Chapter 13: True Emotions Exposed

3rd POV

Gajeel groaned and mumbled some nonsense as he awoke, turning to his side as he rested comfortably on the couch. The black haired finally opened his eyes, revealing his ruby red orbs. He groaned as if to yawn, and sat up, noting how his back slightly hurt because of the small couch with his large body. "Fuck Bunny," he growled under his breath, using his hands to rub his neck and thinking about how she was one that gave him this tiny, poor excuse of a couch (in his opinion) to sleep on. But even past that, he felt a lingering feeling of concern for Bunnygirl. He hoped she slept fine, but he knew the truth. He didn't sleep till really late that night, finding that his dragon wouldn't let him sleep until her heard her finally fall asleep, which Gajeel was going to do anyways. Not everybody was on Gajeel's good side, but the fact was this: he fell hard for Bunny, and he wanted to be with than more than a friend. So even after she fell asleep, he still had troubles sleeping, hence the reason why he had woken up so late.

The dragon slayer got up completely, moving to the kitchen which he expected to see Lucy, but when he didn't his blood ran cold; Bunnygirl wasn't here. He rushed to her bedroom, slamming open her fragile door in hopes his dragon senses were for once, wrong. But like always, they were right. Lucy wasn't here, and her clothes, personal items, and necessities were gone as well. "Bunny!" Gajeel yelled loudly, anger sparkling in his deadly red eyes. "You better not be fucking with me," he continued. But he knew she wasn't even here to do so. The black haired man quickly cursed under his breath, and put on a shirt, which he forgot he had taken off, and left her pretty apartment in rush.

Bunny's gone. Bunny's gone. Bunny's gone. He kept repeating the words over and over again in his mind, and for once, he and his dragon were on the same level of anger. Usually his dragon had more heightened emotions then he did, making his dragon always angrier or anything else more than him. Gajeel was mad that Bunny had left him, and he was also mad for not comforting her better last night. Sure the iron dragon slayer though that trying to comfort people was stupid and a waste a time, but for a certain reason, he didn't think it was stupid or useless to comfort his Bunnygirl, and he actually wouldn't mind if she comforted him; if a time like that ever came. Wait, what the hell am I thinking? I need to find her now, think about this crap later, he berated himself.

In an instant, a certain scent filled his nostrils; pure, ripe strawberries. That is Bunny's scent. There was two ways her scent went one of which headed towards the guild, and the other went to a different side of the town; the train station. The trail heading to the train station was much stronger than the other one, and so, he ran straight that way, not giving a care to the looks he received from the other people, who had stopped to stare at the scary, pierced man with bed-head and disheveled clothes.

His legs and arms pumped faster at the thought of not being able to make in time. When he caught sight of the train station, with the train still in place, he swore he almost sighed in relief. Problem was, was the crowd of people in the front. Not caring at all, he shoved and pushed past any person, not able to deter her precious scent from the piling scent of the hundreds of people who have made their way through this place; some even days old. His heart almost froze a couple times when he caught the sight of a female with blonde hair, but it was never her for they didn't have the right hairstyle of her usual half up side pony, and they weren't wearing the usual overly revealing clothing, which both gave Gajeel a great view of her as well as him having to protect her from other lecherous men.

"Get away pervert," a familiar voice commanded, a slight threat in her words. At that sound, Gajeel stopped completely, and tilted his head to where the voice came from. Right there, was a man, trying to sweet talk a familiar blonde; His Lucy.

At that moment, Gajeel was seeing red, and when up to the persistent man, punching him right in the face. "When the girl says leave, you do that. Got it?" he snarled, his dragon trying to push its way in to attack the man and beat him to a bloody pulp. The man faced with the dangerous iron dragon slayer, who also knew him from hearing stories about the jobs he went on, shook in fear, and apologized greatly to both him and Lucy. Gajeel finally released him, and not before he violently shoved the man, then headed straight to Bunny, his anger now switched to her for up and leaving him.

He grabbed her shoulders tightly but not in a painful way, and glared down at the celestial mage, who genuinely looked shocked that he was here and what he had just done to that other man. "The fuck Bunnygirl!" he said, his lips curling a little bit in a snarl. "You think you can just leave and not say anything, or just leave me in the dust-" he wanted to continue, but then he saw the sadness in her chocolate orbs, and his rant was abruptly stopped. Damn, how does she not know I can't stand that look, his mind asked, trying hard to keep lecturing her, but finding he was unable to do it.

"I'm sorry Gajeel, but I did what I thought was right. I needed to get away from there Gajeel; I need to start anew. The only way I thought I could do this was to quit the guild and leave Magnolia. I wasn't sure how you feel; I thought you would stop me, so I decided not to tell you," Lucy explained, trying to confident with her decision, but you could tell from the gleam in her soft orbs that she was starting to regret her decision. The look she got from Gajeel while he yelled at her, from some reason, didn't settle right in the pit of her stomach, and she could feel guilt creep its way into her system.

"And you think I don't want what's best for you? Damn Bunny, you don't get it do you? You're the only person in that stupid guild that I consider to be my friend other than Lily. If this is what helps you, you should've told me that," he scolded, softening his hold on her shoulders. Lucy looked shocked for a split second before she smiled a genuine smiled, and placed a hand on top of Gajeel's.

"Thank you Gajeel," she said with a soft look in her eyes. She was genuinely touched by his words, and the fact that she had just told her that in public, much less, at all. The iron dragon slayer looked away, trying to hide the light blush on his cheeks and his ears, inwardly chastising himself for blushing like some school girl.

"Yeah, whatever," he said gruffly, taking his hands away from hers, running a hand over his face as if to wipe away his lingeringly blush. "Well then, c'mon," he said, and before Lucy got a chance to react, he swooped in and picked her up, placing her in his broad shoulder.

The blonde squealed in surprise. "Gajeel! Let me go," she screeched, squirming underneath his hold as the black haired man headed out of the train station. "I thought you accepted my de-ecision," she asked, suddenly surprised when he jumped her on his shoulder to try to get a better hold on the beauty on this shoulder.

Gajeel rolled his eyes slightly. "I do, but you ain't leaving without me, and I can't leave without Lily knowing, so we're going back to my place," he answered roughly.

"Do I get a say in this," Lucy now asked in normal volume, her voice filled with annoyance. She cupped her chin in her hand, resting her elbow on his back; she was defiantly not pleased with being carried around like a rag doll.

"Nope." The blonde pursed her lips and then rolled her eyes at Gajeel's behavior. But she couldn't help but smile slightly; this was regular ole Gajeel to her, but even then, she felt a strange feeling of happiness settle in her. Question was: why was she slightly happy that Gajeel just stopped her from leaving at the moment?

To be continued...

A/N: I sincerely as sorry for the long wait and for not updating sooner. Reasons include: having to make a sprinkler system, doing online Driver's Ed school, and etc. I am so sorry, please forgive me with this heartfelt chappie.

To Watergoddess10: Thank you so much! And I am so happy that you love this story and like my work! Thank you. And are you sure about the fish head thing? It might be cool to breath under water:3

To SuperPsychoNutcase: Well I couldn't leave Lily behind, so it might be for another more couple chapters, but I have plans for the two before they leave. :) Mwhahahah!

To AiMila: I was honestly thinking about having her hug him, but this is Lucy after all. It would be harder for her to let go if she hugged him, and it would make the goodbye a tons harder.