The light blue napkin on her desk was out of place amongst the clutter of paper, books, and empty coffee cups, catching Levy's eye immediately as she walked into her bedroom after showering. Halting in her place, she studied the scrap from afar, wondering if maybe she had left it there… but no. Not when the garbage can was feet away. Her honey brown eyes examined the room with caution, as if the source of the evidence left was still present. When Levy realized she was the only one there, her fingers stretched to reach it apprehensively, slowly bringing it close to her face to read without her glasses on. Ineligible writing scratched across the napkin in heavy ink, as if whoever had written it had pressed on the pen too hard, ripping the thin paper as they did so. With her hair still in a towel around her head, she glanced around the room and then out the window to see where it might have come from. Someone had come into her room while she was showering and left this mysterious note, in a language that not even she knew, on her desk.

An unsettling feeling stirred in her stomach as she realized the danger she could have been in… but they obviously didn't want to hurt her if they had only left a note, right? She set to work at once, opening her reference books to compare the hieroglyphs on the wrinkled napkin to that which was on the pages. Nothing. Nothing matched. Quickly she dressed in black leggings and a coat and headed out the door towards the guildhall.

Who could have been in her room? Could it have been a client? Or an enemy? What if it was a stalker? She suddenly felt extremely unsafe, walking the cobblestone streets of her home town, knowing that Gajeel had left that morning on a job and he wouldn't be able to protect her if someone with bad intentions had done this. She clung to the strap of her bag and quickened her pace until the guild was in sight.

The hall was rowdy as normal, she slipped by unseen by most as she made way for the Guild's library where she retrieved every language book she wasn't fluent in from the shelves and buried herself in research. With her gale force reading glasses she scanned and rescanned every book at least twice, but found not a hint or lead in the right direction. She sat down, defeated at the bar and requested a large cup of coffee from Mira when Lucy sat down beside her.

"Working on a hard translation job, Levy-chan?" Lucy asked empathically as she touched her friend's shoulder who had slumped over the counter with pouted lips.

"Oh, Lu.. I don't even have a lead as to what language this damn napkin is written in!" Levy sighed dejected as she twirled the napkin around lazily, "Not to mention I have no idea who left it for me!"

One of Lucy's perfectly plucked eyebrows rose on her face in curiosity, "What do you mean? Where did you find it?" Lucy asked as she removed the napkin from Levy's hand and studied the scrap with her brows furrowed.

"I found it in my bedroom after I had gotten out of the shower this morning," Levy explained. "I have no idea who would ever dare to enter my apartment with Erza's 'no males' rule."

Looking around to see who could hear, she leaned in close to Lucy and whispered, "Besides a certain dragon slayer, that is. But he won't be home for a few days."

Lucy's lips hummed in response as the confusion remained on her face, "Maybe Wendy could give the apartment a sniff? She might be able to track down who it was."

"Then she would smell Gajeel everywhere.." Levy responded with her lips pursed together, "But maybe she could just smell the napkin… where is she?" The girl's eyes scanned over the room before Mira piped up from behind the bar.

"Wendy? She went to go visit Chelia. What's going on girls?" the platinum haired barmaid responded.

"Natsu and Happy left on a job as well… so that leaves us with…." Lucy's eyes wandered to the top half of the guild where the last dragon slayer of the guild often hung about.

A small gasp left Levy's lips as she whispered a sharp "no!" but Lucy insisted that Laxus was indeed the only dragon slayer in the guild able to help at the time.

The girls quietly made their way up the staircase to the second floor, that was now open to the entire guild. Levy clutched the front of her dress as she approached the burly man sitting at a booth, his jacket casually slung around his shoulders and a glass of alcohol in hand. Lucy, on the other hand, approached with enough confidence for the both of them as she placed her hand on her hip and started the conversation.

"Hey Laxus, Levy and I have a favor to ask of you." Lucy announced as she approached

the table the lightning dragon slayer sat at. With his whiskey glass held halfway to his mouth, he cracked one eye open to stare at the tall blonde and her petite bluenette friend. Laxus snorted through his nose and raised the glass to his lips and threw back the rest of his drink. He leaned back against the bench seat he was at and crossed his arms over his chest, closing his eye again.

"And just what makes you think I would be willing to help you two?" A cocky smirk graced his lips, and Lucy's temper peaked.

"Because, Laxus, you're our guildmate, and guildmates help each other. We think someone broke into Levy's apartment," Lucy grabbed the napkin from Levy's hand and slammed it on the table in front of her with anger. "If you care at all about your guildmates, you'll help her find out who was in her apartment."

The lightning dragon slayer signed in annoyance, he waved to Mirajane down at the bar for another drink before he lifted the napkin that had been left in Levy's apartment from the table. He gave it a small sniff, and the corner of his mouth lifted slightly in knowing. Mira had made her way up the stairs with his drink and came up behind the girls as he carefully chose his words.

"I don't smell anything… out of the ordinary from your apartment." Laxus replied nonchalantly as he slid the napkin gently back down onto the table and took the glass from Mira. Levy sighed and defeat and whispered her thanks to Laxus as she stalked off towards the library for more research, now considering whether or not the note could have been carried in by magic. Lucy followed close behind her, and when the girls had reached the bottom of the stairs Mirajane spoke up.

"What was all that about?"

A short laugh left his throat before he responded, "Iron breath left the girl a note before he left on a job. She thinks it's some encrypted message."

Mira stifled a giggle behind her hand, "Oh, Laxus. You should have just told her!"

"Now, where's the fun in that?"

Two days had passed since Levy found the napkin in her apartment, and two days had passed since she had gotten any rest. Her mind did not stop analyzing the symbols, even as she slept. She dreamt of falling into an endless tunnel of hieroglyphs, waking up in a cold sweat just to continue her endless searching for some hint of origin to crack the code. Her anxiety had reached it's peak as her discomfort in her own home left her sleeping in the guild's library. Without Gajeel home to help keep her safe, she felt vulnerable and uneasy, thinking that someone out there had gotten into her apartment without permission and left a puzzle she couldn't solve.

The next morning she made her way upstairs to the guildhall, collapsing at the bar once again in defeat. Most knew that if Levy hadn't solved a language in three days that she was probably a very grouchy person, and no one dared to bother her. So when a firm gloved hand ran across her shoulder blades, she couldn't help but snap at the owner.

Levy turned with a start, ready to pounce on whoever was behind her, when she realized who stood behind her.

"Gajeel!" She squealed as she tackled him to the ground after catching him off guard. Tears started to pour from her eyes as she realized that her dragon slayer was home and would help her solve the mystery that plagued her.

The sobbing girl in his arms left him in shock, as well as the rest of the guild. When Gajeel realized that all eyes were on them, he shot a death glare at all of them as he stood with the small woman in his arms and made way towards the library doors to seek privacy. Once away from the prying eyes of their friends, he sat Levy down on her feet and gave her a tight squeeze.

"Jeez, Shorty. Did you miss me that much?" He teased gently as he wiped tears from her precious face.

Levy sniffled and pushed his shoulder in denial, "No, stupid Gajeel! S-someone went into my room and left a note the day you left," she stuttered her words out before her closing throat failed her. "I haven't been able to decipher the code in the least! I don't know what it says! I don't know who it's from!"

Levy removed the napkin from her shoulder bag and held it out for Gajeel to take. "I've been working for three days without a single break through,"

"Lev." Gajeel attempted to interrupt the girl as she continuously blabbered on.

"And I feel so unsafe that someone was in my room,"

"Shorty." Again he tried to get a word in.

"While I was showering, no less, and Laxus said he couldn't pick up a scent that was out of the ordinary to my apart-"

"LEVY." Gajeel shouted over her, startling her slightly. But he began to laugh slightly as he explained, "Really, Lev? The note is from me!"

A dumbfounded look crossed the bluenette's face as she stood with her mouth hanging open.

"The note… is from you…?" She emphasized as she looked down at the chicken scratch on the napkin.

"Yeah, see?" He he answered as he turned the napkin sideways from where she had it. "It says 'I miss you already. See you in two days,' How could you not get that?"

Levy could only continue to stare down at the scrap of thin papers and study it as she finally made out the words. His handwriting was messy, his letters blocked instead of rounded and suddenly she realized that some of the letters resembled the draconic language. She raised her hands to hide her face behind in embarrassment as she realized all the fret she had gone through just to find out that no stranger had been in her room, there had been no mystery message to crack, there had been no danger. Only a simple love note from her boyfriend.

"Oh my Mavis!" She groaned before she started in a fit of giggles.

"Really, is my handwriting that bad?" Gajeel pondered as he looked over the note with a scowl, only causing Levy to laugh harder.

"Oh, yes, Gajeel." She said between giggles, "It really is terrible."

His scowl turned from the napkin in his hand towards Levy's face as he realized what she had said, "Wait, you said you asked Lightning Bolt for help and he didn't?"

Her giggling slowed to a halt as she started to explain, "Well, Lucy tried to get him to smell the napkin since Natsu and Wendy were on jobs as well… all he did was say there was no smell on the napkin that was out of the ordinary to my apartment... " she reflected for a moment on the way Laxus had acted. "I guess that explains the cocky-ass grin he tried to hide."

With a quick turn he pushed through the french doors with Levy's wrist in hand as he dragged her behind him until the reached the bar where Laxus sat.

"Oi! Sparky! What's the big deal?" Gajeel barked at the taller dragon slayer.

Laxus sat with his back towards Gajeel with a drink in hand. He side eyed Gajeel with a smirk on his face.

"What do you mean?" He responded, giving Mira a knowing wink behind the bar.

"You know damn well what I mean." Gajeel's shouting brought the whole guild's attention to them in curiosity. "Levy asked you for help and you gave her some kind of half assed answer that left her worried for two days!"

Gajeel should have known from the smirk across Laxus's face that there was a meaning behind it, but once he started the fight he couldn't very well back down. As if he knew at the last second what was coming, his expression changed from anger to instant regret.

"I thought I was helping, Iron breath. By not letting the entire guild- Erza included, know that you were leaving love notes in Levy's dormroom."