The darkness and noise vanished, leading the two (now unscathed, but still holding each other) wizards into Levy's next fear. Gajeel let go of Levy, considering she was much calmer this time. However, when he looked around, he looked back, and Levy was gone.
"LEVY!" He called, then realizing he had used her real name, he tried to make up for it by yelling, "Where are you, Shrimp?!" When he heard Levy scream in reply, he ran towards her. Soon he picked up her scent (like flowers and honey but that's completely irrelevant to the situation!) and followed her more precisely. He saw her being held against a wall by two goons, their faces blank and unidentifiable, though in a way, they resembled himself. Gajeel sighed in dismay, she still wasn't completely over that?
"Hang on, Bookworm, I'm coming!" Gajeel tried to take out the two guys, but he just bounced back, powerless. They had Levy pinned against the wall and they were beating her up. Levy screamed in pain, and Gajeel was powerless. This could probably be one Gajeel's own fears.
"What kind of fear is this?!" Gajeel yelled at her. Levy looked at him, trembling.
"I'm afraid I won't be strong enough to defeat someone attacking me," Levy cried. "I'm afraid I'll be too weak, or powerless,"
"So that's why I can't beat the crap outta these guys?!"
Levy gave a nod, and then a scream as one of the faceless men kicked her in the gut.
"Bookworm, slow your breathing, or we'll be here for hours as these guys beat you up! And since I can't do anything about it, I wanna get outta here! So slow it down!"
Levy then remembered when she had been in her first fear. Gajeel's hand over her heart. A few months ago, it might've even been him in her fear hallucination. Now, it seemed he was the only one getting her through her nightmares. Levy took a deep breath, then another, then another. Soon, she was released and the scary men vanished, as did her wounds. Once she was free, she ran to Gajeel, pulled him close, and cried. Gajeel, not knowing what to do, just hugged her back.
"Hang on, Shorty. You still have one more to go through," he said. Levy took a shaky breath and stepped back.
"This next fear will be my last fear and your first. It'll be a fear that we share. It could be my worst fear, or my smallest. Same to you. But I think we get a break beforehand. I think I need to sit down…" Little Levy practically fell to the ground, Gajeel taking a seat next to her. Gajeel snickered as she buried her face in her hands.
"What's so funny?"
"Nothing, but boy that was terrible! This Ghoul guy ain't fooling around!"
"Well, now you know what I'm afraid of," Levy couldn't bear to even look at Gajeel.
"I'm just glad it isn't me, even if those guys sort of looked like me…" he grumbled. "But whatever…"
Levy gave him a small smile. Gajeel looked back at her, surprised at the friendly gesture. Besides, she was pretty. Very pretty. For a moment Gajeel considered doing something romantic (YUCK!) but then he pulled his gaze away, and a blush found its way onto his cheeks as he stared at his shoes. Levy scooted closer to him, and Gajeel's eyes grew wide.
"Hey, now we can understand each other a little bit better," Levy said to him, smiling still.
"Uh, yeah, whatever Shorty, after this last fear we'll probably be done because there's nothing that scares the crap outta me,"
"Oh, c'mon Gajeel, there's gotta be something,"
Then, the same light that surrounded them last time engulfed them once more. Levy grabbed Gajeel's arm as they prepared for their shared fear, whatever it may be.
