A/N: This fic hasn't really received much attention and that didn't really help with the lack of motivation to finish this, so it's being turned into a multi-shot. Sorry!

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Chapter 3: The Smell of Fear

The moment Levy diverted her attention off of him, Gajeel's red eyes had diverted back onto her, watching as the oblivious petite mage retreated. It wasn't until she was no longer in sight that Gajeel diverted his red eyes back onto the scrap of metal before him.

She was an odd lil thing.

After all, she had been trembling at the mere sight of him ever since he first got here. And now, ever since last week, it was as if that fear, the smell of fear that was usually caked on her, was gone. Why was that?

Was protecting her from one little measly attack from the blonde lightning brat a week ago really enough to drown out her fear of him? Or was it because he actually ended up protecting her several times throughout the whole Laxus ordeal?

Either way, just protecting her a few times wasn't nearly enough for him to earn her forgiveness.

At least not to him.

Not when he literally beat the shit out of her and her teammates and then hung them up for the whole world to see afterwards. And did he mention how he branded them like animals in the midst of it all?

Fuckin' fantastic.

Gajeel threw a handful of metal bits into his mouth, messily grinding them up as his thoughts continued for better or for worse. Hell, he wasn't one to put much thought into anything if he didn't have to; if anything, he mostly acted on instinct or the spur of the moment. Naturally, it would seem as if that habit still existed, but it wasn't too often that he protected someone else.

Let alone do it on instinct.

It was an enigma to himself just as much as it probably was to the chibi.

Which was probably why she had been staring at him the past week. After all, the petite mage always sat in the same spot whenever she arrived, so it was damn near impossible to miss. Not to mention, she always had some sort of big ass book - books that seemed twice her size - in her possession. Though, he couldn't figure out why the hell she even brought the damn thing if all she was going to do was stare at the back of his head. If she liked staring at him that damn much, then maybe she should do something about it. Or say something, at least.

Hell, whichever one suited her the most.

Then again, judging from how long it took her to say - or rather, stammer - thank you, that wouldn't be anytime soon. A low "Gihi" burst past his lips, something of which cost him a few strange looks from those that were nearby, but Gajeel didn't care. To hell with them. If they thought he was oblivious to the dirty looks some of the guild members still threw his way, or the low murmurs they thought he couldn't hear, then they were nothing more than a bunch of high-horsed idiots.

Gajeel wasn't as big as an idiot people thought him to be anyways. He knew people still didn't trust him and he knew that those that dared to send him a smile or acted like they liked him, were all fake. He saw right through them. And he wouldn't have it any other way as that meant that he was less likely to be bothered and aggravated with them. He hardly liked dealing with people anyway.

Except Juvia, of course.

After all, he and Juvia originated from the same guild and she didn't seem to rub him the wrong way like many people seemed to do in the past. Either they'd try to suck up to him or they'd end up following him around like lost puppies until he none-too-kindly told them to 'scram'. He wasn't sure what their issue was at Phantom Lord Guild, but he wanted no part of their shit. So, in a nutshell, he hardly associated with anyone then and Gajeel doubted that that would change anytime soon.

Then again, it didn't seem if things would be like that at Makarov's guild; no, some were just beginning to trust him and some...not so much.

Either way, it wasn't as if it mattered.

The only thing that mattered was the slight inner turmoil he seemed to have going on as of late. On pure instinct alone, he had protected the small mage when Laxus dared to attack her for interfering that day. And if that was all that happened, then he wouldn't have continued to think much of it, but he found himself 'instinctively' protecting her again for the second time later on.

Specifically, when she came in the midst of he and Natsu attempting to take down Makarov's bat-shit grandson in tears - revealing to them that the old man was ill.

Of course, Gajeel wasn't an idiot. Gajeel knew exactly what she had hoped to accomplished by relaying that to Laxus, but it certainly didn't change much. If anything, it seemed to add more fuel to the fire and the lightning brat ultimately attempted to unleash Fairy Law upon them all - a spell that gets rid of all of whom the caster views as their enemy.

Needless to say, Gajeel found himself before the teary-eyed petite mage again, futilely shielding her from an attack that could be the death of them all.

Then again, if he actually took the time to consider a few things. Perhaps it wasn't a complete enigma as to why he had instinctively protected her time after time. In the back of his head, perhaps he felt somewhat guilty because, while he did know back then that they, Shadow Gear, were weakest link of the group, it was as if seeing her day-to-day did nothing but confirm that even more.

After all, she did nothing but read and stick her head in books all day and it was more than clear that someone like her couldn't hurt a fly even if she tried to.

The blue-haired woman was literally as harmless as they came and he didn't think that she had a shred of evil or malice in her.

Hell, and if she could already forgive him for what he did to her, then that was further testament to the fact that she was the purest thing he has ever been exposed to. When he first arrived here, he expected her to both fear and hate him forever - and rightfully so. Hell, if anyone was justified to such a thing, it was her and there was just no doubt about it.

Granted, he had messed up her little blonde friend, Lucy, as well, but that didn't nearly compete with the state he left Levy in.

Levy was branded, bleeding, barely breathing and unconscious by the time he was near finished with her. Plus, she was just so tiny and small and...fragile. And unlike with Lucy, no one ever came to save Levy from him; the small girl had been completely at his mercy from beginning to end.

The Iron Dragon Slayer found his chewing subconsciously slowing a bit; nonetheless, just as his chewing continued...

so did his thoughts.

Even still, even if he did suspect that his body was subconsciously protecting her out of guilt, it wouldn't matter. In the end, he could protect her for the rest of his life probably and that still wouldn't make up for what he did to her. Or, perhaps, once she got somewhat more comfortable with him, he could train her and work with her in so as to make her stronger.

She was far from a fighter when compared to Natsu, Juvia, or even Erza and it made him wonder how those pathetic pansies on her team even managed to protect her up to this point.

Hell, even back then, she had been pulling most of the weight and was clearly the one in charge of Team Shadow Gear, but it was clear to him that they weren't worth a damn. All they even did was argue over her in the first place and Gajeel found that quite ironic given that they couldn't even protect her. And what irritated him more than he would like to admit is that they weren't even training to get stronger.

Were they even serious about protecting her?

Or was it just some pathetic scheme to get close to her?

Gajeel scoffed.

Chumps like them really made his blood boil.

Unfortunately, he was never one to be good with words or anything like that. Not when it came to delicate matters like these; the only thing he had ever been good at was fighting and using his fists. And Gajeel was pretty sure that it was going to remain that way, so for the time-being, he'd use that - his fists - as a start towards showing her how much he regretted his actions.

Like he stated earlier, protecting her when needed wouldn't do much in regards to making anything up to her, but it was a start.

And it was a whole lot better than what her own teammates could do for her at least.

In addition, he wasn't against training her so that she could at least put up a decent enough fight that made him slightly more comfortable. But for now he would wait and protect her from a distance.

She had thanked him for his actions and he would be sure to give her something to really thank him for.

Not matter how long or how much effort it took from him to do so.