Chapter 4

Don't judge a book by its cover

By Neko Erza

Gajeel comfortingly caressed her hair, which startled the little bluenette. As if he only noticed now what he was doing, Gajeel quickly retracted his hand and stood up. He pulled her to her feet but didn't look at her.

"You should go take a shower and clean up." He said as he hold her arm to keep her balanced.

"Yeah." The girl whispered. Her sobbing had stopped but tears still ran down her bloodied face. That moment Levi felt so empty inside that she didn't care whether the dragon slayer saw her cry or not. She just wanted to close her eyes and fall asleep, hopeful to wake up some place else, but she knew fate wouldn't be that kind to her.

Levi pulled her arm from Gajeel's grip and staggered towards the bathroom, but after a few steps she had to hold herself up against the wall when her vision went black for a few seconds.

"Maybe you should take a bath, I don't think you can stand long enough for a shower." The black haired man grumbled. He reached back out for her arm to take a hold of her but she slapped his hand away.

"I can take it from here, thank you." The girl bit while she stumbled further.

"Fine, do it yourself already."

Levi staggered further while keeping her balance against the wall. She almost fell a couple of times on the short way to the bathroom, every time earning a mocking chuckle from the cocky dragon slayer as to make clear 'I told you, you couldn't do it'. But the girl stubbornly put through with it.

When she finally reached the bathroom she quickly shut the door and sat down on the ground, trying to ignore the pulsating pain in her head. When she calmed down some more, she stood up and stared at herself in the mirror. She had hated herself the last time she looked in it, this time she loathed herself. Bruised and bloodied her reflecting stared back.

"Fuck." She whispered as she grabbed a towel and tried to wipe the blood off as much as possible. When she got most of it off, she started to undress herself. She dropped the pants to the floor and stepped out of them. It was nice to move around without them, since she tripped over them most of the time. Gray's shirt on the other hand, she felt insecure about taking it off. It had made her feel safe and covered since they got here and taking it off felt like throwing that safety away. Her fingers hesitated at the top button.

"Come on, Levi. You really need a shower…" she whispered to herself. "By the way, it's all dirty." She looked at the shirt. Gray had worn it during their fight with Phantom Lord, which had already made it somewhat dirty. Now it was also covered in blood stains.

She finally managed to convince herself to unbutton it and let it slip from her shoulders. She shivered when she stood there without anything to cover her. Her whole body was covered in small bruises and scratches too, but there was one particular big bruise over her right breast. It was from where Gajeel had grabbed her yesterday. Another shiver sent through her body. Most of the time he was pretty friendly to her, but back then she had truly been terrified. The man could easily break her like a twig or do the things he had implied he had done to her to the master.

She decided not to think about that now and stepped into the shower. The first rays of water colored red as it ran down her hair and face, washing away the last bits of blood. The cool water had a surprisingly calming effect on her body and mind. She could finally relax her muscles and stop tensing up which took part of the pain away. She wished she could stay in there forever.

When she stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around her she looked at the mirror again. Somehow the girl staring back at her wasn't as miserable as before, which made her feel better. After she had dried off her body and hair she went back to the living room. When she walked in she saw the water woman sitting on the couch.

"Juvia is so glad you're fine." The lady said as she stood up and pulled Levi into her arms. "Juvia heard the master had visited and she came over here right away."

"He did smack her head against the wall." Gajeel mentioned.

"He did?" The older bluenette asked shocked, then noticed the new cut on Levi's forehead. "He really is horrible with prisoners."

Levi cringed down at the last word. She was sure their other prisoners, her friends, were being treated way worse than she was which made her feel awful again. But the blue haired woman's gentle smile made it possible to feel a bit better.

"Juvia brought you some clothes, shrimp." The dragon slayer said as he mentioned to a pile of clothes that lay on the couch.

"Gajeel-kun! You shouldn't call her 'shrimp', her name is…" Juvia went silent before looking at the small bluenette. "Juvia actually doesn't know your name."

"It's Levi, miss." The solid script mage said with a shy smile.

"You can call Juvia just by her first name, Levi." The rain woman smiled.

"Shrimp fits her." Was Gajeel's only reply. The rain woman shook her head at the man.

"Now, Juvia brought clothes with her, it was hard to find something in Levi's size though." She said as she turned back to Levi. "All Juvia's clothes would be too big, but I managed to find some. When she finds some more she will bring them over. These are clothes Juvia got from when she was younger, but she never really wore them. She also brought underwear, although Juvia doesn't think her bra will fit…" She looked at the girl's small chest. A small chuckle sounded from Gajeel's direction, but the rain woman quickly shot him a warning look.

"That's okay, I don't really need one anyway." Levi said. She knew she was very small and had equally small breasts. She knew all too well that Juvia's bras wouldn't fit her. 'It's like comparing the size of the earth to the sun.' It crossed Levi's mind. At the guild the only girl she could relate to was Wendy and she was only just a kid.

"Juvia is glad she could do something for you, because Gajeel-kun's pants are just way too big for everyone, there are not many people that are as ridiculously tall as him." The woman giggled, which made Levi smile.

"Well, there are some people at our guild that are taller." Levi blurted out before she knew it. 'What the hell am I saying? These people are still from Phantom, I shouldn't be talking about Fairy Tail.' To her surprise Juvia didn't get mad or silent, she just smiled like she did before.

"Really? Juvia has always like men taller than her, but there is a limit of course." She giggled again. "Who is the tallest at your guild?" The water mage tried to talk as casual as possible to the girl to make her feel safe and let her forget where she was if only for just a few minutes. Talking about happy times at her guild seemed to cheer her up and Juvia was actually kind of curious how it would be in another guild.

"I think that must be Elfman, although Laxus is pretty tall too."

"Taller than Gajeel?"

"Yes! I don't even reach halfway Laxus' chest! And Elfman is even bigger I think."

"And are they just as pretty as the boys that you came with?" Juvia tittered. A slight blush formed on Levi's cheeks.

"I don't know." She said with a shy smile. "Elfman is a bit weird, but Laxus is quite good looking to be honest. He has beautiful blonde hair and he is very muscular. But he can be quite scary and intimidating and he is very strong too."

"Hehe, that boy that gave you his shirt was very, very handsome too." Juvia said while a blush formed on her face, although Levi didn't really understand why.

"Yeah, he's very sweet too…" The solid script mage said while her smile slowly disappeared. Being reminded of him and the others was quite depressing and Juvia noticed it too so she decided it had been enough talk about the guild and it was time to round it up.

"Well, it did was sweet. But Juvia thinks it's best that you go change the shirt now." The water mage said as she looked at the blood stained shirt. She reached for the pile of clothes and gave them to the little bluenette.

"Yeah, probably."

"Juvia must go now, she's leaving for a mission. Gajeel-kun will make sure nothing happens to you." While she said that she gave another warning look to the dragon slayer who gave a light 'tsk' in response.

"Thank you very much, Juvia. I really appreciate you helping me." The solid script mage said with a sincere smile.

"Juvia hates seeing people being bullied. Now go put on your clean clothes." Juvia said as she lightly pushed Levi into the bedroom. "Juvia will come check on you again when she returns from her mission." The water mage smiled before she stepped out of the house. "Bye Gajeel-kun."

Levi closed the door and lay the pile of clothes down so she could decide what to wear. She picked out a simple black skirt that reached halfway her thigh and a white shirt. She wished there would be pants or a longer skirt since she would feel better in them, but there wasn't anything like it. She dropped the dragon slayer's pants to the floor again and carefully unbuttoned the bloodied shirt. She picked up the underwear she had chosen, although it was a bit too lacey for Levi's taste. She didn't suspect Juvia to wear something like this underneath her layers of clothes, but Levi was just happy she didn't have to walk around commando anymore so she quickly put them on. She was relieved that the panties weren't way too big. The bra on the other side she wisely ignored. She was just reaching for her new shirt when the door creaked open and the dragon slayer stepped in.

"G-Gajeel! I'm changing in here!" The girl said shocked as she quickly covered herself with her arms.

"Yeah and I need something from my closet." Gajeel said as he walked over to it. To his surprise, the girl had called him by his name, which was the first time.

"And it couldn't wait two minutes?"

"Hey, it's my house and it's not like I haven't seen you naked before." The tall man shrugged before he took something out of the closet and turned back around. He looked at the shy girl standing beside the bed with her arms carefully folded before her chest. She had cringed down a bit from the comment he had given about already having seen her naked before when she was stripped down on the square. But she soon regained some of her fighting spirit and her eyes shot up to meet his again.

"What?" The girl bit as she caught him staring at her almost naked body. It felt a bit like what happened on the guild's square, but this time she could move her arms and cover herself up, which gave her some courage.

"Nice underwear." The dragon slayer said with a sly smirk as his eyes went up and down her body. Levi could almost feel his gaze slide over her slender legs, hips and stomach, which made her press her arms even tighter against her chest. His staring and smirk started to annoy her.

"If you keep staring like that I'm going to charge you." The girl said with an angry look.

"Sorry, sorry." He apologized even though Levi could clearly hear it was fake. The man laughed and started walking towards the door. When he passed Levi he leaned towards her ear for a second while whispering. "If you're gonna charge, I'll happily hook my money behind those." He pulled one of the laces and let it snap against her flesh.

Levi felt like exploding. She didn't know whether it was from anger, shame or something else, but she sure felt like it. As soon as the man had left the room she stepped into the skirt and pulled on the white shirt.

After dressing she stayed in the room a bit longer to cool down. She picked up Gray's shirt and took it with her, the pants she left behind.

When she walked into the kitchen she went back to making dinner, which got interrupted by the master barging in. Gajeel sat at the table, unable to suppress a slight smile. Levi tried to ignore it and keep calm, since he seemed to enjoy her anger. She tried not to get too worked up, since it made the cut on her forehead ache and her head was still thumping from the smack against the wall. The rest of the meal went by in silence too, it was only after Levi had cleaned the table the first words were spoken again.

"Are you still angry, shrimp?"

The little bluenette looked at him with an empty glare. "Gee, why should I be mad?"

"Oh come on, don't be so petulant." The man chuckled.

"I think I have all the right to be petulant!" The girl snapped. "You just stared at me like some kind of pervert!"

"I'm not a pervert. I'm a man." Gajeel shrugged like that justified it. "You know, you're a bad-tempered girl."

"I'm not wasting my time on this." Levi sighed annoyed as she sat down. The dragon slayer chuckled, which made Levi glare at him. "You're quite enjoying this, aren't you?"

"You're quite amusing to see."

"What the hell do you mean?"

"One minute you're all shy and withdrawn, the next one you're all fiery and defensive… like now." The man said with a satisfied smile.

"Well I don't know how I should feel: One minute I'm treated like some kind of guest, the next one I get smacked against the wall!"

An awkward silence fell after that as the air went tense. Levi looked to the ground and felt like crying. Never in her life had she shifted between emotions as quickly as she had done in this damned place. It looked like the dragon slayer could sense the sudden change too and there was no sign of the smile he had on before. He looked at the girl who had a defeated look on her face. He had enjoyed teasing her since he loved her fiery attitude, but he hated seeing her like this.

"Oi, look at me." He finally broke the silence. The girl stubbornly refused to meet his eyes.

"Shrimp, look at me." He said again, this time more compelling which made the girl look up. When he had locked his eyes to hers and he was sure he had her attention he continued. "I won't let that happen to you again, you understand?"

The girl stared at his red eyes and was surprised to see no signs of a lie or a joke. He would really not let it happen again.

"I understand." She whispered as she shyly looked away from his intense red eyes.

"Good." The dragon slayer nodded. Then he looked at her hands. "What are you still doing with that? It's all dirty."

The girl looked at her hands too, to find that she had Gray's bloodied shirt clamped in her hands, hugging it to her chest. Now that she thought about it, the safety it had given her when she had worn it still rubbed off on her. "I…"

"It's full of blood, I'll throw it away for ya." Gajeel said as he reached for it, but the girl yanked it away.

"No!" She quickly said. "I want to keep it."

Gajeel raised one of his pierced eyebrows. "Why?"

"It's my guild mate's and… I just want to keep it." She said as she looked to the floor and hugged it tighter to her body. She felt stupid explaining that the shirt made her feel safer.

"Is he your boyfriend or something?"

The girl looked up in surprise. "What do you mean?"

"That ice mage who gave you the shirt, is he your boyfriend?"

"N-No, he isn't."

"Looks like it, since you still hang on to his dirty shirt."

"He's my Nakama. I've known Gray for more than ten years already and he has always looked out for me." Levi said with a slight smile, she found it somewhat funny that the thought and the feel of the shirt of an ice mage could make her feel warm inside. "He's like a big brother. Just like every last member of our guild, he will always take care of his Nakama. He's just really sweet."

"Really? 'Cause I heard he's quite the troublemaker."

"What do you mean?" The girl asked surprised.

"Your boyfriend has already knocked out at least five of our members since he got here, even with the magic-depriver. I don't know what you call it, but I call that a troublemaker. And he's foul mouthed too." Gajeel explained with a chuckle. He deliberately left out the part that the mage got severely punished after it.

"He's not my boyfriend and by the way, I can't blame him for not wanting to be a prisoner."

"Yeah, you fairies do have some fighting spirit in ya." The dragon slayer admitted with a chuckle.

"Fairy Tail doesn't give up. I'm sure our guild is looking for us."

"Yeah, I doubt they'd find us." Gajeel waved the comment away. "So then that Laxus person you mentioned before is your boyfriend after all?"

"What?! No, he's not!" Levi denied.

"You were quite fond of him after all." The man chuckled.

"Well, is Juvia your girlfriend?"

"Where did you get that?"

"If you ask me, you're 'quite fond' of her. You listen to her, you took me in on her behalf which means going against the wishes of your master, meaning the wishes of your guild."

"That doesn't mean she's my girlfriend."

"It doesn't, does it? So it doesn't mean any of the guys is my boyfriend." Levi said with a triumphant smile. Gajeel looked at her emotionlessly for a few seconds before letting out a laugh.

"You got me there, shrimp."

After that little conversation, Levi continued with cleaning up the kitchen and the room got silent again for a while. When she was done with everything, the dragon slayer got up.

"I'm going to bed." He said as he stretched his arms and started walking towards the door.

"G-Gajeel?" The blue haired mage asked, still feeling weird calling his name. She just got a deep hum as an answer. "If it's okay with you… could I read one of your books?"

Gajeel looked at the small girl with the hopeful look on her face. He couldn't figure out what was up with this girl and books. "Of course, go pick one out."

"Thank you!" The girl said with a big smile. She toddled after him and as he turned to go into his bedroom, she entered the bookshelf-room. She stood before the high bookcase and looked at the books, but eventually she picked out the leather book she had admired before.

She returned to the living room and sat down on the couch, which served her as a bed. She snuggled under the blanket and opened the book. She was already so into it after a short while that she didn't notice the two red eyes looking at her with a playful grin in them. Only after a few minutes she noticed him, which made her jump up a bit.

"I don't think I've ever seen somebody as excited as you are about a book." He said with a grin.

"I can't believe so little people really appreciate a good book." She said with a small smile. "It's like holding a small… life in your hands, ready to let you in on every last one of its secrets."

Gajeel had to smile at such passion. He watched how her hands slowly caressed the worn out leather book cover.

"But the one you're holding now is so old and dusty. Its cover is all worn out and ugly." Gajeel pointed out.

"Well, you should never judge a book by its cover." Levi said with a loving smile as she stared at the book in her hands.

"Well, I'm not really that much of a reader actually."

"For a non-reader you do have a lot of books." The bluenette pointed out.

"Most of them were gifts or from when I was younger." The man shrugged. The girl looked at him with a curious look, which to his surprise made him feel a bit uncomfortable. "I'm going to bed." He mumbled before turning around.

"Gajeel?" She asked before he was able to leave the room. This was the first time she had said his name without stammering.

"What is it, shrimp?" The black haired man sighed deeply, afraid she would ask him weird questions.

"I…" She paused as if trying to find the right words to say. "I know you're probably not doing this for me but…"

"But?"

"But… I'm really grateful that you are looking after me." The girl awkwardly stared at the book in front of her, finding it difficult to say these things to her 'prison guard', but she did feel grateful. "When I first met you I never thought…"

The man turned around with an almost invisible smile around his lips. "I guess you shouldn't judge a book by its cover."

End of chapter 4

I really enjoy writing for this story, I hope you have just as much fun reading it. I often make chapter-endings a cliffhanger in my stories, but for this one I thought this little part would make a nice end.

Let me know what you think or liked/disliked. Thank you for reading.