I wasn't really lying, I did have a book to read. I just wasn't going to right now.

She waved, and then smacked Natsu as he tried to steal some of her food. I left the hall and wandered around town, hoping I'd maybe run into Gajeel. After a while, I walked past the side of a small house only a few blocks from the club I liked to go dance at and heard music blaring out the open window. Normally I'm not a nosy person, but it was one of my favorite bands, so I peeked in the window.

Then I froze, as I took in the raven hair - pushed back with a headband, the bunched shoulder muscles that then pulled my eyes to massive arms. His back was to the window, and I could see that there was a bar across those distracting muscles with a ridiculous amount of weight on each end. I felt my cheeks heat up as my eyes continued to take in the sight of Gajeel's very well defined back and drifted down... He suddenly straightened as if he sensed my gaze, dropping the bar to the ground. I hit the ground about the same time, ducking under the windowsill.

I was sure he'd seen me, or that he would have maybe smelled me. Probably he couldn't hear me over his music, which continued to blast out the window. I sat huddled for a whole extra song before I gathered the courage to peek in the window again. What I'd thought was just a particularly loud beat had actually been him throwing punches at a bag hanging in the corner. If I had thought the squats were fascinating... This was mesmerizing. But at the same time, I could feel my anxiety rising. The first time I saw him moving like that... I shuddered as the memory of his fists flying into my friends while I stood there helpless flitted through my mind. Just then, the breeze shifted, blowing into the room, and he froze.