Author's Notes: Hello everyone! This is one of my darker stories with Gajeel and Levy. It isn't really fluff but hurt/comfort. This takes place after the battle between humans and dragons (Ch. 337, I believe). It's a bit short but I hope you'll enjoy it! Please R&R. :)

As always, I do not own Fairy Tail!

He could go through another day.

Insanity fed on him with the thirst for hatred, leaving him lifeless. The hunger for blood, the uncontrollable pleasure from the screams, the feeling of unending power.

He could go on another day. Just swallow his guilt, his remorse, and the anguish.

Yes, he could go through another day.

Exchanging his black soul for another day of deceit and deception. Another stoic face painted on, protecting the only thing he had left. He didn't have the will to fight it anymore. He couldn't be saved. It was useless.

So he did what he needed to do. He let it eat him.

And the darkness did.

A flicker of blue hair.

No.

A speck of beautiful hazel eyes.

Don't.

A ring of a melodic laugh.

Stop!

He trembled in his dry bones, knee-deep in the blood of his winnings, holding onto his only lifeline. Helplessly clinging to his disillusion, hopelessly clinging to the darkness.

The look of adoration.

His lifeline quivered, and he mimicked its fear.

A flash of a genuine smile.

The darkness screeched with pain and he crumbled onto the ground, his last wall of defense falling. He was left with a scorching agony spreading throughout his body. He couldn't muster the strength to open his eyes, so he settled in the blackness around him, the tormenting feeling of loneliness beginning to settle itself inside him once again.

"Gajeel!"

He felt a sudden pressure on his left arm, almost cutting off the circulation to his hand. He quivered as the muffled voice bounced around in his perished brain.

Who was this Gajeel, he wondered for a moment. But the thought was gone as instantly as it came.

"Gajeel, please!"

This time the voice was clear and dripping with hysteria. He frowned slightly, trying to remember where he had heard that voice before. But then a sharp pain pierced his body again, shattering any trace of thought.

"Gajeel, wake up!"

His eyes shot open, welcomed by painful flashes of color – swirls of red and flashes of yellow. His eyes adjusted to the blinding light above him, then to the hand that gripped his left arm with such ferocity he saw the knuckles turn white. His eyes followed the arm up to a mess of azure hair.

Levy?

His eyes refocused to the woman standing next to him. Her usual yellow sundress was in tatters and she had multiple scratches and cuts all over her body. Her face was badly scarred and both fresh and dried blood soaked into her skin and clothes. He noted her face etched with worry, dried tearstains painting a line on her bloody cheeks. He was dazed with confusion, feeling a sudden need to retch as he stirred back into life.

"Ga-Gajeel?

Her voice cracked and she took her hand off of his arm, wiping at the endless streams of tears beginning to tumble down her face. To his surprise, she pounced on him, wrapping her tiny arms around his neck. He could feel her trembling, sobs taking over her small frame.

"I thought you were dead." His heart dropped at the sound of her quivering voice and he wrapped his arms around her, proving to her and to himself that he was alive.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

His husky, scratchy voice sounded foreign to him but he continued to repeat those two words as he held her shivering body close. He didn't know if she understood what he was apologizing for, but he repeated the words over and over again nonetheless.

He had realized that it was all right if she didn't understand the turmoil in his mind. It was all right, just as long as she stood by his side.

He grasped onto her lean frame as tears began to form in his eyes. But as his sobs drowned in her trembling body he knew, somehow, she had understood. As she ran her hands through his disheveled hair and bloody face she understood.

And she embraced him still.