As Levy and Gajeel sat on the iron bench at the train station, Levy twisted her hands nervously in her lap. "I guess I owe you-" Gajeel cut her off. "Your phone number and the promise of a date." Gajeel didn't look at her, he just continued to stare into the horizon. Levy clenched her fists tightly in her lap and squeezed her eyes shut. "I-I can't." Levy held her breath as she awaited his reaction. Gajeel sat up from his relaxed position. "Why not? It's not like I'm asking you for sexual favors!" He laughed. Levy's eyes flew wide as her head snapped in his direction. Gajeel's brow furrowed.

Levy bowed her head and clenched her fists more tightly in her lap. "I can't give you my phone number. I don't have one." Levy sighed as she sat up taller and un-clenched her fists. "I don't have a phone. I don't have a personal email either." Levy looked Gajeel in the eye as she said "I try and stay as off the grid as possible. I pay for everything out of pocket because I don't have bank accounts. I have all my mail sent to a P.O. Box. and I never walk the same route twice in one week. It makes it harder for him to find me." Levy looked at her lap again.

"Bora?" Levy nodded at Gajeel's question. "I live one block from the Guard's station. As a deterrent. He isn't supposed to come within 2 city blocks of me. That is part of the restraining order. He isn't supposed to contact me in any way, if he does, he will be sent back to prison." Levy clenched her fists again. "He and I dated before. I was fourteen. He was sixteen. I thought he was the Cat's Meow."

Gajeel leaned forward and put his elbows on his thighs and hung his head. Levy was quiet for a long time. So long, in fact, that Gajeel ended up asking "What happened?" Levy took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. "It was my birthday. I was fourteen. He told me he had a special present he wanted to give me. But he wanted to give it to me in private. I was fourteen. I was so stupid." Levy was quiet again. She felt Gajeel move, but didn't realize what he was doing until she felt strong arms lift her up and place her in his lap.

"We went up to my room. He locked the door." Gajeel wrapped his arms around her and began to gently stroke her hair. "I was fourteen. He sat on my bed and told me to sit in his lap. I was so stupid." Levy was quiet for a long time again. Gajeel said nothing. He simply continued to stroke her hair and hold her. "He asked me if I wanted it. I said I did. He asked me if I really wanted it. I laughed and told him to give me my present. I was so stupid." Levy took a shaky breath as she stared sightslessly at her feet. Her eyes widened and her breathing became ragged as she began reliving what had happened.

Warm hands framed her face and Levy panicked. She swung wildly, trying to get away. "NO! STOP! PLEASE BORA! PLEASE STOP!" Levy felt the hands around her face tighten slightly, and she fought harder. Her eyes stared unseeing at a face, but all she saw was the face of the boy that had torn her childhood from her.

"LEVY!"

Levy blinked. Her eyes focused on the face staring back at her. Her brow furrowed and she stopped fighting. "Gajeel?" As Levy's head cleared, she realized she had been beating Gajeel as hard as she could. "Oh god. Gajeel I'm-" He cut her off before she could get the words out. "Don't." Levy closed her mouth and Gajeel pressed his forehead to her own as he closed his eyes. "Don't apologize for surviving. Never apologize for that." Levy nodded as she took a deep, shaky breath.

Gajeel let her face go and sat back, pulling her into his chest as he did. Levy rested her head on his chest, right above his heart. "We started making out. We had never done more than make out. He started pushing the boundaries. Putting his hand up my shirt, groping me through my shirt. I was nervous, but I believed him when he said it was ok. That I would like it." Levy sighed before she continued. "Eventually my shirt came off. He started kissing me all over. I thought it was sweet. He was being sensitive."

Levy scoffed. "I was stupid." Levy clenched her fists and tensed her jaw as she remembered how she had trusted Bora, believed that he was in love with her. "He kissed his way down to my pants and undid my button with this teeth. I told him I wasn't ready. He started kissing me all over again. I forgot about my button. At some point he undid my zipper. I never noticed. Not until he started rubbing my hips and putting his finger under my panties. I told him he couldn't do that and went to do my pants back up." Levy paused. "He got angry." She lifted her left hand to her temple. "He hit me. Hard."

Gajeel stopped breathing and his arms tensed around her. "I woke up on my stomach thinking it had been a bad dream. I had to go to the bathroom. I felt sick and the room was wobbly." Levy stared sightlessly at Gajeel's bicep. "I tried to get up. I couldn't move. I had to go to the bathroom, and the room was still wobbly. When my head cleared a little more, I realized that I couldn't move because there were ropes on my hands and feet. There was also a pillow under my hips. I thought that was odd. Then I heard heavy breathing above me. I turned to look at who was in my room."

Levy shivered as she brought her knees to her chest and hugged them. "Bora was there. He didn't have a shirt on, which I thought was odd. He never took his clothes off. I realized that Bora was swaying at the same tempo that the room was wobbling. I realized that I had to go to the bathroom because Bora was sodomizing me." Levy felt tears burning hot down her cheeks and she wiped them away angrily. "I cried. I begged him to stop. He hit me again. He told me to keep quiet or he would keep hitting me. I cried into my bed. For 2 hours. He finished twice."

Levy stopped speaking for a while. She simply hugged her knees to her chest and listened to the steady beat of Gajeel's heart. "The second time he...entered me I was awake. It was painful. He hit me when I screamed. He told me nobody would believe me if I said anything. I believed him. I kept thinking I had done or said something to make him think that what he was doing was ok."

Levy felt Gajeel's warm, strong hands frame her face again. She didn't fight him as he turned her gaze to him. "Don't ever think it was your fault. He is a sick man. It wasn-" Levy cut him off. "I know that now. I was fourteen. I was scared. Even in the middle of all that horror, I believed Bora." Levy smiled sadly before she continued. "He left me tied to my bed. Crying and bleeding. I was so scared. Cana found me a half hour after he left." Gajeel's voice was curious as he asked if Cana was Levy's sister. Levy shook her head. "No. Cana is an orphan. We both are. Cana untied me and went to get Poluchka. She was like a grandmother to all of us kids without families."

Levy smiled sadly at the mention of Poluchka's name. "She died last year. All of us orphan's showed up at her funeral. Her family wasn't happy." Levy was quiet for a few moments. "Bora got out of prison three days later. I called Cana on the campus pay-phones. I had been dreading that day for 6 long years." Levy sighed. "I called poor Cana every day. I also called the Guard's station every day. He had left town after his parole ended 3 months ago. The Guard lost track of him at that point. Lu-Chan doesn't know, so she thought my anxiety was over the upcoming semester. She thought that this trip would do me good."

Levy lifted her hand to her eye. "When I got hit after Lucy pulled me into that dance circle, everything came rushing back. When you picked me up from the floor of the Mosh Pit earlier, all I could see was your scary piercing's and your angry eyes. You're a big man, and that terrified me. All I could think of was this big, scary guy in front of me, doing the same thing to me as he had." Levy relaxed into Gajeel's chest and arms. "I'm sorry for making a snap judgment. After seeing you with Wendy, and how you defended me from him, I changed my mind."

Gajeel's pocket vibrated as his cell phone went off some time later. "Aren't you going to get that?" At her question, Gajeel reached in his pocket. "It's Natsu. Lucy wants to know if you want her to come get you. I can tell him I already left the station and that I can't answer his question...?" Levy shook her head. "No, tell him we are on our way back. Tell him to tell Lu-Chan that we are renting a hotel tonight. No more sleeping in her damn car." Gajeel kept her caged in with his arms as he typed his response. "I told Natsu to have Gray come get us." Levy nodded.