Levy would have bet her life on it, that it had been her magic they were tracking. Perhaps using teleportation magic to get the assassin in close, once they identified her. It explained why they'd gone for an entire day undetected and yet just an hour or two after she activated a rune trap, someone came knocking. She couldn't be sure if they were tracking Gajeel's, too. It was impossible to say. Just to be on the safe side, they both agreed not to use anything for the time being.

The script mage was numbed by the situation. Hallowed out. Incapable of feeling anything beyond a deep revulsion toward the person she seemed to be changing into. She'd killed a young girl. It didn't matter that it was in self defense. Someone was still dead. She felt unclean. Whoever she was now, could never go back to the woman from before. Her world was in literal tatters.

To her astonishment, Gajeel seemed openly sympathetic to what she was going though. She knew he'd killed before. And not all of them deserving of it, either. It stood to reason that he'd been in her position at some point. He sat her down on a bale of hay and set his coat over her shoulders, wordlessly. She felt herself be swallowed up in the material; the thing dwarfed her. It was a comfort in ways she truly had no means of expressing to him; a physical shield that seemed to be partially keeping the worst of her guilt at bay. She watched him go back into the inn and return with their things. Her belongings had been unceremoniously stuffed into her bag, but she didn't mind. He'd spared her the horror of having to walk back passed the innkeeper's body.

"We can't keep runnin' like this. We should wait here and take them out when they show,"

The directness of Gajeel's plan was undoubtedly the most solid idea he could come up with. Physically, she was spent. If they ran, he would be carrying her, and if it did come down to a fight they'd be at a disadvantage.

But Levy had an ace. The original plan was to use it later, but there weren't many other current options and they needed to buy themselves time. They needed to hide. If all they were after was her blood and the book, then it meant they'd to be extra careful. She doubted they'd need much.

She took her satchel and between the cursed book and the stolen manuscript there was a single sheet of torn parchment. She took it out and placed between them.

"Hold one side," She told Gajeel and the man quirked an eyebrow at her, questioningly. "It's a one use spell. It'll move us from one place to another. It wasn't meant for this..." She frowned looking at him seriously. He could see her weighing the risks. "You're going to need to empty your head of anything that might mess this up. You can't be thinking about your home while I'm thinking about mine. You understand?"

Gajeel nodded, taking the corner of the paper and straightening the backpack on his shoulders.

Levy closed her eyes and pictured the place in her mind. The paper grew hot under her fingers and she felt her entire body lurch amid a blinding flash of light.

The impact at their new location was so jarring she found herself on her backside in the dirt, the world spinning. She couldn't see him but she could hear Gajeel heaving the meagre contents of his stomach onto the ground. The paper they'd been holding was now nothing more than ash in the wind. Her fingertips stained with soot from the spell.

When she stood, finally free of the vertigo, she took a quick glance around the empty farm she'd sent them to. It was exactly as she remembered it. Even after all the years that had passed. She looked to the east, where the sun was only just rising, and knew, just out of sight beyond the ridge, her family home would still be standing. Just as they'd left it before the Baron's guards had come to drag them up the hill to the castle. She would have loved to see her home again, but it was too much of a risk. Overlooking the valley, the ruined walls of Fort Dunbray stood in memory to the last time someone tried to open a door into the well. Even the stone in the building had been consumed by the gate.

Gajeel followed her into the cottage, leaving their bags at the front door. Ready to bolt at a moments notice. From the dust and the smell it had been unoccupied for years. A thick layer covered every flat surface and made his nose itch unpleasantly. He pulled out a bag and set it on the kitchen table. Inside it was all the food he could carry from larder back at the inn. Cheese and bread and some smoked meats. Enough of the basics to keep them fed, that was, until they could figure something else out. They were going to be eating sandwiches for a while, he reckoned.

He watched, washing the motion sickness away with some water, while Levy hung his coat up and took off her shoes; setting them neatly by the door. He could tell that it was these little acts of meticulousness that were holding some parts of her together. Like the mortar at her crumbling core. Even now she was creating order around her, to balance out the turmoil in her head. She found the bedroom door and he watched her crawl onto the musty bed, fully clothed. Neither of them had slept properly in days. They'd been chased and attacked. Forced to endure. And run. Sleeping with one eye open when they did rest. Physically, Gajeel could have run the length of Fiore and had enough left for a decent enough fight, but mentally he was drained. Everything had become a tangled web of madness. His original mission to bring back Levy and destroy the book had fast fallen apart. He didn't know how to do either of those things right now. A part of him wanted to ask her why she didn't use her spell to take them back to the guild. But he knew why already. It was the same reason she left. She didn't want anyone else involved. She didn't want them hurt like Lily.

Gajeel couldn't say he didn't agree in this case. There were some powerful mages at the guild, but also children and people who didn't practice magic. Dragging this back to Fairy Tail would only lead to disaster.

He set his boots beside hers at the front door and lay down on the bed facing her. Tears were silently running across her face, over her nose, disappearing into her hair. He let out a breath he'd been holding; secretly glad that she was crying. The alternative was to bottle it all up. He knew from experience just how messed up that could leave you. He inched closer and wrapped her in his arms, bringing her against his chest. The palms of her hands fell to his shoulders while he held her by the waist, with his fingers soothingly stroking the small of her back. He'd have liked to believe that the act of comforting her was altruistic, but the truth of it was that he wanted her close to him. As much as he was comforting her, she was doing the same. It was nice to be wanted in that way. Knowing that whatever she felt for him was genuine, made him crave it more than air.

He cared.

When her eyes opened they were red from crying but as they locked with his, something washed over him. It wasn't necessarily sexual. It wasn't entirely sexual, anyway, but he felt the bond that had grown between them as though it were a living, tangible thread. The way she was looking at him, left him drunk from the sight of her alone. Her eyes seemed to swallow him whole. He let his hand glide up her arm, fingers lingering on the skin of her neck. A bruise had already begun to form, spreading out over her jaw from the attack at the inn. The blemish was ugly and tender looking.

He couldn't tell if whatever was happening was a bad idea. Or if the timing was in some way inappropriate. She was fragile right now; vulnerable. It didn't feel proper. But Gajeel knew he was a selfish bastard at heart, and at present he was acting on pure impulse; moving his hand up he wiped the dampness from her cheek with a thumb, before resting his hand there; moving a lock of hair out of the way. She sighed, eyelids closing, before leaning into him.

Levy opened her eyes only when she felt his hot breath wash across the tip of her nose; so close they were almost touching. The hand that remained, cupping her face, felt like it was the only thing keeping all the pieces of her together. He was currently the only thing anchoring her to the here and now. Relaxing into his touch she allowed him to softly angle her head up, before brushing his lips over hers. A tender gesture from a man who would have probably sworn blind he didn't know the meaning of the word. Her eyes fluttered of their own accord. Her world bottoming out beneath her.

Confused and a little disorientated, Levy leaned away from him; breaking the contact. In all the late night yearnings, and moments of solitary pleasure she'd found at the thought of Gajeel, the reality made them all pale in comparison. The barest of touches banished every thought in her head and left her mouth dry and her heart pounding in her chest. A never before experienced aching that throbbed in her gut. He might not have felt the same for her, but a selfish part didn't care. In this moment, it didn't matter whether it was love. It was enough. Just enough to drive out the darkness, if even for a little while.

She pushed herself forward and caught the Dragon Slayer momentarily off guard. The return kiss was all too brief and more than a little clumsy, but there was a trembling eagerness to it, born of longing and denial, and desperation. It wasn't something she could ever claim to have had much experience with, but pulling back she found Gajeel with that lobsided grin of his plastered across his face.

"What the hell you call that?" He said smugly and Levy's face turned bright crimson in embarrassment.

"You started it..." She mumbled under her breath, looking away sheepishly before righteous, indignant anger kicked in and she turned back to him, furious.

She opened her mouth to speak again; defend herself, but the argument never made it passed her lips before Gajeel was pressed against them. His tongue, the feel of his hands now threading her hair, she thought her heart would crack open her chest, it was beating so hard. She moaned against him arching into his body. Feeling the growl bubbling up from his core. Vibrating through her.

When he pulled back to give her air, she found herself utterly senseless. She couldn't even remember what she'd been planning to say. Only vaguely aware Gajeel had spoken at all to begin with. He left a lighter kiss against her stunned lips before he closed his eyes, letting out an exhausted huff of air. Dragon Slayers loved their naps, it would appear. Levy felt herself relax but was far too wound up to sleep.

The only thing running through her mind was a single question: What the hell just happened?

Notes

Thank you suicuneluvr for the favorite! And to all the followers and reviewers. It makes me happy beyond words that you're enjoying it. There will be smut in this story by the way. Coming soon in fact. Just a warning for folks. Remember the M. I'm a sucker for Gajevy.

Thank you for the review. Not necessarily clever. Just middle-aged with a memory like a sieve and a short attention span. If I don't write it down, poof, gone. XD