Beauty and the Beast (Gajevy Fanfic)

Chapter 12

Droy pushed himself to his feet. "Dad's probably getting worried about us." He said. "We should get going before he has a heart-attack." Jet got to his feet as well, and they both looked expectantly at Levy.

Blushing, Levy refused to meet their eyes. "I think I'm going to stay with Gajeel for a little bit longer." She said. "Could you tell dad where I am?" She asked hopefully.

"You want us to tell dad that you're out in the forest with the beast that mauled you?" Jet asked skeptically. "Yeah, sure, that'll reduce his chances of a heart-attack." He announced, his tone seeping sarcasm as he rolled his eyes.

Levy scowled at him and raised her eyes to the heavens. "No, just tell him I'm with Gajeel. He'll understand." Jet and Droy exchanged looks, then Droy shrugged, and Jet sighed. They agreed, said goodbye to Levy and set off back.

The clearing was silent for a full minute as Gajeel and Levy both sat there, wondering what to say now. Then, when the silence became too much to bear, Gajeel coughed awkwardly and shuffled around a little, trying to get more comfortable. "Thanks." He grumbled, scratching absently at his cheek with his index finger.

With an amused huff, Levy rolled her eyes. "Anytime." She promised him, and Gajeel suddenly, inexplicably, felt nervous. The awkward silence returned and lingered for a good few minutes, until quite suddenly, Levy decided she couldn't stand it anymore. "So, will you teach me some more moves today?" She asked brightly.

The question was so unexpected, that it took Gajeel a few seconds to work out what Levy had said, another couple of seconds to work out what she meant, and yet more seconds ticked by as he tried to formulate his answer. "Ah, uh... Sure." He agreed, getting to his feet. Levy beamed and jumped up too. Gajeel noticed that she had a lot more strength and control in her muscles now, and he felt oddly proud of her.

They trained together until it was well past sundown. Eventually, Levy called a stop to their sparring as she was out of breath and rather bruised. Gajeel did not believe in molly-coddling, and Levy probably would have smacked him if he had tried to. As always, Gajeel offered to walk her home, and Levy agreed. They made their way through the dark forest, and Levy tried to stay alert in case some nocturnal predator decided to try and take Gajeel on. She didn't want to be a burden if anything happened. However, her whole body ached with exertion, and she ended up more or less leaning on Gajeel as they walked.

When they were nearly halfway to Levy's home, Gajeel froze, suddenly, and Levy stumbled to a stop beside him, quickly looking around her. She couldn't' see what had caused Gajeel to stop, so she looked back at him. She'd just made eye contact with him when she saw his head snap to the side, and a moment later, Levy got the wind knocked out of her as someone tackled her to the ground. Blindly, Levy lashed out with her elbow, aiming for her assailant's neck. It was a move Gajeel had taught her. Instead of hitting the soft flesh of someone's neck, however, Levy had aimed too far, and hit their shoulder instead. She twisted in their grip, trying to get her leg high enough to kick him, because she could tell from his brawn that he was male, in the crotch.

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