Previously

It was then that Gajeel's knees gave and he fell to the ground with Levy still locked around him; his body shivering from the pleasure. "I still haven't told you." Gajeel watched as Levy's bare chest rose and fell in anticipated desire. She pulled herself off of him with great difficulty and sat before Gajeel. "I love you Levy."

Tears filled Levy's eyes "I love you too Gajeel." Her hands moved to his torn shirt and began to remove it slowly, then as he stood once more his pants.

"This won't be like before." Levy nodded in agreement she could already feel something different in the air as he lay down with her, holding her body tightly to his; their bare skin fully touching for the first time as mates. It felt as though a thousand sparks igniting under her skin, her very soul rolled with pleasure as his lips kissed hers and she parted needing him and welcoming him.

Gajeel closed his eyes in ecstasy as he moved his body with hers, when he opened them again, he could see the white aura around her, flowing from her now and engulfing him. His body felt like every nerve was on fire as they moved as one, together, with Levy above him. "Levy I-"

"I know" she said, accepting and knowing who he was fully as Gajeel, taking her backside into his hands, flipped her over and pressed down and deeper within. His pupils dilated, he could feel himself losing control of his desires. He wanted all of her and took every inch of her as she screamed softly into his chest. The piercings on his nose brushed her jawbone as he breathed in her scent again and began to kiss on her exposed neck. Levy moaned in pure pleasure, her eyes rolling as his one hand found her breast and he began to squeeze. "Yes" she cried; Levy could feel Gajeel's body quake on top of her as she raked her fingers down his back, wrapping her legs around his waist, arching with him as they reached their end as one.

When Gajeel awoke with the rising sun hours later he found himself alone and covered with a found blanket but still in a state of undress. Quickly he found and pulled on his tattered clothing and moved above deck where he could hear a commotion. Levy was leaning against the edge of the ship with Lucy and Wendy. He sniffed the air and took a protective stance behind her. Lucy looked from the now present Gajeel to Levy and let a small smile cross her lips. Finally.

"Oi you get healed?" Levy nodded and Gajeel shot an appreciative nod towards Wendy whose eyes were still on the open waters. "What's going on?"

"There it is!" Came Happy's voice from the crows nest above, the sun now full with the new day and with Magnolia appearing in the distant.

"Home." Levy said. He could hear the fear in her voice and ruffled her hair playfully to take her mind off of the difficult journey still to come.

"Yeah they don't know what they've been missing with us gone."

Now

At first, as the ship docked and they began to disembark only a few townsfolk took notice of them. It was when Gildarts stepped foot on the docks with his now, known to him, daughter Cana in hand that many people began to stare. They remembered the destruction that Gildarts used to cause around the town in his drunken stumbles and how they had once needed to reform the town to protect the homes when he would come around. Yet, that was before he had been pronounced dead along with the other missing members of the Fairy Tail guild.

A small crowd began to form around them now, talking first in small whispers then in loud, joyful cheers. Natsu took to the skies with Happy, thankful to be off the ship and shouted down to everyone how he was heading to the hall. The hall was their first destination. The idea of reuniting with their loved ones excited them and worried them all at the same time. They wondered how much they had missed over the last seven years.

Levy walked next to Lucy as they discussed all the changes they were seeing around the town both happily and yet with sadness hidden between their words. Favorite shops had closed and new curious ones had opened. Some people that they passed on the street smiled at them with recognition and others were completely new faces to them who had no memory of who they could be; having moved to the town after they had left. He wanted to stand next to her, to hold her hand, to drag her from their party to his forgotten cabin in the woods and lock the doors from the rest of the world. It was Pantherlily's voice that pulled him away from his possessive thoughts.

"So you and Levy seem to have made up. Does she know now who you are?" His voice was hushed enough for only Gajeel, next to him, to hear but Gajeel still looked down at his cat with an almost panic in his expression at the idea of others in the group overhearing them,

"Yes and no" he said, not choosing to explain any further and not having the time to as their once guild hall finally came into view, with another guilds name on the front of the building. Confusion began to spread then arguments, followed by select fights which were mostly started by Natsu.

"Who the fuck is Twilight Ogre?" Gajeel said to Levy who shrugged and tried not to panic mentally. My home is gone. Where are Jet and Droy and the others? What about the Fairy Tail Dorms. All my things, all my- "Hey." Levy looked up at Gajeel who nodded down at her and placed a reassuring hand through her blue tendrils. She could feel through their connection that he was just as worried as her but trying to put on a brave face for everyone around them. His red eyes seemed to say to her I know me too and it was all she needed at that moment to feel grounded once more.

"Twilight Ogre. Bunch of hooligans if you ask me." Silence fell as Makarov turned to an elderly man who was walking slowly by with the support of his cane.

"What happened to the previous owners of this hall, Fairy Tail?" The man didn't even bother to look in their direction as he continued by. He seemed to be talking to himself and the building before them more than to them. "Hooligans. Collecting on their debts beating on good people who are down on their luck. Shame those fairies died. Those poor bastards on the hill were never the same after that." All eyes turned to the hillside in the far distance to what looked to be a forgotten shack.

"Come on, let's go home." Erza said as she lead the way towards the distant, remote, and forgotten corner of Magnolia and away from the center of the town that they had once dominated. At the very back of the pack walked Levy with Gajeel at her side. He could see her mind processing all the changes around them and wondered to himself where her mind had turned. He opened his mouth to question her but stopped when his eyes followed hers to what was pulling her gaze.

"The town center." she could hear Gajeel say beside her with tension in his words yet her mind drifted as she left the group and stood still to think back. The open field was still how she remembered it. If she closed her eyes tight enough she could still smell the copper of their combined blood in the air, feel Droy's blood as it splattered across her cheek.

"Why had no one come to help us?" She didn't look at Gajeel as she spoke in a low whisper; she didn't know if he could handle the tears that filled her eyes when she thought back on that fateful night. "I truly thought I was going to die that night." Levy's hands touched her neck where years ago Gajeel had tried to squeeze the life out of her. "I was ready to die for my friends but how different everything would have been." She looked out to the large oak tree and her hands fell to her stomach where Gajeel had carved the Phantom Lord guild mark into her flesh.

He had never heard Levy talk so openly about what had happened between them. He could hear her heart beating quickly from stress but he couldn't bring himself to reach out and comfort her in fear of touching her. His hands balled into fists at his sides as she spoke; angry at the man he used to be and the thought that he had almost lost the most important person in the world to him before he ever knew how special she truly was.

"It was a silence spell." Levy looked up at Gajeel finally; her gaze pulled from the tree where she could still faintly make out where he had nailed them. "No one could hear what I was gonna do. I was told to send a message so I-" Why is he confessing all this now? Levy wondered but said nothing as her tears began to fall and Gajeel's eyes locked with hers. "I planned on taking out the weakest members, I had hunted you three for days, I didn't know how strong you were though. Our fight" he paused remembering the surge of power she had saved in order to protect Jet and Droy and how long she had fought him before he- "Out fight brought something out of me though and I blacked out you know now how Dragon Slayers can be-how I can lose control. I didn't plan on killing any of you or-" his hands gestured shakily to her midriff before pulling at his hair as he turned and looked away from Levy to the tree. "You said one day I would look back with regret and you were fucking right I can't-I could have-"

Levy's hand lightly touched the back of Gajeel's arm as he dropped to the cobblestone ground before her, his crimson eyes still to the stones below, refusing to meet hers. "You choose who you want to be in this life." She spoke Blues words to him, saying I know without saying it as they had still continued to do. The cobblestones began to grow wet from the tears that refused to stay in his eyes while her arms wrapped around him and pressed his head into her stomach. He breathed in deeply her familiar scent then stood once more. "Come on" Levy said without another look to the tree or the memories it held; both good and bad. "let's catch up with the others."

Gajeel nodded in agreement but promised himself mentally, in that moment, that one day he would rip that tree from the ground if it was the last thing he did.

The guild hall was silent except for the faint sounds of glasses rising and falling to drown their owners sorrows away. His mind raced as fast as his magic allowed for the rest of him to do while he watched his best friend eat his own sorrows away. Jet, his now long hair tied tightly back upon his head, watched Droy with disgust but understanding. Where Droy turned to food Jet had turned to running without his magic. Though he still had the ability to use magic and would for work, when he felt the pain of losing her return to him he would go for a normal run. Jet would run until his muscles ached from the stress and then he would push himself and run farther until he couldn't bare the pain externally any longer, a muscle pulled, an ankle twisted, all so he didn't have to feel the pain internally instead. Then her face or laughter would enter his mind and he would stand, shakily, and run more. Eventually Droy would come like always to find him and carry him home where they would both drink and reminisce together in pain.

Tonight, on the anniversary of her disappearance, would be one of those nights. "If Levy could see you like this now, what would she say Droy?!" Jet said as Droy choked down another drumstick with tears in his eyes from forgetting the bone within and coughing slightly.

"Levy's not coming back." he said so matter of fact that all around stopped what they had been pretending to do to listen in on their conversation now.

The current Master, Macao Conbolt, turned on his stool away from his argument with Wakaba to watch when the doors to the guild opened so forcefully that one fell from it's hinges to the ground with a loud bang and a cloud of dust filling the air. Through the door came five members of Twilight Ogre. Walking in and around the small open space as though they owned the shack that they now called their guild hall and home. In truth though; they did.

Wakaba stood from his stool, tapping out his pipe in the process, to address the man leading the group. He didn't bother to make eye contact but all could tell that there was fear in his voice as he spoke. "Teebo our payment isn't due until next month so kindly get lost."

The man known as Teebo, who stood center, cocked his head and grinned "Yeah no." Wakaba's face fell and sweat beads gave away his attempt at confidence "See our Master...well...he said that simply won't do anymore." To his right a tall cloaked man kicked over a chair and then table with a laugh. No one stood to stop him. The fire and fight had left them long ago.

"We don't have any money to pay right now." It was Master Conbolt's turn to speak as Wakaba moved aside; his eyes downcast. Macao shot back his drink and Wakabas for good measure and moved from the bar to stand protectively in front of Romeo who was slowly twisting his fingers to start a spell under the table and ready himself for the coming fight. His eyes glared at the members of Twilight Ogre "Stop Romeo!" he whispered back to his son in fear.

"What's up with your attitude you shitty brat?" Teebo turned his attention from Macao to Romeo now, his grin widening "We need to teach your boy a lesson-again?" Macao shook his head and opened his mouth but before he could speak Romeo stepped out from his father's protective stance and pulled fire into his hands. His chest raised as he summoned all the courage that he remembered Natsu to always possess.

Macao tried to move to regain control of the situation but Teebo breathed out a spell "Fushu" and Romeo's fire dissipated from the wind and Macao was pushed back; away from his son. The Twilight Ogres laughed. Romeo looked from his now empty hand to Teebo and decided that he didn't care. "I'm still going to fight! If things keep up Fairy Tail's name will be worthless!" Around him the other member's nodded but in fear averted their gazes. It was not the first time Romeo had tried to invoke Natsu's spirit for a fight against Twilight Ogre. He was always beaten down but even so he never quit. In the back corners of their hearts his spirit made them smile but it killed them just the same. They had lost their spirits years ago.

Teebo reached over his shoulder and removed his spiked club. Everyone's attention returned back to the fight now. This time was different-this time Romeo wasn't in danger of just a warning and small beating. Still he stood his ground. "The name Fairy Tail became worthless a long time ago." He spit in Romeo's face and raised his spiked club. All around the closest remaining members of Fairy Tail stood from their drinks and attempts to drown their sorrows. Not again- they would not lose another member again. Their advances were blocked by the other Twilight Ogers who towered over them; cackling like wild beasts. Master Macao screamed out but Teebo ignored him "You and your shitty guild will never be above us as long as you live!"

With a twisted smirk he moved to strike Romeo-removing the bothersome child once and for all when his lower back was kicked in from behind and his body shot across the room, into the far wall, and fell to the ground in a heap of shattered plaster and stone. The other Twilight Ogre's turned around only to find themselves hit as well. Some by fists, others spells, a few kicks, and the slice of a sharp blade. Their mysterious saviors stood above the crumbled bodies of the Ogres and grinned into the shack at them.

All fell silent as Natsu spoke "We're home!" he said with a grin and stared right at Romeo whose eyes filled with tears.

Master Macao didn't know what to say as his eyes moved around each of them-fully alive and in front of him once more. "You-you guys-you guys are-"

Makarov placed a hand supportively on his shoulder as he fell to his knees and said confused "What's up with this tiny guild?" Macao bowed his head while Wakaba bent down and joined them with laughter and tear stained eyes.

It was then that Jet's eyes fell on her; hidden in the back of the group and behind Gajeel's protective stance. He elbowed Droy who was searching the crowd as well. "Look" he whispered and they both ran; stumbling over each other in fear that she was just a dream. Her eyes met theirs and a small chuckle escaped her lips when Natsu tackled them before they could reach her.

"Why are you so huge?!" Natsu yelled at Droy and looked them up and down in confusion "and why are you two so much older?! Did you age!?"

Levy's hand touched Gajeel's studded arm gently as she moved from his protective side and joined Droy and Jet in a welcoming embrace. She felt their arms holding her, squeezing her, and pulling all the missing pieces back together again. They were older and had changed more than she wanted to admit but when she looked into their eyes she saw her childhood friends; her Shadow Gear teammates; her family. "I'm back" her voice cracked out and her smile matched their own.

Gajeel watched her anxiety fading away and knew she was safe now; she was home now. He leaned against the wall of the small guild shack and watched her and tried to fight the continuing urge to carry her away. It's time for me to go Gajeel turned to leave, not feeling that he belonged, and wanting to go back to his cabin where he knew his sake should be (even seven years later). Before he even made it through the doorway, over the trashed, unconscious bodies of the Twilight Ogres; they took his arm and stopped him. Gajeel looked over at Jet and Droy in surprised confusion and raised a studded eyebrow in a silent question.

"You brought her back." Still Gajeel said nothing but Jet and Droy did not move from before him; holding onto each of his arms. Jet met Gajeel's red orbs. He had gotten taller over the last seven years and though Gajeel had been older than them to start they seemed now to be around the same in age. "You said you would help her with the trials and you did."

"Oi the trials didn't matter." Gajeel stated matter of fact as a cruel reminder of how little they actually knew about what happened on the island.

"Levy is what mattered to us not those trials." Droy held out a glass of sake for Gajeel to take "To us she was always an S-Class mage" they moved to allow for Levy to join them in welcoming and thanking Gajeel.

"Gihi so what am I a member of Shadow Gear now?" He grinned as he shot back the warm liquid and looked from Jet to Droy to Levy and now Pantherlily as well.

"Hell no" Jet's response took everyone by surprise. Has he still not forgiven him? Levy looked from face to face as the tension continued to build. "We'll need a much cooler name now." laughter erupted from their small group as they turned and joined everyone else in the hall as the celebrations began.

Drinking, singing, and dancing began and continued throughout the remaining of the day and well into the night. It was as if all were making up for seven years of lost time together. Gajeel watched from his own drinking contest with Makarov and Wakaba as Levy drank with Cana and surprisingly kept up. The clamor never stopped. To those that had been on the island it was as though only a few weeks time had passed but for everyone who had remained it was seven years. Seven long years of bitter, sorrowful waiting. Waiting every day, thinking of everyone that they had been missing.

Levy knew he was following her before she even heard his footsteps. She could now sense him in her heart wherever he went. The sun was slowly beginning to rise and her drunken buzz had faded hours before. She wanted to sleep though she was unsure if her bed at the dorms still remained. As she walked through the silent city square Gajeel watched as instead of taking the turn for home she took a different step; towards the library.

He had awoken in a pile of the losers of the last drinking contest against Cana and Laxus. The sake made his head swim as he watched Levy step carefully around the slumbering bodies towards the door. He followed her out of the guide hall at a good distance to give her space. It didn't matter where she went now; he would always know how to find her.

Levy walked down the cobblestone road to the building that was like a second home. The sound of her red heels against the stone echoed off the tall buildings surrounding her but stopped once she approached her final destination and began to ascend the marble stairs. Magnolia's library was still larger than most others on the continent. She wondered if her keys still fit in the locks as she fished them out of the bottom of her messenger bag. Surprisingly they did. There had been a time when she had entered the library every day; multiple times a day. Levy worried that she would no longer feel welcomed but as she entered the same smells greeted her and she smiled.

Through the dust filled isles she turned; her hands running along the spines of her long lost friends. Finally the long forgotten maps section of the library came into view. It's aisles were now covered in even more dust and cobwebs. Levy grinned as she sat down in the worn, tan leather, armchair and a cloud of dust engulfed her causing her to cough uncontrollably. Her watery eyes fell upon the journal, still hidden after all these years, and she smiled as she fished out her quill and began to write. She didn't quite understand why she felt the need to come back to the library. It was as though a chapter in her life still needed to be finished and she couldn't begin the next until she was certain that it was fully completed.

Here in the maps section, forgotten by time due to the introduction of navigation lacrima, Levy's was free to express herself without judgment. Her quill continued in a feverish haste as minutes flew by and the sun began to rise painting deep pinks and orange across the skylights above.

Levy yawned as she closed her journal and placed it on a shelf between the two dust-ridden volumes on Ancient Islands of the East. She turned away from the shelf and left. Her journal hidden in plain sight where no one had found it for the last seven years and where it would remain untouched for only a few more minutes.

Gajeel clung to the shadows of adjacent buildings as he watched Levy enter the library with a grin spreading across his studded face. He bent low to the ground before jumping high into the air to land perfectly onto a window ledge of the closed library twenty feet off the ground. Still got it he thought with a laugh as he watched hungrily into the library below at Levy who was sitting in their maps section. Well if everything wasn't confirmed before he watched as she removed their shared journal and began to write. He was eager to be at her side once more but something stopped him from simply entering the library and joining her in the maps section. It was as though an unspoken rule was still in place stopping them from being in there at the same time.

Before he knew it Levy was walking towards the door again; turning her keys to relock her second home. Gajeel watched as she stopped and sat on the marble steps outside the front of the library to admire the sunrise. He knew that she was also giving him the time he needed for Levy could sense that he was still in close proximity. Quietly he slipped in through the window and down to the marble floor without a sound. He moved down the rows of well read volumes; following his nose towards the long familiar scent of overwhelming dust and something else he could now place as Levy.

Gajeel flopped down on the tan leather armchair and stretched out; allowing for her scent to engulf him. He crossed his tone arms behind his head and laced his fingers together while his red eyes looked around the forgotten section of the library "One of these things is not like the other." he whispered and removed the notebook, which was the second volume of the one he had written in and invaded her privacy with so many years ago.

Gajeel pulled the book off the shelf and flipped open to the page that Levy had just written in. Gajeel read the once mysterious woman's message multiple times and beamed as he then read aloud again what Blue had left for him:

Dear Black,

It's been a long time. Don't you think after nearly eleven years we should meet properly for the first time? You know the spot; our spot. The spot that time shall never allow for us to forget? Let's change it to a good memory. I'll be there waiting for you at noon tomorrow.

Blue.

Deep within the depths of his black pant pocket he dug until he found the dull quill he had been searching for. The magic spell enchanting it with endless ink and reminded him of her as he quickly wrote in his harsh, thick handwriting his reply. However as he stood instead of returning the journal to the shelf he pocketed the volume this last time.

When Gajeel returned to the rooftop of the library he could see with his enhanced sight that on the ground below Levy had already left the stairs and was nearly to the women's dorms that she had once called home. Despite his intense desire to take her back to the cabin with him he watched her go until she was safely through the double doors. He didn't know what awaited her; if her possessions were still there or if like the guild hall, things had moved to somewhere strange and new. The same question greeted him as he started towards the woods and his own forgotten cabin.

The next afternoon Levy pulled nervously at the hem of her strapless ivory dress, which reached only to her upper thigh. It was a failed attempt to keep her mind busy and off the situation at hand. At any moment a friend she had made eleven years prior would appear at the park gate and meet her for the first time. She closed her eyes in anticipation, inhaled, and exhaled slowly taking in fully the cool autumn air. All around her the leaves had slowly begun to change and turn bright oranges and deep shades of red. She smiled up at the tree she sat under; though it was connected to negative memories she couldn't help but love the beauty it was presenting her with at the current moment. A slight breeze tossed her long blue ringlets across her rosy cheeks and line of sight. She tucked the wayward strand back into place before the possibility of looking less than perfect was an option. The tall blades of grass danced across her black tights as though dancing to a song only Mother Nature knew the lyrics to. Her fingers twisted at the laces of her knee high brown boots as she pulled her legs into her chest and sighed. The rich copper cardigan she wore over her dress matched her headband and swayed enough to send a shiver up her spine with the next brush of wind. This moment had been one of many dreams for years but now; now that her life was moving in directions she never thought possible she wondered if meeting her mysterious friend was the right choice after all.

The second he came into view Levy knew she had made the right call. His ivory pants were a stark contrast to his black shirt, feathered cloak, and long raven hair which was pulled back with her missing orange headband from their first one night stand. His crimson eyes watched her intently as his multiple piercings shined in the bright afternoon sun. In his one, half gloved hand was a large wrapping of yellow tulips and in the other was the second notebook. She silently pulled the first from her bag and stood to greet him properly for the first time.

"Hello Black." Levy said as blush crossed her cheeks.

"Hello Blue." Gajeel grinned and took in her small frame as he dropped the bundle of flowers and reached towards her face to move a stray strand of he blue hair that had danced across her face.

Without saying a word he opened the notebook and presented it to Levy, to Blue to read.

Blue,

You gave me a place where I could be myself without fear of judgement or rejection. You called me asshole but let's be honest-I deserved it. We understood each other from the beginning and I fell in love with you, with Blue. You told me that I could choose who I wanted to be in this life and with you I feel more human and more alive than I deserve. I got my second chance with you and I won't waste were right that I couldn't change my past but my future with you-well that I'm excited to see for as long as you will have me.

Yours always Black

Levy turned her attention up from the notebook; her caramel eyes meeting his crimson. I know both their eyes seem to say as a laugh left both of their lips. Gajeel took her chin between his thumb and forefinger and tilted her head up to have her lips meet his own. His other arm snaked around her small frame and pulled her body closer and higher to his own. His other hand remained on her cheek; stroking it gently. Levy wrapped her arms around his neck and depended the kiss to his growing pleasure. They could both see the white aura around one another as they pulled apart and held one another close.

"What now?" he asked in a slightly worried whisper; he didn't want to let her go.

Levy leaned down and picked up her flowers before walking away from the park with Gajeel at her side. "Well it turns out all of our possessions had been boxed up during the last seven years so I might be looking for a place to move to now."

Gajeel's grin grew as he lifted Levy over his shoulder despite her protests and began to quicken his pace towards the women's dorms "Oi why didn't you say so sooner I was only working on an addition all morning so your books could have their own library at the cabin gihi!" Levy continued to squirm until he reluctently returned her to earth. She smiled up at him as she placed both notebooks into her bag and spoke so quickly that without his enhanced hearing he would have missed it entirely before she took off running.

"We might be needing that addition for another reason Gajeel I'm missing something!" Gajeel stopped dead in his tracks as Levy turned around to see the shocked look upon his face and laughed before running again. His smile grew as he caught up to her, lifted her into the air and pressed his pierced ear to her stomach. There it was. Faint and new but there. "Not mad?" she asked with a slight hint of worry.

Gajeel shook his head as he dropped her back to her feet and fell to his knees before kissing her scarred stomach through her ivory dress. Levy pressed the yellow tulips to her nose and breathed in deeply "I'm too happy for words." she nodded in agreement while they continued walking hand in hand. "How do you feel about the names Black or Blue?"

I hope everyone enjoyed and is staying safe currently! Much love and thanks for the patience!