Countdown to the End (Gale) {Fairy Tail FF}

3 Days

I promised serious things this chapter, so here you go! ^_^

"It feels great not to have those annoying stitches anymore," I sighed, rubbing my side. It was still sore, but not like it had been before. Since the stitches had been out, it was much more comfortable.

"The bandages will officially come off tomorrow," Gajeel said, following me into Magnolia. I was meeting up with Deidre again for training, and I was excited to get to actually use some magic in our training for once. I was sick of just watching her get to have all the fun with the spells.

"I can't wait," I grinned. "I'll be all healed up in just a couple more days, and then I can take jobs again! A week without one has been pretty boring." I looked over when Gajeel huffed in agreement. "You and Lily can take one if you want. I'll be alright on my own. I was going to go home tomorrow, anyways, so going home one day early won't make a difference. I'm sure you've been even more bored than I have, since you usually take so many jobs."

"It hasn't been that boring," he mumbled, shoving his hands in his pockets. "It's been kinda nice havin' ya around all the time."

"It has?" I asked, incredulous.

"Don't act so shocked," he frowned. "It's usually only me and Lily, so the change made up for the fact that I couldn't take a job. Hell," he chuckled, "it might even be a little lonely once you're gone."

We both froze, shocked at his confession. Judging by the mortified look on his face I'd say it had slipped out accidentally. He cleared his throat, pointing to the parked train. "You'd better get going or the train will leave without you."

I stepped onto the train, pausing to look back at him. "If it's all the same," I smiled, "I liked staying with you, too." I hurried to my seat after that, wondering why I had just told him that. Hopefully he'll forget about it by the time I get back tonight. I doubted he would though, judging by the startled look he had given me.

The train ride today seemed longer than usual, and I was restless by the time it finally came to a stop. I'd had a strange feeling since I left Magnolia, but I couldn't tell what it was exactly. I'm just still flustered from that conversation we'd had at the train station, I told myself. I had confessed a lot more to him than I probably should have, and I hoped it didn't undo some of the progress we'd made while I'd been living with Gajeel and Lily.

Since my release from the hospital, Gajeel had been so attentive to me. He'd been so kind, and I had gotten to see a new side of him—one that made me like him even more. Like...don't kid yourself, Levy. You know it's been way passed like for a long time now... That it had. I'd been in love with Gajeel since before that mission we'd gone one a month ago, and that feeling had only grown stronger the more I was around him. Although the circumstances were terrible, I couldn't say I wasn't at least a little bit happy about getting to see the kinder, softer sides of Gajeel.

In a better mood as I reached Dee's house, I knocked on the door with a smile on my face. She'd been learning the Solid Script: Hole spell, and had picked it up quickly. If she managed to master it today, I'd begin teaching her a more difficult word like "chains" or "boulder". We had decided to stick with defensive spell for now, and move onto attack spell once she'd gotten the hang of those.

"That's strange," I murmured, knocking again on the door. It usually only took a few moments for either Dee or Eli to open the door for me. After several more minutes of silence from inside the house, I tried the handle. It wasn't locked, so they couldn't have gone out.

"Dee? Eli?" I called as I stepped inside. I gasped when I saw the state of the living room. Pictures hung at odd angles on the walls, stands were turned on their sides, trinkets were knocked off their shelves...the entire room was in disarray. Upon inspecting the rest of the house, I found it in the same condition.