Day two: Past and Future

"Fucking hell, Levy, this is dangerous!" Gajeel hissed as he followed the young woman through the dark streets of Magnolia.

"I know," she replied on the same tone, her whispers echoing unpleasantly in the deserted alley. "I don't want to be here anymore than you do, but we need to catch this thief!"

Gajeel bit back a retort, gritting his teeth and digging his hands into his pockets instead. She was right. He knew it. His girl was always right, and that was one of the many things he loved about her.

Well. Technically, she wasn't his girl. He had no right to her. If he was half a decent person, he would probably have walked away from her by now. But he wasn't even that, so here he was, running after a time-traveller thief in Magnolia's past. Neither of them knew where, or rather when they were at this point. They had jumped through doors, mirrors and windows enough to completely lose track of time.

They couldn't afford to lose the thief now; if they did, they probably wouldn't be able to come back. Both of them expected there to be some sort of trap now. Gajeel had a horrible, horrible feeling. He didn't like the smell of the air that night. Everything was tense, like something terrible was just waiting to happen.

Levy was walking slightly ahead of him, which allowed him to keep an eye on her, making sure that he would be able to interfere if anything happened. She did look like she was being careful, and that allowed him to relax, just a little. His girl — not his girl — was good at what she did, and she was fucking smart. He could beat up the thief and anything that was needed, but he trusted her fully to get them out of here. He'd follow her anywhere, blindfolded and with his hands tied behind his back.

Then, he heard a laugh.

Her laugh.

He froze. Levy was the first one to react. Quickly, she grabbed his hand and dragged him into an alley, before glancing back out, pressing her hand against her mouth to hold back a surprised squeak when she saw herself, Jett and Droy walking in the street.

"That's… me," she whispered, tilting her head to the side. Huh, she had completely forgotten about that outfit. Shorts and a bra. Wow, she was really trying to get out of the "library girl stereotype", huh? She had absolutely embraced it since then.

Gajeel's chest was pressed against her back, his arm circling her waist so he could yank her back if needed while he observed their surroundings. It took him seconds to understand. To recognize. It wasn't that something terrible was going to happen; something terrible had happened.

Him.

"Gajeel, are you okay?"

Levy's voice barely made it through to his ears. He didn't even notice he was starting to shake as his eyes darted to the roof of the nearest house. It was only vague, but he could see it. The spiky shape of his hair, as he waited there, like a predator, waiting for the group to be right where he needed them to…

He heard Levy's gasp when the form jumped, knew she understood then what was about to happen, but he couldn't do anything. He couldn't tear his eyes away from himself as he walked towards the group, practically letting out a whimper when Levy chuckled — she fucking chuckled — "Wow, you scared me, didn't see you there!".

And then his voice, and he mouthed the words he knew by heart of that night he could never forget "Oh you should be scared."

Levy pulled him back, forcing him to look away. He heard a scream — her scream — and he tried to jump in. He wouldn't let anyone hurt her, not ever, not ever again.

"Gajeel," she called desperately, tilting his head towards her, "Gajeel, please, listen to me. I'm okay. I'm, well, she's going to be okay. You can't go there. This is the trap. We can't change the past Gajeel."

He knew it, but the sounds it made killed him. Metallic knuckles on flesh, screams, whimpers, and then she started to beg him to let go of her friends… He pressed his hands against his ears, his entire body now shaking.

Levy watched him with horror. She didn't know what to tell him to make him understand that she was fine. That hadn't been true at the time, of course, but she had managed to survive through that. Much better than him, actually. She knew the guilt had never stopped eating at him, while she knew how to process pain. She was a fighter after all. It hadn't been the first time she had been hurt. Right now though, she didn't know what to do as she watched him fall apart.

She wrapped her arms around him, pulling him down to the ground so they would be more stable. His hands fell and he groaned as he wrapped his arms around her, the gesture both desperate and extremely careful, as though he feared to…

She held him tighter, putting his head in the crook of her neck. He doesn't want to hurt me. Even as the sounds faded — she remembered how brief the actual encounter had been — Gajeel remained there, trembling for a long time before, finally, managing to calm down. He didn't let go of her though.

"I'm horrible," he finally said, his voice hoarse, and she wondered if he had cried. She couldn't tell. "Why… Why are you letting me be here?"

Levy closed her eyes, starting to soothingly play with his hair and rubbing his back.

"Because I forgave you."

He let out a choked sob.

"I don't deserve forgiveness."

"It's not about that," she whispered. "I forgave you anyway. What you did…" She swallowed. "What you did was horrible, and… and I think you were a bad person back then."

Gajeel felt his heart drop. He knew she was right. After all, she was always right, wasn't she?

"But that's not true anymore. You're a good man, Gajeel. Things change. People change. You did. And I'm so happy that you're here now."

He nodded without a word. He didn't believe that, actually. He didn't think he was a good man. She'd just… She had just been around. He had just been lucky. So unbelievably lucky to have her here, so unbelievably lucky that she had given him forgiveness. He didn't want to disappoint her anymore.

He pulled away, giving her shoulders a squeeze, and deliberately stood up quickly again, knowing that if he thought about how close she was, about her parted lips, about her hands on his back, he wouldn't be able to do much more tonight. Maybe he had changed, but that didn't make him any less selfish, and he refused to use her in any way.

"Thanks, shrimp," he mumbled without looking at her, which didn't stop him from just knowing that she was rolling her eyes. "Let's go catch a thief."

He held out his hand to her, and she took it with a playful sigh.

Levy was always right, so people probably did change. Right now, he just didn't think he was good enough for her, not good enough to try to be by her side. She deserved better than him. But maybe, just maybe, if he kept changing, he would get there. One day. He just hoped she would wait until then.

She entangled her fingers with him, closing her eyes briefly. She hoped he would get a point where he didn't hate himself so much that he was unable to see the people who loved him around him.

She would wait until then.

She would wait for him forever if she had to.