Summary: Levy and Gazille take steps forwards and backwards, life takes twists, paths take turns. The evolution of their relationship. Series of interrelated oneshots; nonchronological. One: He was the traitor. He had lied and betrayed her on so many levels.

of steps, twists, and turns

levy x gazille

one: another step

It was over.

Ivan was dead. Raven Tail had been destroyed, like Phantom had, but the battle had been longer, harder, and much more devastating in so many ways, especially since the leftovers of the Balam Alliance had swarmed to Raven Tail.

Gazille didn't even want to have to think of how long it would take to deal with the aftermath. He didn't want to have to even deal with the aftermath.

Which was why he was currently not attempting to move an inch from his spot on the ground, as uncomfortable as it was. There was rock and rubble digging into his back, as well as sharp God-knows-whats that were poking him all over.

Then there was the fact that he was completely and utterly drained of magical and physical energy and he wasn't even sure if he could move at all. And of course, he was losing a lot of blood, and quickly, from his numerous large, deep injuries. Pain didn't even begin to describe the fire that was currently raging through his body. That also meant that he was basically lying in a pool of his own blood, which was a pretty unpleasant mental image for him, seeing as he already felt like he was about to die anyways.

The icing on the cake was that he was pretty sure that no one except Makarov would even care if he died, and he was pretty sure Makarov was down for the count, like almost every other mage of Fairy Tail. And if he wasn't, then he was probably busy dealing with every other injured mage, or whatever it was that people had to deal with after a battle. He had amazing luck, he really did.

The cherry on top was that he was pretty sure he had some kind of concussion because his mind was more than just a little fuzzy and he kept seeing black. Well, whatever it was, his head was in a hell of a lot of pain and chances were that that wasn't going to be changing anytime soon.

Life was fan-fucking-tastic. Absolutely peachy.

Never mind that he'd been instrumental in bringing down Ivan and Raven Tail, because of course no one knew he'd been a double agent. He was going to die alone and a traitor. Great.

If breathing hadn't been so hard for Gazille—he was pretty sure he was only going on one lung, since the other one had probably collapsed at some point—he'd have laughed at the absurdity of his situation.

Fuck.

This was not how he pictured going out, and for God's sake, he still had to find out what happened to Metallicana, the arrogant jackass. He was too young for stupid shit like dying.

He cursed mentally and then groaned as he coughed up blood and sent pain ricocheting through his body.

Did the sky just turn green, or was he really losing it?

"…Gazille! Gazille!"

Huh. That sounded like Levy.

Gazille winced inwardly. He'd been trying not to think about her.

His Levy.

His girlfriend.

The girl, the mage that he kind of maybe loved. Not that she knew that, of course. It had taken them months after the S-class exams to even start interacting more regularly, let alone for her to build a real trust of him and really get to know him. And it had taken them years to get to the point that they had been at before the battle. He didn't even want to think about how long it had taken him to work up the guts to ask her to just go on a mission with him.

Which would be the point where Gazille had just figured out exactly how important she was—of course. Life couldn't cut him a fucking break, could it? He just had to turn into a fucking sap right before—who was he kidding? Levy changed everything.

She just didn't know it. But to be fair, no one did.

He'd really like to kiss her one more time. You know, if he was going to die. Maybe tell her he loved her, but maybe it'd be easier for her to move on if he didn't?

Oh wait.

He was the traitor. He had lied to her and betrayed her on so many levels.

Fuck.

Even if he didn't die in the miserable pit he was currently lying in, he really did not want to have to deal with her hating him. Death was preferable. He didn't think he could handle the sight of those cinnamon colored eyes filled with hate and revulsion.

"…oh God, Gazille, can you hear me? Stay with me, Gazille! Gazille!"

Maybe he wasn't dreaming. He felt the hand that was slightly less injured than the rest of him being held tightly.

"Dammit, Gazille, stay with me, don't you dare fucking leave me!" Levy screamed at him. She sounded scared and furious and on the verge of tears all at once. Normally she would have been shaking him, if she sounded like that, but she probably figured out that it would have been a bad idea to do that. She was smart.

That's my Levy. She's amazing.

Gazille was definitely not thinking coherently anymore. He could vaguely make out a mass of blue right above him. He coughed up blood again and wanted to recoil at the pain that once again lanced through him.

"L-Levy?"

"Gazille!" Had he been able to see her face clearly, he would have seen relief written all over her worried face. As it was, the relief in her voice was nearly palpable. "Gazille, I'm here. I'm right here. Look at me, please, look at me!"

"Y-you're," he groaned. It was so damn hard to talk. "Y-you're," he tried again, "here."

"Of course I'm here, you idiot—Gazille, Gazille, no, you keep your eyes open! Dammit, stay with me, don't you dare leave me!" Levy's voice cracked and he felt something warm and watery hit his face. He felt it again a second later. And again.

"D-don't…s-stop," he rasped, "cry…ing…"

"The healer mages are coming," Levy sobbed, "please, please don't leave me. They're coming. You're going to be okay. Keep your eyes open, Gazille," she babbled through her tears.

"Y-you came," the Iron Dragon Slayer gasped out. He really wasn't hallucinating.

"Of course I did, I had to find you—I lost track—of course I did, idiot. What am I going to do without you, I haven't even told you that I love you yet!"

Huh.

He tried to speak again.

Stop crying, woman.

"Gazille? Nononono, Gazille, NO!"

It was bright. Really, painfully bright.

Gazille's dark onyx eyes focused on the familiar rafters of Fairy Tail's healing wing. His mind was completely fuzzy and he honestly had no idea what was going on or why he was in the healing wing.

Oh.

Right.

His eyes slid shut.

That.

He tried to sit up—"Mother of—f-fuck!" he snarled, then immediately regretted it when even speaking intensified the pain.

The person holding his hand jumped awake. "Gazille!"

The Iron Dragon Slayer froze. Shit. Levy. Fuckfuckfuck.

"You're awake," she breathed. "Oh, thank God. I was so—you—never do that again."

"You're here," he said almost wonderingly, shoving aside thoughts of the throbbing pain in his body. "Levy?"

"It's me, I'm here, you dumb, stupid, reckless—oh, Gazille." Levy broke off and buried her head in the bed and squeezed his hand even tighter. "I….oh, God." She mumbled into the blankets.

"You're here," he said again.

She raised her head and gave him a watery smile, tears shining in her warm, cinnamon eyes.

"I'm here."

"You…you came for me," he remembered. "You came."

"I love you."

"You're here."

"I love you."

"You stayed."

"I love you."

"But…I…everything I did…I—you—"

"I love you."

He just stared at her. If he knew her, she didn't leave his side once since she found him. She couldn't have been told that he had been a double agent yet. That meant…she…even though she thought he…

Gazille grinned.

"Say it again," he half-asked.

She kissed his hand.

"I love you."

disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or anything related to it; I do, however, own this story idea/plotline/etc.

written: 17 January 2011

published: 18 January 2011

word count: 1,358

notes:

-This is my first Fairy Tail fanfiction, and my first fanfiction in god-knows-how-many years. (So, yeah, I'm pretty nervous) I couldn't sleep and I had to have LevyGazille, but it hasn't officially become canon (YET) and I've read all the LevyGazille fanfiction (not much) so I was like, what the hell, I'll just wing it. Levy and Gazille haven't been heavily featured and there's not a whole lot of character development, especially as far as Levy goes (I don't know about the anime, I gave up on it because of the shitty animation) so I took some, ah, artistic liberties.

-Yeah, I spell Levy with a "y" and I spell don't spell Gazille's name "Gajeel" because the utter badassery is just completely lost. In my opinion, anyways.

-I see this as several years after the current arc (I tried to show that in the story when I mentioned the years it took for their relationship to progress to this point), when they're both in their twenties and Levy is much tougher (hence her cussing), older (well duh), and more mature.

-It was really Gazille-centric, I know, but it was pretty short...right? Haha, it's four pages on Microsoft Word. I hope I pulled off the fluff without making it extra-fluffy. I couldn't really figure out how to end it, but I couldn't have Gazille say it back just yet because I don't feel like he's ready to, you know? He doesn't seem like the kind of person that would suddenly say something to big, even after what happened. But I could be wrong.

request(s):

-If you caught any mistakes (of any kind), please let me know!

-Tell me how it turned out and review, yeah?

-Come back for the next storydrabblething if you liked it?