So I know it's been a while but I've been having some writer's block (unfortunately) and when I started this I was really into Fairy Tail. And I still am, but I have found a new obsession: D. Grayman (I'm so excited for the anime continuation). Anyway, here is chapter 18, hope you enjoy!

Also there is an IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT at the end so make sure you read it!

Chapter 18

They sat in silence with the occasional crunch of gravel getting trampled by the wheels of the carriage. Levy, feeling uncomfortable, kept shifting every few minutes, and finally, Gajeel getting annoyed, snapped.

"What is it, shirmp?!"

The bluenette jumped and squeaked, "Nothing! And don't call me shrimp"

"Damn it! Don't say nothing when it isn't nothing!" He growled and unconsciously tightened his grip on the whip which made the horses trot faster.

"Well, I'm not telling you!" The thief smirked and crossed her arms looking absurdly smug.

He, too, could play at that game. "Well, I don't want to know!"

"Then why did you ask in the first place?"

Damn it… why did she have to be so clever? Just as he opened his mouth to retort, he was cut off by the carriage going to fast for their safety. "What the hell?! Stop!" Gajeel yelled while trying to get the horses to stop.

The horses were steadily getting more confused and, as a result, were getting panicked, which both of them (Levy and Gajeel) knew to be bad. Panicked horses meant being bucked off or getting kicked and both were very painful. In their situation, it meant the carriage crashing somewhere and them dying.

Levy, seeing white as the eye's of the horses, quickly looked along the path they were on for any clearing of some sort for them to jump off. Her brown eyes locked onto a place that looked safer than the rocky ground below them now and glanced at Gajeel to alert him. "Get ready to jump off in three, tw-"

"What the hell do you mean by jump off?!"

"-o, one. Now!" She leaped off and as soon as her feet touched the ground, she made herself roll to take the impact off her delicate feet. Gajeel, having no other choice, followed and jumped, but unlike Levy, he didn't roll instead he landed on flat his feet. And then promptly let out a girly scream (that damaged his manly ego), "Owww! It hurts!"

"Why didn't you roll?" She inquired and muttered under her breath, "Idiot."

Having sensitive ears Gajeel heard her but was in too much pain to react. "Ow, I didn't think it would hurt that much."

A niegh distracted them and they both turned to look at the rapidly fading and falling carriage that seemed to have broken down by hitting a bump to fast. The horses had somehow managed to escape the harness and were running to their hearts content.

Gajeel only had one word for it, "..Shit."

Meanwhile, Levy had a couple more, but she was known to have a way with words unlike Gajeel. "There went our only ride. How are you going to be able to fight if you're already exhausted?"

"I'm tough unlike you, shrimp so don't worry about me. Worry about you." He said gruffly and slowly got to his feet with only a slight wince. Once he was standing upright, he looked at the sky which was slowly taking a darker hue, he estimated that it was probably around five o'clock. He wondered if they should continue on by walking, or stay and set up camp here for the night. In the end, he chose the former with the reason that if they were to beat Zeref and his minion, he should do majority of the walking tonight rather than tomorrow.

"Let's walk for now, set up camp later, shrimp."

Her reaction was not the desired one, a nod in agreement, instead it was a nervous glance around and a "are you sure?"

"Yes, I am sure. Come on." And he started walking, well, more like limping but he was moving and that was what mattered, right?

"...Fine." Was the reluctant reply with yet another scouting look.

He sighed, what was it this time? "Something wrong?"

"No." It was said a little too fast for it to be true but Gajeel left it as it was, if she didn't want to tell there was nothing to change it. Of course, he could have tried a little harder, but it probably wasn't going to be worth the trouble in the end so he didn't.

As they walked, Gajeel got to see a new side of Levy to his surprise and glee. She was a scaredy cat and Gajeel was making plans to make sure she would never forget it. At even the slightest sound like a rustling of a bush, she would jump and move a little closer to the commander, not that he minded. In fact, he found himself wanting her to get closer to where he could smell he- and that sounded way too creepy, just what was he thinking?!

Eventually when moonlight was the only guidance they had, she was practically clinging to him, to his inner-self's delight. He finally got the courage (girls were scary in general, Levy was extra scary) to ask her why she was being so scared.

"Why are you being such a scaredy cat, shrimp?" But since it was Gajeel, he didn't word to where Levy wouldn't be ashamed.

The girl leaped away, outraged by his audacity, "I am not!"

"Yeah, right," He scoffed while realizing he felt oddly cold without her heat pressed closed to him. "What am I, blind? You're jumping at every sound!"

Coincidently, at that moment he happened to step on a twig that snapped in two under his weight. Which made her flinch and prove his point.

"You did that on purpose, didn't you?! You- You bastard!" At his protests, she yelled, "You heartless human being! I don't want to hear your poor excuses!"

He covered his ears as she was screaming to loud and whisper-shouted, "Shut up, will you?!" And sighed, "I didn't step on it on purpose, okay?"

They walked, well Gajeel limped, on in silence as Levy mulled over his reply trying to figure to if he was telling the truth or not until finally she decided to believe him.

"I just don't like the dark… It brings back unwanted memories…" She said quietly, almost hesitantly. "After my parents were killed each time I closed my eyes I saw their dead bodies covered in blood… I wasn't able to really sleep for a whole year but then I met Lucy and Fairy Tail." Her voice was full of hope and happiness when she mentioned Lucy and Fairy Tail at the end.

"I'm sorry." Was all he could say in response while trying to ignore the guilt gnawing him for teasing her earlier.

They reached another clearing soon enough and set up camp. Levy, not wanting to sleep alone in the dark, crept into Gajeel's tent with her sleeping bag. As she fell asleep, she tried not to think about how close she was to him and resisted the temptation to touch the scars on his back.

Meanwhile, Gajeel was trying not think about if he wanted he could wrap her small body up in his arms and pull her closer. He could almost smell her sweet fragrance and as a result almost gave into temptation. Almost.

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IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT

I'm not going to abandon this story instead I'm thinking of re-writing some chapters, possibly almost all because I'm not really satisfied with them… Do you think I should?

Also I don't know when I'm going to get around to updating this again but as I said earlier I'm not going to abandon this story, I'm going to finish it. And reviews make me motivated to write… hint, hint, wink, wink...