Chapter 20

Levy pushed her glasses up her face with a sigh. They had been back less than a week, and taking another job to distract herself might not have been the best choice. The words swam as her mind wandered to a place it couldn't seem to get away from. What had happened during those three days in captivity?

After using teleportation runes to return home (with multiple powerful mages it only took a few jumps), and letting Ivy get taken care of first, Levy was examined by Wendy and Porlyusica. According to their extensive examination nothing had been done to her.

No signs of dehydration or malnutrition from lack of food. The only injuries she had sustained where the bruises from the being hit by a stampeding crowd. Most importantly no signs of rape or sexual assault. There was nothing to say Levy hadn't been treated with the utmost care.

They had stayed at the guild for a short time recounting to Makarov and a Magic Council official what had happened on the mountain top. Turns out the Magic Council wasn't as involved as Levy had thought, just Mr. Roth and several of his assistance; who were now in captivity. When Makarov informed them that they could leave Gajeel moved so fast Levy barely had time to comprehend what was happening before they were in his bedroom.

Tears still came to Levy's eyes as she remembered how Gajeel had dropped to his knees and buried his face into her stomach. His shoulders shook as he clung to her. They had stayed like that until Gajeel pulled her down and began kissing every inch of her exposed skin he could find. Her body remembered the separation more than her mind, and she needed the reassurance that they were together just as much as he did.

The next couple days after their return felt like a fever dream. A barely comprehensible reality. The only time her and Gajeel separated was to use the bathroom, the rest of the time was spent in each other arms. Food breaks and sleeping where no exception.

The third day Levy woke up and discovered her mind had calmed down and was functioning normally again. Unfortunately this brought out the questions and fears. What had happened? What did they make her do? What did they do to her?

Levy wanted to talk to Gajeel have him hold her like he had in the dark, but this wasn't the dark. Gajeel couldn't know nothing had happened and if she put these fears in his head how would he react?

She had been told of how close to insanity he had become while she was missing. How Laxus had to knock him unconscious until a plan of rescue had been formed. Causing Gajeel more stress was something Levy couldn't stomach. Which is what brought her in an almost exile to the library. The job she had taken was merely an excuse to put a little distance from the dragon slayer who, because of their mated connection, could easily tell when something was wrong, and a distraction between reading other books.

Pushing away the translations she was working on Levy flipped open a book on concealment magic. So far she hadn't been able to find anything on the possibility of hiding physical evidence on someones body that didn't involve being near the caster or casting yourself. It should have been reassuring, but it wasn't. Levy couldn't stop her thoughts and the constant what ifs where driving her insane.

Knowledge, the most powerful thing to fight fear was knowledge and the one person who could give her that had yet to wake up. Levy let out a low groan as she thought of her friend. How could she be so selfish to worry about something that probably didn't happen when Ivy had been put through hell.

Left eye gouged out and left unattended which led to infection. Levy had been told in great detail how Wendy had to reopen the tissue around the eye to drain the pus. Some of the skin was so bad it had to be completely cut away.

Dehydrated, underfed, and fatigued to the point Porlyusica couldn't understand how Ivy wasn't dead on arrival. Last time Levy had visited an I.V bag had been hooked up to each arm.

Lastly there was Ivy's hand. How she had been able to lift the hammer after breaking, no shattering her hand, no one knew. Ivy had squeezed so hard bones burst out of the her skin at different angles. Wendy couldn't heal all the damage at once and surgery had to be performed before she was able to start the process.

Slamming shut her book in frustration Levy left the library planning to visit her friend. Still absorbed in her thoughts she didn't see the large person leaving the infirmary until Levy ran into them.

"Oomf," Rubbing her forehead she took a step back. "Sorry Laxus."

The tall blond didn't seem to hear or see her as he kept staring straight ahead. Now that Levy was paying attention she noticed how off the dragon slayer looked. Several days worth of patchy reddish blond beard covered his jaw, his hair was greasy and falling from its usual spiked height, and large blueish bags puffed from under red sleep deprived eyes. Even without enhanced senses Levy could smell that the man hadn't showered in several days.

Reaching her hand out slowly Levy placed it on his arm trying to get his attention. "Laxus?"

Finally noticing he wasn't alone Laxus turned to look down at Levy with a grunt. When he didn't make any indication of talking Levy pulled back her hand and decided to try a different tactic. "Did Wendy kick you out?"

That seemed to catch his attention. With a groan he moved to lean against the wall. "Yeah, something about how she doesn't need another patient."

"Laxus, she's not wrong… you don't look well." Levy shifted on her feet hoping she hadn't said the wrong thing.

Instead of getting irritated Laxus sagged more into the wall. "I know I look like shit. I need to go home and shower and sleep...," Laxus stared down at the bluenette, eyes slipping in and out of focus. "What if she wakes up alone or doesn't wake up at all?"

She didn't need to ask who he was talking about and Levy stood for a moment realizing that a sleep deprived Laxus is a more weirdly open Laxus. Then she thought about what she knew of Ivy and how best to give Laxus the reassurance he needed. With a sad smile she said, "What if she wakes up and sees you like this?" Levy let that sink in before continuing, "Wendy hasn't said Ivy won't wake up and you can rely on other people to stay with her while you take care of yourself. I doubt anyone would say no if you asked them to."

"Hypocrite" There was no force behind the word, but it still had Levy freezing. Laxus closed his eyes not noticing the shocked and hurt look on Levy's face. "You tell me to rely on people, but I've heard Mira mention what you're reading that has nothing to do with the job you took."

"I...I'm not"

The glare Laxus gave as he opened his eyes caused Levy's voice to catch in her throat. "I'm more observant than people realize and I can't imagine what it's like to not know what happened." His speech was rushed as if he might forget what he wanted to say. "But carrying around the fear is just as stupid as me sitting in that room stinking cause I couldn't force myself to leave... I mean Wendy shoving me out was what I needed." Nodding to himself Laxus pushed forward with a yawn, patted Levy on the head like a child, and started walking towards the stairs. "I'm going to talk to Mira about having someone look in on Ivy. You should take your own advice and talk to Gajeel; it's probably what you need."

Levy stood alone in the hall watching the blond leave and feeling her guts sink into her feet. Pushing tears back realizing how right Laxus was she quickly made her way out of the guild.

Gajeel pushed and pulled at the iron in his hands concentrating on shaping it into the wood. It kept his mind busy trying to make the curves and lines as flawless as possible, and tried to keep the worry of what was wrong with his little mate away.

It currently wasn't working. He felt like he was ready to explode, just demand that she talk to him or push his way past the mental blocks she had been raising. Releasing his magic Gajeel leaned his head against his work. He didn't want to use their connection to pry into Levy's feelings. That wouldn't be right and it reminded him too much of the man he didn't want to be.

Gajeel shuddered as he thought of the monster he had almost gone back to when Levy was taken. Violent, uncontrollable anger, and blaming everyone. Gajeel had to admit that he had changed enough not to attack his guild mates, but that only lasted until they tried to keep him from leaving. The only thing he could remember thinking was that he needed to find Levy and no one would stand in his way. Laxus' lightning fist ended that train of thought, and Gajeel would never admit how thankful he was for that.

Taking a deep breath Gajeel hoped down from the ladder as he heard the front door open and small footsteps moving quickly on the wooden floors. Levy was home earlier than she had been the past several days.

"Gajeel!" The breaking sound of her voice had Gajeel running from the attic to the first floor.

Scooping up the small trembling woman and carrying her to the couch Gajeel let her press her face into his chest and sob. While he had been waiting for this to happen since they had come home, Gajeel still felt as unprepared as he always did to comfort Levy.

He could feel how lost and conflicted she was. Holding her as close and secure as possible Gajeel pushed his feelings into Levy. How much he loved her and that he was here when she was ready to talk. This seemed to help calm Levy down faster than the usual comforting words and it wasn't long before she was hiccuping through the last of her tears.

Slowly raising her head she refused to look him in the eye and instead stared at his chin before speaking. "I can't stand not knowing what happened. I mean, I know what Porlyusica and Wendy said but… but what if... what if they missed something? They could have done something to me and I would never know… we would never..." Seeming unable to continue Levy began to cry once more.

"Lev," Gajeel spoke softly as he brushed away her tears. "Nothing like that happened." The conviction in his voice had Levy staring wide eyed while she gasped for air. He let her calm down a bit before holding her face in his hands, keeping her undivided attention. "Remember how you said your body could remember our seperation when your mind couldn't? Well your body also remembers what it went through." He slid one hand down over her scales on her neck causing Levy to shiver. "I checked the moment you were in my arms again."

"What does… how does that even work?"

"How can you feel where I'm at, or what I'm feeling? I don't know what all can happen but I think because I'm the one who laid the mark I have a little bit more pull to what I can sense."

Levy's mouth opened and closed in shock as all the tension that she had been carrying flowed away. Slumping back down against Gajeels chest she let out a groan. "Why didn't I talk to you sooner?"

"Because you don't want to go back to anyone thinking of you as the damsel in distress who needs saving? Because you want to solve problems yourself." Gajeel started to smile as Levy looked up at him with big doe eyes. "Because you are ridiculously stubborn?"

"Stupid Gajeel. I just didn't want to worry you anymore," Levy pouted.

"You would have worried me less if you had talked to me." Gajeel flipped her under him as he finished speaking and began tickling her. Levy shrieked and squealed as she tried to escape. He seemed to know exactly when to stop before she got mad and instead caged her between his arms with a large smile. "Next time you don't talk to me the punishment will be much more severe."

Looking down at the red faced smiling panting Levy Gajeel saw everything he needed; his only regret was not acting on his feelings sooner. Levy cocked her head to the side with a questioning look, and Gajeel decided he didn't want to wait to finish his surprise before moving forward. "When are you going to bring all your stuff over here?"

Levy answered by grabbing onto Gajeel's shirt, and pulling him down into a heated kiss.

I'm sorry it's taken so long for this chapter to come out. I realize it is much shorter than the rest but I wanted to get something to you and not make you wait longer.

I'm currently trying to take a college class. I haven't really left my house in two years so just going to this takes a lot out of me and has killed a good amount of my energy to write.

Anyway I hope you like and leave a comment

Thank you! P.P.V