~Fairy Tail One-Shots~

The First Time He Saw Her (GaLe)

The First Time He Saw Her

The first time he saw her, he hated her. From the Symbol on her shoulder to her whole existence. He wanted the girl to disappear. Just like he wished for her Guild to do the same.

The first time that her hazel eyes met his eyes, he saw nothing but fear swimming in them. It made him feel powerful to see such raw fear in them.

The first time that he touched her, she got hurt. He could still feel her blood on his hands. Dripping between his harsh fingers. Sometimes he could still hear her screams for him to stop.
He never did. How he wish he had.

The first time he saw her again, after Phantom Lord had been defeated, and the Master of Fairy Tail asked him to join. There was a spark of determination in her bright eyes, they no longer held any fear in them, no fear for him.
He wasn't sure what to make of that.

The first time he protected her, he felt something stir inside of him. She was awakening something inside of him. Something that he didn't want.

The first time he made her smile, the metal that not only made up his Magic, but also his heart, began to chip away. Her smile was his undoing.
Damn it all if he didn't want to see that smile directed at him.

Gajeel Redfox, The Ruthless Iron Dragon Slayer, had never been around nor ever experienced the pure emotion of 'love'. And, Mavis knew, that he didn't want any part of that emotion. He much preferred more simpler emotions. Like, hate, rage, and the feel of power. The other emotions, happiness, joy, the feeling of being safe, or love, had never appealed to him. In fact, he loathed the emotions.

In his mind, there was no reason to have these useless emotions.
"They will only get you killed," his old Master's voice rang in his head, sending him into his violent past with a shove. "They are for the weak! Are you weak, Black Steel?"
Hell no, he wasn't, far from it in fact. Just ask anyone that had dared come across him. He didn't get his many scars and his nickname for being nice.

Gajeel couldn't really remember a time that he had been pleasant to anyone. That was a lie. He could remember. Even though he tried and tried to bury the memory, he couldn't. He was always nice whenever she was around. The Dragon Slayer couldn't help it.
He tried to be mean, he tried to be someone who others feared, and he tried to keep a low profile. Every since he had stepped into the very Guild that he had reduced to rubble, he had tried so hard to go unnoticed. Always preferring his little, dark corner where he chose to sit in the back of the loud Guild Hall.

He would sit back there for hours, alone, always alone. He even growled at the beautiful bar maid, Mirajane, who had only come to give him his bolts of iron that he enjoyed eating.
Even from the darkness, he could feel the many eyes on him, always holding hostilely in them.
But, he didn't care.
Let them stare, let them hate, let them be afraid.

It wasn't until that day that those two annoying boys from Team Shadow Gear called him outside, that things began to change for him. He let them punch and hit him. He let them call him names. He let them make him look like a fool. Not like he had anything better to do with his day. And somewhere, deep inside his metal incased heart, he knew he deserved this. Gajeel had done a great wrong to the two boys and the small, blue haired girl who had called out for Jet and Droy to stop their torment on him.

He had been surprised, to say the least, when she had spoken the soft words, "I don't mind."

She didn't mind? That he was there? The man that had hurt, humiliated, and beaten her and her teammates?Through the blood that had run down his face, into his already bloody eyes, he wanted to apologize. Gajeel Redfox, ruthless and feared Dragon Slayer, wanted to apologize to a girl who barely reached up to his elbow.
Before he could snarl out his reply to her unwanted kindness, that lightning bastard, showed up. Gajeel remembered the pain of getting zapped by the powerful Mage's lightning all to well. The memory still brought an unpleasant feeling to unfurl in his gut.