Staying awake was his first priority that night. His body was aching in exhaustion; his mind was tired from being tortured by his own thoughts, not to think of the pictures in his head. He tried hard not give in to sleep until a restless slumber slept upon him. Blurred pictures crossed his mind along with loud voices, rowdy laughter and faint calls that all combined into an irritating noise in his head. The faint calls turned into alarmed screams which were getting louder and louder. His eyelids fluttered and he opened his eyes, his blurry visions getting sharp since his eyes easily adjusted to the darkness. As he regained consciousness, he realized that something was moving on his lap. It was a blue, messy ball that was tossing a turning back and forth on top of his legs. She groaned as she turned around one more time. Something was wrong. Did she call me in her sleep? Does she have a nightmare just like me?, he thought wondering about the restless sleep of the bluenette. She groaned one more time, now it clearly sounded like she groaned with pain, turning her face in his direction. He patted her head with his large hand in hopes of calming her down a little bit. She relaxed for a moment, until she was caught up in her nightmare once again. Her facial expression changed drastically as he watched her narrowly. She began to mumble something in her sleep. No… no… please don't, she muttered, slightly contorting her face. Don't… let me go, her voice slightly panicking. His mind already produced vivid pictures in his head as he ran his fingers though her blue hair trying to soothe her. Don't touch me there…it hurts… stop… don't, she cried out hysterically. His fingers stopped just as his breathing. There was this stabbing pain in the chest again. He sat there, holding his hand stiff on top of her head, his fingers tangled in her curly hair, trying to breathe. It was as if he was paralyzed from shock. He felt helpless and that was definitely new to him. He could immediately tell that he didn't like that feeling.
The girl was getting more and more anxious in her far to realistic nightmare. Please don't touch me there… mph… no air, she whimpered and raised her arms protectively over her chest, her lips trembling. The Dragon Slayer growled dangerously, still unable to move. Frozen in shock he watched her relive her trauma of the last days.
Gajeel, she muttered, help… Gajeel… GAJEEL! Her crying out his name swapped him out of his paralyzed state. GAJEEL, she cried out once more as she breathed fitfully curling herself up in a ball. The way she hugged herself in this fetal position looked like a fragile way of self-defense.
"I'm here Levy," he said with a husky voice taking the little, broken, blue ball in his muscular arms. "Sssh I'm right here." He stroked a tear away from her cheek, rocking her smoothly.
"Gajeel?" the bluenette whispered. "Where am I?"
"Safe," he said squeezing her firmer to his chest.
The girl took a deep breath, inhaling his scent, the fear of her previous nightmare fading away, as if his strong arms would shield her from everything and anything that tried to harm her. She sighted in relief, noticing that her heartbeat was slowly calming down.
They sat it silence for a while. He held her tiny body in his arms as her head rested on his shoulder. His fingers gently stroked her back. He cleared his throat before he spoke.
"Are you okay?"
"Mh," she nodded approving.
"Look at me," he ordered, as he observed her sharply. Her breathing was regular again, her face was not as pale as before and she even smiled at him with her usual, grateful smile. But it was her eyes that revealed the truth. There was no lie in those big, brown eyes. And they looked hurt. He noticed it right away. He knew that she tried to hide it like she always did. She would cover her tears with a smile and fall apart by herself when she would be alone or at least think she would be. That was her odd way of protecting him and he hated it.
"Levy," he said in a coarse voice, "Would you like to talk about it?"
"It was just a stupid nightmare Gajeel," she said with a pretend laugh, avoiding his eyes. She couldn't fool him; he studied her well to know better.
"How far did they go?" his voice was stricken with pain.
She looked at him with embarrassment.
"I'm sorry Lev', I have to know what happened to you and if you're… hurt. somewhere. else," he said with a broken voice.
He was sure that she hasn't been raped, since he would've sense it right away, however that was all he knew. She tried hard to pull herself together before she started talking.
"At the morning where we wanted to visit the Ancient Library of Magnolia together a few men from the park appeared at my apartment. I told them to leave and that you were about to come to my place but that did not intimidate them… it was more like they appreciated it. Everything went so fast…one of the men knocked me down and I was dragged to the guild," the girl explained while she touched her head, feeling the bruise on her skull absent-minded. He clenched his fists, but tried to calm himself down in order that she continued talking.
"When they arrived at the guild… there was one man who seemed to… like me… somehow." The Dragon Slayer growled. "He said he wanted to have some fun with me," her voice was shaking as she searched for his eyes. They looked bitter.
"He undressed me in front of the guild and groped me," she whispered, her voice failing her.
There was silence between them. He looked with a frosty stare on the wall in front of him. He felt her piercing look on his face. He felt numb. Finally he was able to ask: "Are you hurt?" his voices sounded stiff, but his eyes that met hers looked gentle and genuinely worried.
"I was not being raped, Gajeel. You came the exact moment he…"
"I know," he interrupted her; he didn't wanted to hear what she was about to say. He didn't want her to even say things like that. "Are you hurt?" he repeated his question once again.
"It hurts a little bit," she admitted.
His questioning look met hers. He actually couldn't tell that she felt pain. He always knew she was tough girl, even if she may doesn't look like it, but she hid her pain for his sake way too good.
"My… breasts are sore… and… you know… the neither region aches pretty badly… I… I was just never touched there before so…" The Dragon Slayer growled in pain. His voice was low and dangerous, but also kind of harassed and moanful, it made her shiver. That whimper of pain reminded her of an injured predator. That's how a dragon in pain sounds like, the girl thought. It sounded frightening and heartbreaking at the same time.
„Gajeel," she whispered, reaching out her hand to stroke his cheek. Something wet touched her fingertips. She tenderly brushed his tears away and he buried his face into her curly hair, trying hard to choke back tears and the outburst of rage at the same time.
"I'm sorry Levy!" he muttered into her hair. "I'm so fucking sorry that I couldn't protect you from that. You were suffering all by yourself and I couldn't be there for you," his voice getting louder. "Why couldn't I pick up your scent earlier, why?" he screamed punching his fist on the ground.
"Gajeel please stop!" the girl cried out searching for eye contact with the Dragon Slayer, already regretting telling him the whole story.
"And stop blaming yourself this instant! It's my fault that I wasn't able to protect myself against some enemies, that's the risk of being in a guild. I was aware of that! Why do you even bother that much? I know we are friends and Fairy Tail is family, but you…why Gajeel why?"
"Because I vowed to myself that I'll always protect ya from everything shrimp," he roared.
"Why?" first she looked at him aghast, then angry. "Don't tell me it's due to our past because you don't have to make up for…"
"It's because I can't stand seeing you hurt god dammit'," he yelled.
It took a while for her to let the confession sink in.
"Oh," she gulped.
"Yeah," he exhaled.
"But why?" she asked hesitant, looking him straight in the eyes.
A few minutes later he answered: "Because of your tiny little fists," he chuckled.
"What?" she asked unbelieving.
He smirked at her and said: "Look, ya know I'm not good at saying' stuff...I'm just asking for the right to protect ya, that's all."
"Mh okay…thanks," she mumbled blushing.
"Gihi," he smirked wider while positioning her comfier in his arms.
