Levy found herself slipping past the fence outside of the school grounds, hoping a walk in the cool night air would settle down the memories Gajeel had stirred up. She was tempted to change into Shadow Script and vent her anger on a building or something, but she had left her costume hidden back in her dorm room.

    As she walked past buildings, she found herself getting farther and farther away from the campus. Levy slowed her pace, frowning at herself in annoyance. Now what?

    She rubbed her face wearily with her hand, letting a sigh escape her. Her foot splashed in a puddle to her displeasure, soaking through her shoe and dampening her feet. Rain began to fall lazily from the sky in miniscule droplets, slicking her hair down around her face.

    "I'm such an idiot," she muttered, shaking from the bitter wind that bit at her skin, "I should've stayed in my room."

    "Can't deny that!" a hand grabbed her shoulder, and Levy leapt back in fright to see a man standing behind her, a small switchblade in his hand. "You shouldn't be out here all alone, little girl. You could get... hurt."

    Levy stepped backwards, curling her fingers into fists. She could easily take this guy with her magic, but still she tried to back away slowly.

     Two more men crept out of the shadowy alleyway nearby, grinning at her with yellowed teeth.

    Okay, three men. Maybe a bit of a problem.

    The first one advanced forward, and Levy stumbled back as he lunged forward. Suddenly, before he could reach her, he was flung aside into the second man. A masked figure with a hood hiding his head ducked beneath the knife swing of the third man before kicking him easily backwards and away from them.

   With shouts of surprise, the other men gave the newcomer one last look before darting away, followed quickly by the third.

    Levy stared at her rescuer in shock, recognizing him from the newspaper, "Blacksteel? Wh-what the heck—?"

     "You're welcome," he grumbled, his dark mask glinting in the dim streetlight, "You okay?"

     "Been better," she muttered stiffly, "Now you show up on time. Where were you when my father died? Oh, right, two minutes too late!"

     He stared at her. Or at least, she suspected he did, the mask concealed his eyes fairly well, "Er... what?"

     Levy stared up at him, blinking raindrops from her eyes as she spoke in a stiff voice, "Prison break. Last year. I've been wanting to punch your face in all year long, and here you are."

     Blacksteel didn't speak, just silently willed her to continue. He remembered said prison break with guilt and discomfort, knowing he had showed up a moment too late for that incident.

    "You remember it, don't you?" she asked fiercely, "October 15, last year. Six incredibly dangerous prisoners escaped from a highly secured cell. My father and a few others tried to stop them, but... but..." she broke off, letting her gaze fall to the ground. "Then you showed up and rounded together the criminals. But you were too late to save m-my father."

      Blacksteel was at first annoyed. He couldn't be perfect, and the people who had died because he'd been too late still haunted him. But she didn't know that. So all he said was a quiet, "I'm sorry."

    Levy, who had been expecting some sort of excuse or cold, uncaring annoyance, was startled by this, "Y-you are?"

     "I know all of those people die or get hurt because I ain't good enough. I am who I am to help people, and when I screw up, it haunts me. I'm just human and I know I can't be perfect. And when I do fail, I ... always feel like quitting."

     "Why don't you?" Levy asked, her eyes locked on his face, trying to find some source of emotion.

    "Because then things will get worse. Then I won't be savin' anybody, and those people could lose their lives. All because I was too selfish to put aside my own thoughts and feelings for others." Blacksteel said slowly, rubbing the back of his neck.

    "Oh..."

     "I've read what you wrote in the papers. I don't try to take over for the cops. I just try to do a few things here and there to clean up, y'know?"

     Levy glanced away, rubbing her arm uncomfortably, unsure of what to say.

     "And, uh... I'm sorry about your father. I know I can't possibly make it up to you, but if ya ever need a favor, you know who to call," he turned away, about to sprint off down the alleyway, but she grabbed his hand, turning him back around to face her.

     "Wait... Um, I want to talk to you a bit more," she said, shifting awkwardly, "Um, would that be okay? I know you're a bit busy, and—"

     "Nah, it's fine. I owe that to you at least." Blacksteel shrugged, "So, you wanna ask me some questions or what? I can answer most of your questions, but not all."

   " Okay," she tried to combback her windswept hair, "So... who are you really?"

     He chuckled, shaking his head, "Sorry, but that's the last thing I can tell you."

   "Aw, please?"

     "Nope."

    Levy thought for a moment, trying to come up with some good questions to ask him,"what made you decide to do this?"

     He glanced away, "Well... I guess I was finally shown how much the world sucked and I wanted to change that a bit."

     "What showed you that?"

     "I don't wanna talk about it," he sounded as if he was scowling, and his voice was strained.

     "Oh," Levy gave a small nod of consent," I understand. Sorry for prying."

     They talked for a long time, and Levy found that the more she talked to him the less she held against him. He genuinely seemed to care about helping people, and she was forced to the conclusion she'd been wrong about him in so many ways.

     "It's probably time you went home," Blacksteel said at last, getting to his feet, "I'll escort you back."

     "Oh, thank you. And thanks for hanging out with me tonight," Levy gave him a tiny smile, and he patted her head, "Oh, and... I'm sorry for writing those bad things about you before. I see now that you aren't so bad."

    "Don't worry about it," Blacksteel waved it off, "It ain't like I mind—" he broke off as Levy gave him a quick hug, which startled him.

     "Um...could I see you again?" she asked, "Maybe on the top of that building over there tomorrow...?"

     "Uh, sure. Oh, uh, I didn't catch your name."

     "It's Levy," she smiled warmly at him, "See you tomorrow night?"

     "Hell yeah," he grinned,and watched her with a smile as she skipped happily back towards the campus.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

   Double update, woo hoo!! I'm trying to make up not updating in a MONTH. I'm so sorry!! But heres two chapters. Also, this is more of a fluffy book, there's not much of a plot to it. But I have a few that I'd love to publish on here! And they have what I consider to be decent plots.

    Well, that's all I have to say! Bye bye peeps, thanks for reading!!!

       —gajevyx99 out