Chapter 9

Where there is love, there is life

"That was absolutely beautiful Lu!" Levy cooed after Lucy finished playing one of her songs to her. Lucy blushed; she never would get used to people enjoying her music because to her it was more than just that. It was her story, her feelings, a piece of her very own being placed into notes on a piano.

"Thanks Levy!" Lucy got up and sat beside her friend on her bed. It was now Saturday night and the girls had decided to have a sleep over. There was then a brief silence between the girls, the air tense as Levy tried to doge the inevitable conversation.

"OMG Levy, just tell me! You and Gajeel have been acting cute forever now! And don't you dare try to say nothing is happening because I know when you're lying." Lucy pressured her friend.

"Fine I will tell you, only if you tell me what's going on between you and your "not" boyfriend." She teased Lucy. Lucy blushed a little but quickly recovered.

"Tell me or else I will cut up your books." She threatened, an evil glare in her eyes.

Levy trembled a little, she was a private person, but she had already spilled her guts to Lucy about how she felt towards Gajeel months ago. But, Life a cliff-hanger of a book, Lucy was dying to know more.

"It all started when…"

*Flashback

Levy sat on the bench in the public gardens, reading. It was the day the group had all ventured to the gardens to cheer up Lucy. It was a beautiful Monday afternoon and she thought it would be an amazing opportunity to finish the most recent book she was reading. That's when Gajeel headed her way.

"Seems everyone has grouped off, looks like your stuck with me shrimp." Gajeel said while sitting next to her on the bench. She could feel the heat of his skin, it made her shiver, wanting him to be closer.

"Yeah, your right, that does suck." She replied, her nose still in her book. Gajeel laughed and stole the book out of her hands.

"Whatcha reading?" He said, reading the page that Levy was on. Levy scrambled to get the book back, but Gajeel raised the book above his head, just enough that Levy couldn't reach it, but that he could continue reading.

"Wow shrimp, at this point the book is just the intro to a porno." He laughed.

"Give me my book back right now Gajeel, or-or-uhhhhh, OR I'm gonna get Erza." She said while trying to grab her book back from his hands.

Gajeel's eyes widened at the sound of Erza's name, but he called her bluff. Never would Levy purposefully stick Erza on him.

"I'll give you the book back…. If you gimme a kiss." He said in a flirty tone.

Levy stared at him, eyes wide, she couldn't even register what he said. Then a wave of confidence came over her. She stood from the bench and leaned over. She planted a soft kiss on his cheek.

Gajeel turned red, he didn't think she would do it although he definitely wanted her too. She pulled away and grabbed her book from his lowering arm.

"You happy now?" she looked at him quizzically.

"Very." He said with a smirk. Levy sat back next to him and continued to read. After a few minutes Gajeel groaned.

"Yes?" She asked, eyes not leaving the pages.

"Levy you are killing me here, I am so boreddddd." He whined. Levy laughed and set her book down, she stood and extended her arm out to him.

"Lets go on a walk." Gajeel stood up and took her hand in response. Her hand was tiny compared to his, but it fit perfectly within his grasp. The two walked down one of the many paths the garden had. Finally, they stumbled upon a large weeping willow with branches that fell low enough to sit on.

"C'mon dwarf, the view from up there must be awesome." Gajeel said as he led her to the tree. Levy, being short and having no upper body strength, couldn't even get up onto the first branch. Gajeel laughed and then grabbed her by the waist and hoisted her up. He jumped up and joined her up there. The two sat in silence on the tree branch.

"Now this just won't do, we need to go higher for the view to be nice. I bet we could see the entire garden from up there!" Gajeel said excitedly while pointing at the highest branch on the tree. He stood up on the branch they sat on and immediately started climbing the tree. Levy tried to keep up but her and clumsiness were best friends, so she promptly stumbled and almost fell multiple times. Did she mention she also had a terrible fear or heights?

When they were halfway up, the branch Levy stood on began to crack, she broke into a sweat and prepared for it to give out under her. But before she could even close her eyes a pair of hands pulled her off the branch and onto the one above.

Levy slowly creeped open an eye, to her surprise Gajeel sat right next to her, hands still on her waist.

"Man, I thought I was a goner right there." She said wiping the sweat of her brow.

"Didn't think I would let you fall wouldya? I couldn't possibly, then who would entertain me?" He said. Levy let out a shaky laugh. The two were far from the ground now and Levy felt anxious. When she was 10, she fell from the ledge of a small cliff with her friends Jet and Droy. They all ended up breaking something and ever since she had been petrified of heights.

Despite her nerves being racked with fear, she pushed it off and continued to climb up behind Gajeel. He was right, when they hit the top of the tree, they could see the entire garden in all its beauty.

"Wow! Its gorgeous from up here. Look!" Levy said pointing. "There's Jellal, Erza and Loke… poor Loke, he's definitely a third wheel." She said, she felt sorry for Loke, despite how many girls he could get he always seemed to end up alone.

Levy continued to point out her friends, making silly faces at them even though they couldn't see her. Gajeel watched her, she looked so free and happy. He loved seeing his Levy come out of her shell like this, when she did it was like the sun was warmer, the sky looked bluer, and the world felt like a beautiful place.

Both of them were so caught up, they didn't notice Levy had begun to stray a little to close to the end of the branch, in the blink of an eye she began to slip.

Levy shrieked. Gajeel snapped out of his revere and immediately acted. He grabbed her arm with one hand and his other wrapped around her waist. He pulled her to him so fast she landed flat in his lap.

Levy looked at him wildly, her heart was going a mile a minute as she took shallow breaths. Gajeel moved both of his hands to her waist and leaned close to ear.

"I told you I wouldn't let you fall." He whispered. He pulled back and he stared at her, she looked so beautiful in the moment. Her cheeks flush, her eyes wide; he couldn't control what he did next. He leaned in and kissed her.

He immediately regretted his actions, but when he went to pull away, he felt Levy kiss him back. He growled pulled her waist closer to him and deepened the kiss, Levy responded by threading his fingers into his hair.

The two stayed like that for a moment, enjoying the feeling of each other this way. Finally, Gajeel pulled back and stared at her….

"Wanna be my girlfriend shrimp?" He said, breathing heavily.

Levy looked up into his eyes, her breath was hard too, she gave him a big smile and nodded.

*End of flashback

"AHHHHHHH!" Lucy shrieked so loud Levy plugged her ears

"OMG LEVY! YOU'RE DATING METAL HEAD! IM SO PROUD OF YOU!...I can't believe it took you months to tell me though!" She squealed in delight. Levy blushed; she was beyond happy. The two never told the group what happened, but they assumed after seeing them holding hands together during lunch the following day. The groups suspicions continued to be confirmed the following weeks as some members of the group had caught them kissing in a café a week after. Despite the obvious, no one said anything out of respect for their privacy. The group knew that the new couple would announce their relationship when they were ready.

"Thanks Lu, I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, I just wanted to make sure that what Gajeel and I had was real. I didn't want to announce it to everyone only to break up a week later. I didn't want to break our friend group apart that way." Levy explained.

"Its okay Levy! I completely understand, you made your choice to protect our friend group. Even in your own love-life; your always thinking of others." Lucy said with a smile. Levy was one of the most selfless people she knew, she was glad to see her friend so happy.

"I'm really happy you understand! I was scared you would be mad…but its your turn now…. You and Natsu! SPILL!" She said with excitement. Honestly when she saw how Natsu cared for Lucy, she was shocked. After Lisanna she was sure Natsu would never even try to fall in love again. But just like her and Gajeel, love had taken Natsu by surprise.

"There's nothing to say Lev, sorry. We really are just friends and even if I felt more for him, I'm sure he wouldn't want to date me. Especially not after what happened between him and Lisanna." Lucy said the end with a frown, she remembered how Natsu cried in her arms that night, begging the heavens to bring his love back to him. She couldn't imagine a pain like that, loosing her mother was a much different kind of grief.

"Lucy, what happened to Lisanna was terrible, and you're right to believe that Natsu may never want to find love again. But you need to stop thinking of love as some tangible thing you lose and never get back. The love we give is apart of our very essence, we give it away to people everyday. The grief Natsu feels is his soul honoring his love to Lisanna, love that has nowhere to go. Natsu has given you his love whether you both see it or not. Don't dismiss it because of Lisanna, she wouldn't have wanted that. Her final wish to see him happy one day and you are that happiness, Lu." Levy said with a soft understanding smile

Lucy sat for a moment and marinated in what Levy had said. "I just can't imagine how hard it was for him Lev, loosing someone that way… I don't know how he gets out of bed in the morning." Lucy said with guilt in her tone.

"Don't go pitying him Lu, just like you that is that last thing he wants. Lisanna made him who he is today, and he will forever be grateful for the time he got to spend with her. But he doesn't let it hold himself back. He knows he will one day find someone who will make his heart yearn like it did for her. I think its because of Lisanna that he doesn't fear to love, he knows that with great pain comes the greatest happiness, you just have to be willing to except the risks." Levy said to her.

Lucy looked down at her hands, she felt the faint prickle of tears in her eyes, "But what if I'm the one who is scared Levy?" she whispered. Levy gave her friend a sorrowful look, Lucy had told her tidbits of what had happened between her and Laxus, she knew enough to know how it had tormented her soul.

"Lucy," Levy said taking one of her hands. "I can't tell you to stop being scared, I know its far from that simple. But no matter how hard you may try, you can't fight love, to do that is to rip your soul into two pieces and force them against themselves. Where there is love, there is life, and you my dear Lu, have so much life in you. Don't let the fear of your past ruin the love in your future. 'You never lose by loving, but you always lose by holding back.'" Levy said quoting many of her books.

"Are you sure I can do it Levy? Sometimes I am just so scared that I am incapable of loving or being loved again. That all my baggage will leave me left behind. That the Lucy I once was is gone and the new me is a stranger that I don't recognize. How can I love someone when I barley love myself?" Lucy asked Levy, tears in her eyes.

"Oh Lu… but don't you see? You are constantly becoming a new person. You are not the same person you were on your first day at Fairy Tail, you are not the same person from when you met Natsu, you aren't even the person you were before we started this conversation. We are continuously growing and changing, you can't mourn the girl you once were because even she was in the midst of becoming a new person. I know you have been through a lot but we all have in our own ways, its how you decide to carry your baggage that matters. And one day you will meet someone who you trust enough to unpack it with." Levy said with a smile

Lucy wiped the tears from her eyes and hugged her friend.

"Thank you Levy, you truly are my best friend." She said softly.

"Anything for you Lu! Now, enough will all the sad! Lets talk books." Levy pulled back from her friend and clapped her hands excitedly.

The pair spent the rest of the night talking about their favorite books and authors. In that time Lucy stopped to think about what her dear friend had said. And she silently vowed to not let her past hold her back anymore from her future.

Authors Note: Good evening! Sorry again for a later update, I have been doing chemistry homework alllll dayyyyyyy. It sucked to say the least but I'm just happy I found some time to write. Anyways I hope you liked this chapter, I wanted to finally give some show time to the other characters in the story. I feel like Levy is an important piece and really wanted her character to have some kind of plot line and development. I also wanted to give Lucy this internal battle about Lisanna to highlight Lucy's naivety when it comes to love since the love she has received since she was a child has been of a wide variety from amazing to heartbreaking. Anyways, thanks for reading, much love! Cya

I DO NOT OWN THESE CHARACTERS; I simply write the plot : ) All rights are reserved by the creators of Fairy Tail