It was half an hour before Gajeel woke up and that was only because of the sun getting in his eyes. He rubbed them and asked "How long was I asleep?"
When there was no response, Gajeel sat up and looked around but saw no one but himself. "Shrimp? Lily?" He stood and walked towards the trees. "Levy?"
There was no answer. He searched through the woods, tearing through bushes and almost uprooting trees until he found what looked like a set of human feet and those of a large cat. There was an obvious struggle, but not a fight. C'mon cat, haven't I taught you better than that? He said to himself.
The air smelled like Lily, but where had Levy gone? He backtracked, looking for more clues and found an overturned pile of dirt and a trail that led deeper into the trees. Levy's scent had stopped there.
Levy's eyes slid open slowly and the bright lights overwhelmed her. She blinked rapidly and rubbed the sides of her head. Even though was alone in a room, she knew where she was. There was a large, blood red mark against the side wall of a snake curled in on itself.
"Jose." She said sitting up slowly, holding her head.
"Oh the fairy remembers, does she?" A voice called out as the door swung open.
"You attacked our guild hall!" Levy said, standing as firmly as she could. When she stood, she felt dizzy and saw colors flashing past her eyes but she tried to shake it off. Stand tall Levy, she told herself. Well, as tall as you can.
"And you stole my Dragon Slayer and Rain Woman." Jose snickered with an evil glint in his eye.
"She's not a Rain Woman anymore, she's Juvia of Fairy Tail. And Gajeel's not a mindless minion."
"I have more than just one grudge against your Fairy Tail, but I didn't lay a finger on your precious hall."
Levy's mind raced back to when they learned about Jose's guild. A wizard that can create images. "You never destroyed it at all..."
"You are a clever girl, aren't you?" He smiled and stepped towards her while Levy took a step back to match. "That would have caused me much more trouble. Now there is no sign that we were there as the Magic Council comes to inspect the damage and we were not caught in the middle by meddling townsfolk."
That's why no one saw or heard how it happened... Levy thought to herself. Aloud, she asked "Where is Pantherlily?"
"Who? Oh the cat? Not to worry. All in good time, I assure you." There was a noise just outside the window and Levy stole a glance over her shoulder.
"Gajeel!" He was tearing through the forest headed straight for them. She waved her arms, hoping he already knew they were here.
"He can't see you. Do you think I'd leave my guild out in the open?"
Another man appeared at Jose's side who seemed to come straight out of the ground. "He approaches, Master Jose!" He said flailing his arms and speaking in an accent. Levy had heard about this guy, he'd attacked Mira and Elfman.
"We're going to need-" he pointed to Levy "-that one to come with us, Sol." The other guy nodded and the ground underneath her moved, carrying her out with them.
Levy was now held up by another hand so her feet couldn't touch the ground. It wasn't nearly as tight this time, but she knew if she tried anything it could always get tighter.
There was a strange feeling in the air as someone shimmered into view. He must have been the one who could manipulate how things looked, maybe by just changing the appearance of the space they took up? Levy reminded herself that now was not the time to try to wrap her mind around it. There was a loud crash and the front doors blew off their hinges. Gajeel stood framed by the dust with rage in his eyes.
