Big thanks to Aikoyu Saotome for beta-ing :D

I'm breaking my rules by posting this chapter, but… meh.

For those of you wondering what Shock's charms look like, there's a picture on my deviantArt account :3

Just search Drumbeat-Of-My-Heart and look for the entry titled 'Souleater'

4. When It Rains (Paramore)

And when it rains,

On this side of town it touches, everything

Just say it again and mean it

We don't miss a thing

You made yourself a bed at the bottom of the blackest hole

And convinced yourself that it's not the reason you don't see the sun anymore

And no, oh, how could you do it?

Oh I, I never saw it coming

No, oh, I need the ending

So why can't you stay just long enough to explain?

And when it rains,

Will you always find an escape?

Just running away, from all of the ones who love you,

From everything

You made yourself a bed, at the bottom of the blackest hole

And you'll sleep 'til May

And you'll say that you don't want to see the sun anymore

Take your time.

Take my time.

Take these chances to turn it around

Take these chances, we'll make it somehow

And take these chances to turn it around

Just turn it around.

"Ouch! That hurts, dammit!"

The room was dimly lit, with only a few candles scattered about the polished wooden counter. It was the dead of night, long past the time even the crickets had stopped chirping.

"Well if you stopped fidgeting so much, we could be done before you even know it!"

There were three people in said room – two females and a mal leaning against a doorframe. A pair of scissors glinted metallically in the candlelight as it rested beside a thick roll of bandages and gauze tape on the counter.

"What the hell are you trying to do? Mummify me?"

There was a loud, exasperated sigh from one of the women standing before the counter that the other sat on. The last loop of a clean bandage was pulled tight around a leg – perhaps a tad too tight.

"Ouch!"

"There, all done. Now quit whining like a baby."

"Easy for you to say," the person on the counter grumbled, flexing her leg experimentally. "That bloody well hurt. And I already told you I didn't need any damn bandages – I'm fine."

"Shock, you dislocated your knee! You're far from 'okay'!" Levy retorted, packing the medical supplies back into their box. "Trust you to get into a fight the second I'm not around."

Shock just snorted and said nothing as she hopped off the bar counter, landing lightly on her feet. She had known that when she and Gajeel had bumped into Levy on the way back to the guild there would be trouble. Levy had always mothered over Shock, and that hadn't diminished in the slightest over the years they had been separated. Shock wasn't sure if she should be touched that her friend cared so much, or offended that Levy might have thought she couldn't look after herself.

Levy turned to the figure leaning against the door post. He had been silent the entire time.

"Thanks again, Gajeel. Knowing Shock, she probably wouldn't have sorted that leg out before a month or two." The solid-script mage sighed, casting an annoyed look over her shoulder.

Shock met her gaze unflinchingly and shrugged. "I'm no weakling. I would have managed."

"Sure," Levy scoffed sarcastically, blowing out a candle. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Gajeel smirk and shake his head.

Levy just couldn't understand Shock's fascination with the reclusive mage. Just thinking about what he had done before gave her the chills. The blue-haired girl sighed inwardly. Maybe if she hadn't told Shock the whole story, she wouldn't have gone wandering, and this whole debacle would never have happened… Levy shook her head. Shock would have persisted and she would have told her eventually in any case. Levy was just glad Gajeel had been there to help her friend out and bring her back to the guild. As much as she was frightened of him… Levy could see he was a good guy underneath.

Reaching for another candle, she looked at Gajeel over her shoulder and continued. "You think you could help her back to the guild? She needs to rest that leg and I still have a few things to tidy up here."

"I can walk by myself!" Shock protested, folding her arm crossly. "I don't need he-"

Levy shot her a look that immediately silenced the Charm mage's rant. Shock just settled into a fierce glower as she watched her friend methodically sort and pack that various medical items strewn across the counter.

"Just make sure she gets back without hurting herself even more," Levy's tone held exasperation as she directed the request at the silent man behind her.

Gajeel nodded and pushed himself off the doorframe, making his way towards Shock. She eyed him warily and tried to stand on her own, but her weak knee started giving in under the mass of bandages and splints Levy had wound around it. Once again, Gajeel caught her before she hit the ground.

Growling, Shock shot him a look and tried to stand on her own again. "I already told you, I can walk by myse-"

The metal Dragonslayer sighed and adjusted his grip on her midsection. "Stop bitching and listen to the lady, will ya?"

Levy laughed softly as Shock settled into a begrudging silence and allowed Gajeel to help her stand. "I'll see you back at the hostel, Shock. Try not to be too much of a hassle in the meantime," She said, blowing out another candle and lining it up with the others.

A small smile crept onto Shock's face in the dimming light. "Thanks again, Levy."

The solid-script mage just smiled as Gajeel helped Shock limp out of the guild house.

…

Shock was decidedly frustrated about having to rely on other people for any sort of assistance. Especially with something as mundane as walking.

The uncomfortable silence between her and Gajeel had continued to grow as he helped her hobble back to the guild hostel. On the one hand, Shock was glad for the silence as it made her lacking conversational skills less obvious, but on the other, she was rather uncomfortable just limping along next to him without saying anything. She had a million questions buzzing around in her head, but she was hesitant to find the answers.

Eventually, her curiosity got the better of her and she tilted her head to look up at Gajeel questioningly – with his much taller statue, she had to crane her neck quite a bit.

"I suppose I should thank you," she muttered, eyeing him suspiciously.

He looked down at her out of the corner of his eye. "For what?"

Shock returned her gaze to the cobble road they walked along. "For coming along when you did."

"You sure needed it," Gajeel commented, and Shock shot him a dark look. "Tiny thing like you couldn't hope to handle yourself against those guys, anyway."

"I can handle myself perfectly fine!" she spluttered, seething in indignation. "If that brute hadn't pinned my arm down – "

"Yeah sure," he cut in with a sarcastic snort. "And my name's Rapunzel or some shit like that."

Shock smirked. "Well, with hair like that…who knows? Maybe you have some hidden alias we don't know about…"

Gajeel frowned, sending an annoyed glare in her direction. Shock just met it with a smug grin, her own glare unflinching. She would teach this brute a thing or two about humility.

"Just keep in mind whose the one helping you out here," the dark-haired mage countered. "Without my help, you would have been raped and beaten to a bloody pulp not so long ago."

Shock rolled her eyes, trying to shift away from Gajeel in annoyance to his bluntness. But, with his arm firmly wrapped around her waist, she wasn't moving an inch. "Whatever you say, Mr. 'I-can-take-on-a-whole-village-and-live,'" she mimicked his voice childishly.

Keen to irk her even more, Gajeel replied, "I probably could, but I've never really had the opportunity…"

Shock let out a less-than-amused snort and shook her head at his tone of voice. She looked up and saw that they were nearing the dormitory – her bedroom lamp was still shining brightly on her desk near the window, throwing a patch of warm yellow light onto the front lawn. Shock was suddenly overcome with a bout of fatigue. It had been a long, painful day, and suddenly all she wanted to do was fall into bed and sleep for a week.

As the pair reached the front porch of the hostel, Shock turned to Gajeel and asked, "What were you doing in that part of town, anyway?"

He set her against the railing of the porch and pushed the front door open. "I live there. I was on my way back home from the guild when I heard hose idiots making a ruckus in that alley. Thought I might as well take a look and see what they were doing."

Shock was silent for a moment or two, looking down at the weathered floorboards beneath her boots. She leaned heavily on the white-painted railing, thinking about what would have happened if Gajeel hadn't stopped to investigate. He struck her as the kind of person who enjoyed watching other people suffer when it suited him.

"Thanks again," she muttered, pushing herself up and hobbling inside. "I really owe you one."

"Better not forget it," Gajeel sniggered.

Growling, Shock slammed the door closed behind her angrily. That man could make her blood boil in mere seconds…it seemed like all her emotional conditioning from the training camp went flying out the window when he was around.

Shock gritted her teeth and forced herself to move up the stairs to her room. She clenched her fists angrily when she could still hear him sniggering on the other side of the door.

Despite his assistance, he really did infuriate her.

…

It took about a week for Shock's injured leg to recover and for her to be able to walk around unaided. She was just happy for the fact that she was independent to some extent once more.

Her interaction with Gajeel after the incident had been limited, seeing as he preferred to keep to himself and didn't really spend a lot of time in the guild house, aside from when he was taking a break from missions. Shock had been working there for the past week, helping Mirajane with the bar and doing other odd jobs to earn some money for the rent until she was confident enough to take a job on her own.

With her leg injury and everything else that had been happening, Shock hadn't really had much time to train with her Charms. In the first two weeks she had used her training as an excuse to avoid uncomfortable conversations with guild members she was sceptical of, but now she found herself beginning to adjust to their presence.

Since she had been stuck mostly behind the bar counter for a week, Shock had sort of been forced to make conversation with the old guild members. At first she had hated the forced interaction, but much to her surprise, she steadily seemed to be getting used to the more social aspects of guild life.

She had started to get to know the regular bar-goers quite well – Kana had an intense love for her sake, but wasn't a very dignified drinker. Nav permanently hung around the job board behind the bar counter, but never actually seemed to take any jobs. Sometimes Shadow Gear even dropped by when they didn't have a job, and Shock got a chance to talk with Levy.

It was one of these times, when Levy was seated at the bar striking up friendly chatter with Shock and Mirajane, than Gajeel decided to make an appearance. Frowning, Shock noted the hostile glares that greeted him as he strolled past the various occupied tables on his way to the bar. But Gajeel's face just remained blank, with his trade-mark scowl seemingly warding away the dark looks and muttered insults.

Shock still couldn't understand the rest of the guild's animosity towards Gajeel. Heck, even Natsu seemed to harbour some grudge against him – and Natsu got along with everyone. But from the little time she had spent with the ex-Phantom Lord mage, Shock had seen straight through the aggressive mask he portrayed to everyone else. She wouldn't admit it to anyone – not even Levy – but she saw a bit of herself in his mannerisms.

As he approached the counter, Shock continued polishing the glass she held in her hand with a dish towel. Gajeel seated himself at an empty barstool, resting his elbows on the counter.

Shock glanced in his direction. "The usual?"

Even though Gajeel wasn't that much of a regular at the bar, the few times he did decide to come in for a drink, Shock had managed to memorise his peculiar tastes. Some odd mixture of rum, whisky and lime juice…

Gajeel just nodded. Shock noted that he looked a lot more tired than usual. She turned and gathered a few bottles off the shelf behind her, mixing them together in the glass she had been cleaning.

She slid the glass towards him, and Gajeel deftly caught it with one hand. Shock leaned against the counter, looking at him curiously. He always portrayed such a stoic attitude to everyone else – seeing him fatigued was slightly unnerving.

"Tough jobs lately?" she asked, striking up a conversation.

He gave her an exasperated look – Shock was always trying to get Gajeel to open up more – but answered nonetheless. "You could say that – had to deal with a gang of mages stirring up trouble up North."

Shock snickered. "That was tough for you? Usually you like causing fights with people."

Gajeel gave the Charm mage a dark look and she restrained a chuckle. She knew she could only push him too far until he lost his temper. Shock hung the dish towel she had been holding over the sink behind her. She paused to ponder her recent good mood – she had been far more open with more people than she ever would have expected before. She was actually starting to make friends with more people besides Levy. Shock turned back to Gajeel, watching him as he nursed his drink.

She still had to acknowledge the fact that she wasn't entirely comfortable yet with people in general, and preferred to keep to herself. But at the same time, she felt like she was healing. Slowly, but healing.

Shock took in Gajeel's moody expression. With her own healing, she felt the need to help others overcome their own hurdles. And she was keen to help Gajeel gain more of an acceptance into such an open and welcoming guild like Fairy Tail. After all, he wasn't a bad person – that had been proven when he helped both her and Levy out of tricky situations and asked nothing in return.

Shock had come to the conclusion that he must have still been feeling some fear over joining a new guild where so many people harboured past hatred for him, so he makes himself seem so outwardly strong and indifferent to protect himself from the others' anger and suspicion.

It just didn't add up to her why the rest of Fairy Tail hated Gajeel so much – even Levy had forgiven him for his past wrongs already.

But, if there was one thing Shock was confident in, it was her unwavering commitment to whatever she deemed a worthy cause. And as she noticed all the hostile glares directed at the metal Dragonslayer's back, she deemed Gajeel a very worthy cause.

…

It was almost closing time at the guild house (and by proxy, the bar), and Shock had just finished getting rid of – in a polite manner, of course – the last few stragglers who had yet to finish their drinking for the night.

The sun was just starting to sink below the bulky wooden buildings lining the Magnolia streets, painting the sky a swirl of colours, ranging from deep orange to dusky pink.

Shock was helping Mirajane pull down the multi-coloured awning they had set up outside the bar when she noticed someone approaching from the corner of her eye. She finished rolling up the length of material and stood, dusting her hands off on her baggy dungarees.

Turning around, Shock was a little surprised to see Gajeel heading towards them, hands shoved casually into his dark pants as he walked.

"What, no damsels in distress to save tonight?" she joked, stacking a few plastic chairs together and pushing them inside the guild hall.

Gajeel chuckled, leaning against the wall. "No, I think you were the only one stupid enough to put yourself in that situation in the first place."

Shock snorted and rolled her eyes. "You're not so perfect yourself, Mr. High-and-mighty. We all make mistakes."

"Yeah, I guess…" Gajeel mused thoughtfully. "You're just lucky I'm around to bail you out of those mistakes."

Shock clipped him over the back of the head with a pile of menus she had been gathering up. "Ass."

"I just call it like I see it," Gajeel chuckled again, rubbing the back of his head. Shock sure managed to pack a punch, even with her small stature, and even with menus.

"Sure," the Charm mage raised an eyebrow as she looked at him over her shoulder, her tone dripping with sarcasm. She dumped the pile of menus on the bar counter and waved goodbye to Mirajane, who turned the lights off and locked the front doors of the guild house. Seeing as most of the guild mages lived quite some distance away from the guild house, it was closed at around sundown because no one was able to stay around and keep it open for longer.

"Do you enjoy harassing me, or did you have something meaningful to say?" Shock gave him a bored look as they walked away from the guild house, heading towards the hostels.

"I was wondering if you'd be up to a mission, seeing as you look so bored behind that bar counter all day," Gajeel asked nonchalantly.

Shock gave him a curious look from the corner of her eye. Levy had told her once that mages rarely formed teams to take on missions unless they had a good tactical reason. Seeing her expression, Gajeel smirked and added, "Only if you can handle it, that is. I'm curious to see if you're an asset to the guild or not."

Shock huffed indignantly. She hated anyone questioning her ability as a mage. "Of course I could handle it. I'm no weakling, despite what you may think."

"Whatever you say, small fry," the dragonslayer taunted her a little more. He quite enjoyed inciting her temper a bit.

Shock, with her height complex brought painfully to the surface, spun on her heel and punched the taller mage in the arm, with enough force to send him careening off the road and into the side of a building.

Not even stopping, she continued to stomp down the road in a huff, leaving a slightly astounded Gajeel to stumble back to his feet and jog after her.

"Okay, no more short jokes," he sniggered, rubbing his arm tentatively. "That hurt!"

"Good!" Shock snapped, shooting him a venomous glare.

With the guild hostels steadily approaching, Gajeel shook his head. It was now or never.

"So you going to come with or not? It's a pretty high-paying job," he asked. "Would take care of a couple months' rent for that shit-hole."

Slowing her furious pace, Shock mulled over Gajeel's suggestion. "Like you should be talking about living in a shit-hole – you're the one that lives in the shadiest part of town."

Gajeel raised his hands in self-defence. "I stay where I can afford. If you don't want to help with the job…"

"I never said I wouldn't help," Shock interjected quickly, her expression cool.

"So you accept?"

Shock noticed Erza switching off the lights on the front porch. She had to hurry or she'd be locked outside for the night – not a good option. "On one condition," she said quickly, starting to jog towards the large building.

"And what would that be?" Gajeel called after her.

"We split the money thirty-seventy!" she called over her shoulder with a wide, mischievous grin, breaking into a sprint.

Gajeel watched Shock bound up the stairs of the front porch, managing to catch the front door before Erza locked it. He shook his head, with an amused smile on his face, and dug his hands deeper into his pockets.

"We'll see how that turns out," he muttered to himself, turning and walking back towards the city.

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