[A/N: Hello, everybody..! I'm kinda new to the Fairy Tail fandom, but I seem to have fallen completely and utterly in love with it and the Gajevy ship. This being the fourth thing I have ever written for it, I felt I might as well post it. I'm a tad nervous though, as I haven't posted anything new here for over two years. This is short and somewhat masochistic on my part but I like it. Haha. ]

He didn't stop the hand across his face. He didn't block the punches, or the kicks, or even the shove that left him sprawled on his back. Gajeel only watched, with cold apathetic eyes because he deserved this. He'd always deserved this and it was now occurring to him just how wrong he was in thinking there was any ending other than this. Any other ending to them.

No words came from his mouth. No complaints or protests when he felt a rib crack. No sneering or contempt towards the mage hurling magic at him. Not even a smirk to hide the hurt he felt, not all of which was physical.

There was no heart in the script iron that pressed against his chest, and amidst the pain he realized just how well he'd been played. There was no sweet smile on the face of the blue-haired mage, only a sickening grin that looked too easy on her. And pretty soon, he thought numbly, there would be no Gajeel Redfox. Because after all these months he'd finally be given the payback he deserved.

That disarming smile she'd throw at him. The shrill cry of his name. Those determined eyes when she was faced with a challenge. Levy's mind was amazing. She seemed even more so as it was revealed that it was all a lie, a trick to bring the ultimate downfall to Kurogane.

"How could you ever think I would fall in love with you?" her grin began to fade and her tiny jaw set as she glared down at the fallen dragon. "Oh, you weren't the only one. The others wondered. They thought I had changed. I did change, Redfox, I made myself small so I in turn could do so to you."

She crouched down to look at his bruising face, and he took a shaky breath. She smelled nice today. He picked up the faint scent of her shampoo as she leaned forward to glare. How he would love to run his fingers in her soft hair. He returned her glare with a faded smile.

If she was bothered by his response, she didn't show it.

"There are few who could overpower the famous Iron Dragon Slayer. But nobody is smarter than me. Nobody could imagine that I could bring him to his knees." She ran a hand down the left side of his chest. It would have hurt if he was paying any attention to it, but Gajeel was focused entirely on her lovely hazel eyes.

"Nobody thought to crush his heart."

There was a sharp pain where her hand had been, and he dully realized she'd shoved a knife through him. He locked his eyes on the girl retreating from his side.

If only that blade hadn't been metaphorical. If only he had never fallen for Levy McGarden, the girl he let utterly defeat him with only a shy smile.

[ A/N: I was inspired by a sentence or two in a Gajevy fic I read a while back in which Gajeel had a momentary fear that Levy's forgiveness was insincere and this is sort of the mental image I got. I was also inspired somewhat by another where it was implied that if Levy were ever to turn on him, she was the only one who he would not fight back. I apologize for any negative feels. ]