Author's note: Chapter 8! This is going to get real juicy! Enjoy! TRIGGER WARNING: ATTEMPTED RAPE.


Chapter 8: Trauma.

"You're going away with Natsu?" Levy asked Lucy while Lucy packed some stuff in a suitcase. It had been weeks since Levy went to the recording studio with Gajeel. Winterbreak officially started at Levy's campus a few weeks ago, so she wasn't going back to school until late January.

"Yep," Lucy said while packing away a pair of scandalous looking underwear "He invited me for a week at his beach house in Akane. You going to be ok by yourself for the week?" Levy perked up for a moment hearing Lucy ask this question.

"Yeah." She lied with a smile on her face "I'll be fine." The truth was Levy wanted to spend some time with her best friend; ever since Natsu visited them, he's been texting Lucy non-stop, hanging out with her and even broke into their apartment a few times so they could hang. (Levy learned from Gajeel that that's Natsu's way of hanging out with people, it didn't usally bother people cause they liked the guy enough.) About last night, Natsu called Lucy up telling her about his Beach House in Akane and offered her to go with him for a week. Don't get Levy wrong, she was thrilled for her best friend, she was getting to spend time with the man of her dreams. But, Levy was kind of hoping they could do something together.

"Alright," Lucy said while closing the bag and zipping it up "I'm meeting with Natsu down stairs, wish me luck, if you know what I mean." She gave Levy a wink "And who knows, maybe I'll hear something about you and Gajee-"

"Lu-chan!" Levy moaned. Ever since her and Gajeel started their friendship and began to get closer, Lucy had been teasing Levy about Gajeel.

"I mean come on, I can imagine you two on romantic boat rides, getting married, getting a little wild under the co-"

"LU-CHAN!" The sound of a car horn was heard from outside.

"LUCY!" a voice screamed from outside.

"That's Natsu." Lucy replied "I better get going, see you next week!" with that said, Lucy walked out of the apartment to go to Natsu's car.

That was it, Levy was alone now. But the question was, what was she going to do now? Maybe you should call him. said a voice in Levy's head See if Gajeel wants to hang out. NO, Bad Brain! Levy promised this was going to be a Gajeel-free week. Yeah, since the two started getting closer, they were hanging out more. But, Levy would think back to how Gajeel was acting the day at the Recording Studio, and how protective he was of her towards Ivan. Since then, Levy had an unsure feeling about him. She wasn't sure what, but it was a completely unsure one.

"Maybe that new bookstore is open." Levy sighed ten minutes after Lucy left the apartment for the week "Only one way to find out." Levy got up from the couch, walked over to the coat hanger, grabbed her coat and left for the bookstore.


"Have a good night Miss!" called out the owner of the bookstore. It was 8pm, The Lilac Bookstore's closing time "Are you sure you don't need help Miss?"

"I'm fine thank you!" Levy called out "My apartment isn't too far from here!" the door of the shop closed and the owner put the 'Closed' sign on the door. Levy walked with a merry hum and a smile on her face. She just bought a great deal of books; and all at an amazing price! Levy looked into her two bags of multiple books and smiled, tonight was a sure sign this week alone was going to be an amazing one. As Levy continued to walk down the streets of Magnolia, she began to feel uneasy; like someone was watching her. Levy looked behind herself but no one was there. She shrugged and continued down the sidewalk.

As five minutes passed, Levy still felt uneasy. That feeling of someone's eyes boreing into her was still there. She looked around again and still found no one in sight. Levy then broke out into a dash; she ran as fast as she could before suddenly felt someone grab her hard and pull her into an alleyway.

"Well look what we have here." said a male voice "A cute little woman on her way home from a night out." Levy suddenly gasped when she felt the man grope her chest and pull a knife out and near her throat "Don't scream. It will only be for a few moments."

"P-please." Levy begged "Let me go."

"No thank you. I rather have you." He pulled Levy on the ground and began to climb on top of her.

"If it's money you want you can have it! Just please, let me go and let me live!"

"Can't do that sweet stuff. The moment my eyes laid on you, I knew you were going to be my next." Levy's eyes widened in horror; this man was going to do major harm to her.

With all the strength she could muster, Levy freed a leg and kicked her assaulter square where it hurts. She got up and ran as fast as she could but she felt someone grab her ankle and pull her to the ground.

"You bitch!" The assailant screamed while dragging her back to him.

"Just please!" Levy begged "Let me go! I won't tell! I promise!"

"Sorry." cooed the assailant "I have no choice; I got to kill you." Levy felt her heart stop for a second, and not in a good way. He then leaned in closer to her ear "But I'm going to have some fun with you before I do my job." Levy let out a large squeak only to have it be covered by the man's hand "Shut your mouth you little bitch!" he slapped Levy "I'm being 'hired' to do this. But 'They' said I can have fun with you." Levy's eyes widened even more and tears began to fall; this man was nuts "Now, just be a good little girl and let me have some fun." He began to press against Levy's inner thigh and Levy was disturbed to find a foreign object pressing against her.

"NO! Please! NO!" she screamed. But her hand was muffled by his hand. He began to loosen his pants and was forcefully removing Levy's pants while holding the knife to Levy's throat. But before he could even get close to his goal, he felt a gun at the temple of his head. Levy let out a sigh of relief; it was two female officers.

"Drop the knife and let her go." said one female cop. The man did what he was told and the other cop handcuffed him. The cop who had her gun out had a tan skin tone, a long haircut with braids and two buns in the shape of bunny rabbit ears. The other was a much lighter skin tone and had short white hair. The man was lifted off of Levy and was taken to the Police Car nearby. Levy recognized the symbol on the car right away; it was Sabertooth Police Department.

"You ok?" The first cop asked Levy. She handed Levy back her pair of pants for her to put on.

"Y-yeah." Levy gulped "T-thank you."

"We've been searching for that man for quite sometime. He's known to rape and murder his victims. You got away very lucky Miss, you would of been next. But thanks to you, that man is going away for a long time. Officer Minerva Orlando by the way. That young woman detaining the man was my partner Officer Yukino Aguria."

"L-Levy, Levy McGarden."

"Miss McGarden, we're going to have to take you back to the station for questioning. We'll call another car to escort you of course." Levy nodded and was helped up by the officer.


Sabertooth Police Department was loaded with people that day. Most of them were cops lurking about, people who were drunk or stoned out of their minds, committed a crime, people waiting for their loved one to be bailed out. Levy was sitting on one of the benches alone. She clutched her arms together as if she was shivering. Levy couldn't believe what she just went through; she was almost raped and murdered. All this time, Levy felt that Magnolia was a safe little town. But now, that bubble that made her feel so safe and secure was popped and Levy felt she was in an abyss of loneliness; she couldn't be alone.

"I brought you some cocoa." said an officer with short blonde hair "I'm Chief of Sabertooth Police, Sting Eucliffe. Thank you for telling us what you could back there." Levy took the cocoa and gave him a nod of thanks "Miss, my best advice for you is to not stay alone. Do you have any family we can call to pick you up?"

"No." Levy said quietly "Parents died years ago, Grandparents died before I was eighteen and no one on either side of my family bothered with me."

"Sorry to hear." nodded Chief Eucliffe "What about friends? Do you have any friends willing to take you in during this time?" Levy thought for a moment, she couldn't call Lucy; she was hundreds maybe thousands of miles away with Natsu having the time of her life and probably doing God knows what. If she called Jet or Droy, they would argue over who Levy would stay with and it would get ugly. Erza was away with her long distance boyfriend, Jellal and she didn't want to disturb that. Mira was away with Laxus at a resort on Galuna Island for a few weeks, and Lisanna was away with Elfman at a Siblings Olympics thing. Basically, Levy had no one to be with during this difficult time.

You do have someone. said a small voice in Levy's head Just call him, he'll help you!

No. said another voice He wouldn't want to be bothered.

He cares about you! the small voice insisted He'll come running in a second! He's your only hope, and he'll be your rock through the whole thing! Levy sighed, it looks like she had no choice.

"There is someone." she told Chief Eucliffe "His name is Gajeel Redfox."


Gajeel was having the time of his life. Well, in your point of view it may not be, but this was a night Gajeel truly felt was Heaven. He was lying on the couch in his Living Room, in nothing but his underwear, the TV was playing crappy comedy movies (Mostly of the Scary Movie Franchise), a pizza box was on the floor filled with only a quarter of the contents of the box (the rest either on Gajeel's plate or in his stomach), a few empty soda cans were lying on the ground and Gajeel's cat Pantherlily was lying on the arm of the couch, fast asleep. Gajeel let out a few laughs at some comedy scenes while finishing his slice and planning to go for the next one. He also was planning to tackle that six-pack of beer in his fridge and go off to bed in a drunken bliss. He heard his cellphone begin to ring and he paused the movie to look at who was calling. Gajeel didn't know the number, but he answered it anyway.

"Yeah?" he grunted into the phone.

"Excuse me," said the voice "is this Gajeel Redfox?"

"Yeah? What's it too ya?"

"My name is Chief Sting Eucliffe of Sabertooth Police Dept. I'm calling you becau-"

"If this is some kind of scam to get me to make a 'donation' then you can kiss my as-"

"This isn't a scam." Officer Eucliffe reassured "I'm calling you because of your friend Levy McGarden." Gajeel felt his heart stop for a second.

"What about her?" Gajeel asked in a slightly scared tone.

"There was an incident." The Officer explained "Your friend was on her way home and was attacked." Gajeel felt his heart break.

"S-she's not- is she?"

"No, she's fine and safe. She's right next to me at the Police Station." Gajeel let out a breath he didn't know he was holding "We're calling because we're afraid to leave her alone. Since we couldn't get into contact with anyone..." Gajeel knew where this was going.

"Yeah, I'll come pick her up! Let the Shrimp know I'm on my way." he hung up, got up, quickly cleaned up the area, grabbed his clothes and a pair of shoes. Lily let out a large yawn, walked over to where his Master laid and took over the spot. Gajeel grabbed his famous fur coat, one of his car keys and left his home.


"LEVY!" Gajeel screamed when running through the police station.

"Gajeel!" Levy called out. Gajeel ran over to where Levy was and hugged her tightly. The people in the Police Station were shocked; Gajeel Redfox of The Elemental Dragons was standing right there. Women gasped in delight seeing him, it was like a dream come true. But they wanted to know, why the hell he was hugging this girl?

"The hell happened?!"

"I-I was just walking home and I got pulled into an alley and-and-" Levy began to sob just thinking about it.

"A man tried to rape and murder her." said Officer Minerva who filled in for Levy. Gajeel's face turned to pure anger.

"Where the hell's that bastard?" Gajeel growled.

"We arrested him. We set his bail at a very high number so he's not leaving any time soon." Gajeel nodded in understanding "Can we speak to you in private, since doesn't have any family, we need someone to sign the documents to release her into someone's care?" Gajeel nodded but not before taking off his famous fur coat, and putting it around Levy.

"Keep it safe for me Shrimp." he told her. Levy clutched the furry jacket closer to her body like a Security Blanket. The women who were there looked at Levy in anger, jealousy and disgust. Levy was wearing the coat of Gajeel Redfox! A coat that should be one of their shoulders! What was so special about her? Gajeel walked up to the front desk, and found a blonde young man with a mask at the desk.

"Mr. Redfox," said the man at the front desk "I'm Dr. Rufus Lore, I'm Sabertooth Police Dept.'s Psychologist." Gajeel raised a studded eyebrow, Police Stations have Phsycologists? "I took a quick look at Miss McGarden and-"

"She's not going to go into shock is she?" Gajeel interrupted.

"No, I think the trauma from this event gave Miss McGarden a temporary fear of being alone."

"Is something like that even possible?"

"Can be." Explained Rufus "Because Miss McGarden was alone when the attack occurred, the fear manifests from that and she's afraid the attack could happen again. Before you got here she was refusing to let our Chief leave her side she was so scared." To be honest, Gajeel didn't like hearing the idea of Levy clinging onto another man "Reason was because he's a Police Officer, someone to be trusted. She'll be refusing to be alone when she's with you."

"How long is this going to last?" Gajeel asked.

"Until the shock of the event wears off. I don't think she's going to develop PTSD but, my best advice is to stay with her. I'm mostly fearing she could end up doing something crazy." Gajeel didn't like the sound of the words 'Something Crazy'. Did this guy think Levy was going to- no. The Shrimp was not that type of person. Even if she was thinking about it, he'll stop her.

"Just sign a few of these papers so we know she was released in safe hands." Rufus handed Gajeel the papers which he signed, but Gajeel noticed one of those papers were completely blank.

"Uh hey, I think you made a mistake here." Gajeel pointed with the pen.

"No actually, some of us here were hoping you could give us an autograph that we can hang up here at the station." Gajeel let out a small sigh and began to sign the blank piece of paper which he handed in along with the paper work.

Gajeel then walked over to Levy who was still sitting on the bench, clutching onto his jacket. He kneeled down to Levy's height and put his hands on her shoulders.

"Come on Shrimp," he said with a reassuring tone "let's go."

"W-where are we-" she asked a little confused.

"We're going to my place. You're staying with me for a while." Levy's eyes widened; in the months she's known Gajeel, she never once been to his house. But at a time like this, Levy rather be at his home than anywhere else. Before she got up, she grabbed Gajeel and hugged him around his neck.

"P-please," she sobbed into his neck "don't leave me alone." Gajeel gave her a weak smile and hugged her back.

"I can only promise that if you promise me something." Levy tensed up hearing those words.

"W-what?"

"Don't leave my side." Levy felt tears fall from her face and Gajeel could feel her smiling.

"Mmhmm." she hummed.