Immure: \ih-MYOO r\ - to shut in; seclude or confine.
Laughter filled the guildhall, the dormitory, even the town wasn't left untouched by the noise. He couldn't escape it, no matter how hard he tried, no matter how many walls he put up around himself. People smiled at him when they passed by, they asked him how his day was. The actions of these people seemed so foreign to him. He didn't understand how they could be so kind to him after everything he had done.
Gajeel had always followed directions. He did what he had to in order to survive. The only thing to show him love disappeared out of nowhere, leaving him alone. That day he lost his laughter, his joy, his father. He had been picked up by Phantom Lord at a young age. There he learned about rage, pain, and power. That's all that mattered to a Phantom Lord mage. There was no laughter, no smiling, no love. He had been used as a pawn in Jose's evil game of chess. When Makarov offered a position at Fairy Tail, Gajeel was dumbfounded. He had reluctantly agreed in the end.
Someone like him didn't belong in a place like this. He didn't deserve to be treated so warmly by the same people he had recently attacked. He was a part of the guild he single handedly destroyed only months ago. The guilt weighed down on him every time he took a step inside the guildhall, but nothing compared to the pain he felt whenever he saw that small, fiery blue-haired mage. When she was in the same room he found it difficult to breathe. All he could do was picture her pinned to that tree, the desperate look she had given him before he knocked her out, her gut wrenching screams…
She had been the most accepting of him joining Fairy Tail, going as far as defending him when the other guild members questioned his accountability to the guild. She tried initiating conversation every time she saw him, giving him that soft smile she had. It was the same smile she'd give him when she'd catch him staring at her while she was reading a book, eyes locked onto his, her glasses slipping down her nose ever so slightly. Gajeel tried to avoid her when he could. He didn't understand why she was so insistent on talking to him.
Gajeel sat at a vacant table, enjoying a hot meal before he retreated back into the confinement of his bedroom walls. The need to immure himself grew the longer he sat there. He was oblivious to his surroundings as he scarfed down his food. He didn't notice the big hazel eyes watching him from across the room. When he finished his meal, he hastily left the main hall and headed towards the dorms. Lost in his thoughts, he didn't hear the soft pattering of small feet behind him until it was too late.
"Gajeel!" a woman's voice called out to him.
He turned around to come face to face, well more like chest to face, with none other than Levy Mcgarden, the blue haired mage of his nightmares. She had him cornered in an empty hallway. The scowl on her face told him not to make a move. He averted his eyes to the floor but he could still feel her gaze focused on him.
"Finally. I have something I wanted to tell you." She told him. Gajeel hitched his breath, waiting for her next words.
"I… I forgive you!" She cried out. "I forgive you for what you did, Gajeel."
At the sound of her voice, he lifted his gaze to meet hers. Her eyes were sincere, searching his for a reaction. Levy wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tightly. He felt something crack inside of him. It was a crack in the foundation, the foundation of walls he built around his immured heart.