Gajeel had a long conversation with Levy within the safety of a a park, deciding against taking her all the way to his place for it. He made sure it was a park Elroy had never followed her to, and knew it had been the right choice when she smiled faintly.

Upon demand, she reluctantly told him an incredibly detailed account of what had happened from her point of view, shuddering in disgust and muttering how disgusting she felt about having kissed the man, even if it had been an idea that had worked. She choked up when she told him about plunging the scissors into Elroy's throat.

She told him everything.

And he listened closely, with rapt attention, his crimson gaze never leaving her face. He demanded harsh questions every now and then, pushing her until she answered, choking them out with reluctance.

When they were done, however, Levy smiled broadly, looking like a weight had been lifted off of her shoulders.

"Better?" he grunted.

Levy leaned in and, after a brief moment of hesitation, pressed a kiss to his lips. He returned it eagerly, winding his calloused fingers lightly in her blue hair, and she pulled back with a breathless laugh when he tried to follow. "We should go back to the guildhall," she breathed. "I don't want to miss dinner."

He pouted.

Levy laughed again, however, and his pout became a relieved smirk.

His Levy was at peace once more.

As days went by, Levy began to stop looking around every corner.

She began to go out on her own again.

She began to calmly look over her shoulder when someone surprised her rather than flinching and recoiling.

She began to take jobs on her own, though she preferred to take them with her friends.

She began to stay with Gajeel more at his place.

She began to go on dates without worrying about poison or the street blowing up.

But the horror and guilt and nightmares remained. Despite Juvia and Gray's speeches, followed up by Lucy's tight hug and reassurance, she'd still felt horrible about the matter. It wasn't a light action, taking someone's life from them.

It was Natsu who almost erased them entirely.

One morning, in which she'd stayed alone since Gajeel had been summoned for work overnight and taken Lily with him, she'd woken up to the worst nightmare yet. She had dreamt of the blood slicking her, filling her mouth, and screams of agony. She'd been unable to move upon waking - sleep paralysis, Wendy had told her sympathetically at a later point - and had sworn that there was hot breath on her throat, something sharp aimed at her eye-

The shadows beneath them had told everyone of the rough night and most gave her sympathetic looks but left her alone.

It was Natsu who sat down beside her, deciding she needed company instead. The fire mage was still healing, too, walking better every day and loosening up on the darkness that had tainted his usually cheerful self. He no longer chased off everyone with harsh comments and had surprised them all by taking Lucy on a date, though he'd needed help halfway through when pain had splintered through his back.

"Hey," he muttered.

"Hi," she whispered back, head in her hands.

Natsu was quiet for a few minutes. He gave her silent company - something she appreciated. Finally, he said, "I know what it feels like." She looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to continue. He cleared his throat. "To kill someone when you don't want to."

She stared at him in surprise. She'd never heard of this and doubted Lucy even had.

"Before I worked with Luce...before she came to the guild," he said slowly, "I worked with Happy and we traveled to look for Igneel." A flicker of grief for the dragon ran through sharp onyx eyes. "And on one of those jobs, there was this guy who they wanted me to catch. He'd been stealing and when someone found him, they didn't come back. I got asked to deal with the problem.

"It turned out that he was capable of using magic that made him nearly silent. He could sneak up on even me. What he'd do is he'd sneak up on you, clamp some anti-magic cuffs on, and then drown you." Levy wrapped a hand thoughtfully over her own wrist, remembering the metal cuff that had erased her magic. "I don't know what it was made of, but when he got it on me, it burned the hell out of me.

"I panicked. Happy was nowhere to be found. He came after me with a knife when he couldn't get me into the water because I turned it all to steam." Natsu stared her in the eye. "I wrestled the knife from him. And I used it in self-defense. I had to stab the guy. Right here." He tapped his left eye, grimacing. "I doubt he bled as much as Elroy did, but I still killed him. I felt the life leave him and there was nothing I could do.

"I left him where I found him, got the cuff off, and then went back into the town I'd been staying in. Happy was frantic. I told him that the guy had been dealt with, but nothing more. That the blood was mine. That I'd be okay.

"I had nightmares for months afterwards. I found Luce about five or so months after, and they stopped after we got close, but…" He shrugged. "I know what it's like, and Levy, it's not fun. And I know everyone's told ya that ya did what you had to do and that's true. But it doesn't make it any easier to deal with afterwards. You won't forget it and move on, or even accept it. And you shouldn't. But you'll learn to live around it. Don't let it ruin your life."

And then he offered her a large signature Natsu grin, puffed a cloud of smoke into her face, and scampered off to find Lucy - most likely to tease her with Draconian as he'd started to do on a regular basis.

Levy stared after him, her mouth opening and then closing.

A smile curved across her lips and she laughed softly to herself.

Only Natsu Dragneel would give a beautiful speech before running off to mess with someone.

Levy stretched and settled back, looking back to the translations spread out before her - a "gift" from the Council. She made a face. She didn't want to translate. She wanted to practice Draconian and maybe even go on a date with Gajeel. And while Droy had offered to help her, he couldn't help her with either of those wants…

With a sigh, Levy decided to go home. She quietly wondered when Gajeel's house had become home, but decided to not question it. She loved staying at Gajeel's house. It was nice to have the knowledge that she'd go home to someone there or he'd be coming at some point, even if it wasn't that same day.

Levy climbed to her feet, took a deep breath, and then looked around the guildhall.

Magnolia had recovered from the devastation had caused.

Fairy Tail was back to its normal wild behavior.

Gajeel wasn't so panicked.

It was her turn to accept the mess her life had become and move on. She would forever remember the taste of blood on her tongue, the feeling of Elroy pressed against her. She wouldn't forget the way the scissors had felt. The terror she'd experienced at his hand.

But she'd do what Natsu suggested.

She'd learn to live around it.

So she waved to Mirajane, who waved back and looked excited at the smile that Levy wore. She shouted a farewell to Lucy, who shouted one back as she tried to protect her food from Natsu's greedy hands. She winked at Natsu, who shouted a farewell in Draconian and tried harder.

And she stepped out into the street, completely relaxed for the first time in months.

She didn't know what she was expecting when she walked into Gajeel's house without so much as a knock, using the key he'd shoved at her one evening to unlock the door.

But this certainly wasn't it.

He froze, staring at her, and she froze, too, staring at him as well. Lily looked between them with fear in his dark eyes.

And then she burst into laughter, the sound filling the air. Gajeel nearly groaned in relief, halfway through piling the majority of her books along his walls. There were various knick-knacks he'd dug out of her room from Fairy Hills with permission from Erza as well as her help.

"You left," she giggled hysterically into her hands, "in the middle of the night to move my things?"

He gruffly muttered, "Well, Mira was supposed to keep you at the guildhall until I came to get ya so it would be a finished surprise."

Levy only laughed harder as she wheezed, "You didn't even ask!"

He faltered now. "Did ya want me to?"

"No, no, this is…" Levy tried to gasp for air, but the laughter picked back up and she held up a hand, telling him to give her a moment as she tried to piece her half-broken mind back together. It took a moment, but eventually, she wiped tears from her eyes. "No," she repeated. "This is fine. I like the assumption and your thinking that I would agree no matter what, but I'll say it anyways. Yes, Gajeel, Lily, I will move in with you two."

Lily relaxed, not looking so concerned, and came to drop onto her head. "I told him it would be smarter to ask," he told her.

"I don't doubt it." She sighed happily, touching her belly. "Oh, goodness. My stomach hurts now."

Gajeel gave her a suspicious look as he dumped the books he was shelving on shelves that she was sure he'd built himself - they were made entirely from iron - and then strode over to her. "The hell happened to put you in such a good mood?"

"Words of wisdom from Natsu Dragneel of all people," she told him, raking a hand through her blue hair. "Surprising, right?"

His pierced brows rose. "Are you fucking kidding me?"

"Nope." She smirked as he leaned over her, bending at the waist as if to silently mock her height. Lily made a sound of disgust.

"Let me know if you're going to smother her so I can leave the room," he muttered.

Levy sputtered and Gajeel gave him a pointed look. The Exceed rolled his eyes and did just that, promising that he'd get to work on shelving the top shelves in Gajeel's room. Levy wondered just how much had been moved from her apartment at Fairy Hills all ready.

She was caught off guard when Gajeel kissed her, but made a happy sound and reached up to tug him closer. He snickered against her mouth and playfully tugged a piece of blue hair. He murmured something in Draconian, the very first phrase he'd told her.

Levy repeated it back at him, changing it to her liking, and his crimson eyes glittered excitedly.

As he kissed her again, this time - as Lily would have put it - practically smothering her, Levy returned it fiercely.

For that moment, Levy thought of nothing but the warm swell in her heart.

The end. ;-;

Writing OI was an absolute pleasure, and seeing so many people enjoy it was also a nice thing. So I want to say thank you to all of you lovely people. Thank you for reading, thank you for enjoying, etc. Thank you for putting up with my choppy update schedule, too, by the way.

People seem to adore my dark stories. It's kind of interesting to me that you do. Of course, I enjoy writing them, so I don't know what to say in response, but you know. Because you enjoy them and because I like writing them, I'll do as I always do at the end of a fic and announce a new one:

Times of Hardship. It'll be a Natsu x Lucy and Gray x Juvia fic with two halves to it. I'm only in chapter one in regards to how much is done, so I'm not sure on length. The general basics of it is that the group takes an undercover job that goes ridiculously wrong, resulting in them all enslaved in the country of Bosco.

Anyways. If you liked this, you can check out my currents fics Between the Lines and In Tenebris.

As always and as said in Snow Fairy..."Don't say goodbye!"

~river