A dull, dark pain took hold of her as she heard Gajeel's voice echoing in the room.

She cursed herself. She was convinced that she would not risk meeting the mage at the guild.

Instead, she had miscalculated.

"Hey, (Y/n), haven't seen you around in a while, are you alright?"

"Sure, I'm fine! And you?"

But the girl didn't deign to turn around.

"I'm fine too, you know..."

"Gajeel!"

(Y/n) bit her lip.

More than not wanting to see the other mage she had tried to preserve her weak mental health from seeing her Gajeel together with his new flame.

Seeing them happy was an indescribable pain, tearing at her chest.

"Oh, Levi. Well, see you soon (Y/n)!"

She didn't try to answer.

She knew her voice would be lost in the air.

She stayed a few more minutes to be inconspicuous and then ran off to vent all her tears, mindful of past times.

She had known Gajeel since the days of Phantom Lord and had been in love with him for as long as she could remember.

As she was also a mage almost as strong as the wizard, she had often taken advantage of that to conduct quests together, it was the easiest way to spend time with him.

Despite the considerable amount of time spent in his company she had never allowed herself to come forward.

Why?

There were several reasons for her behaviour, but one in particular had outweighed the others.

Gajeel was clearly interested solely and exclusively in strength and power. Combat. In creating confusion, trouble. Not a romantic relationship. And the girl was certain he would never accept her as his mate.

So she'd settled for assisting him on missions.

But she was wrong.

Completely.

Entering Fairy Tail had changed everything.

At first she had been under the illusion that things could stay the same, but she had soon changed her mind.

She hadn't wanted to believe what was happening right under her nose.

She refused to believe it was possible.

But one day she had to face the harsh reality.

Her Gajeel had fallen in love.

But not with her.

But with an insignificant little girl.

She had been desperate and had even thought of revealing her feelings to the wizard in the hope of changing things, but she could see clearly with her own eyes that there was nothing she could do.

The two of them loved each other. And there was nothing she could do to change that.

So she had simply decided to ignore them as much as possible, in the hope that she could stop feeling bad.

But every time she saw them, the pain seemed to increase exponentially.

Perhaps her love was destined to never fade, burning her deeper and deeper.

03/11/2021