AN: FAIRY TAIL BELONGS TO HIRO MASHIMA!

Hey! Hi! Sorry! Not been a great couple of months for me... This is actually a new laptop too... Hope everyone is well! I literally wrote this today. Not even joking. I'm kinda going "hey, I might even get this posted before midnight!"... which would be less than 12 hours from when I started writing it...? It's the longest chapter of Parole so far, but only by about 100 words! This is the first writing I've done since... I wanna say January... but maybe it was February? You guys probably know better than me... Anyway, hope you're all well! Hopefully there are no typos left! I've only proofread this 3 times instead of my usual 10... (Really proud of this fact, but I'm gonna cringe if I find any tomorrow... I'm gonna be busy tomorrow, so that's why I'm posting now! I might just start doing updates at midnight... I think most of my readers follow me now anyway (THANK YOU SO MUCH, BY THE WAY! I've had some lovely emails and I've felt terrible about not posting... Sorry...))

Hope you all enjoy this next instalment of Parole!

Gajeel frowned, staring at the silver glass on the wall. He knew she was there, on the other side. They would not let her in with him, but he would bet everything he had on her using that brain of hers to get herself on the other side of the damn glass. Hell, she was probably trying to prove his innocence right now. They both knew he had not done it, but could she really prove it? It came down to the word of a few ex-convicts. That was it, right? If they did not believe him, they would have Juvia backing up his story. But they would argue that she had every reason to defend him. Then Totomaru could say that he did not believe it was him? They all knew it was not. He used his damn fists and he doubted he could have done that anyway.

Not even to Jackie.

The files he had just been shown… The photos… What that cop had just told him… Hell, he would have happily knocked her out and nabbed Max, but to knock her out, tie her to a chair and set fire to her? And rig the house to go too? And nab Max, stash him, and get back to Juvia – who had not left his damn side – without getting a single burn? Or smoke on his clothes or hair? Their case was not looking good, but they had tried to tell him he had had a shower the moment he had gotten home. They clearly had no idea how long it took to wash and dry his damn hair. Even if he had had help, which is what they damn well suggested.

Where the fuck was Max? He had been stuck in here for hours and all they had told him was that he was not in the house when it went up and had demanded to know where he was. It was all his damn fault. If he had not fucking gone, everything would have been fine. Well, Max would still be being abused by his fucked-up mother, but she would still be alive and he would not be missing. Someone had clearly tried to frame him. Or Totomaru. But Totomaru's reaction was caught on camera and no-one was that good an actor.

"Gajeel?" The quiet squeak of her familiar voice came through the now slightly open door.

"Shrimp." He nodded, turning his head to look at her. "Ya allowed in here?"

"The officer in charge will be back in a moment. They've proved your alibi." The little blunette explained nervously.

"But?" He grunted, narrowing his eyes.

"They're not happy about it. You and Juvia were the only suspects in custody… They're having to release both of you. They won't tell me anything else yet…" She sighed, looking back over her shoulder at the cop who would be standing outside the door. "I'll meet you out front…"

…

"So, Lil', what they got?" Gajeel frowned as he dropped into his chair.

"What makes you think I would know more than Miss Levy here?" Lily questioned, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Because Shrimp ain't telling me everything and ya ain't trimmed yer beard this mornin'." Gajeel smirked, getting himself comfy as he readied for his update.

"They found Max." Levy admitted as she sat down next to Lily on the couch.

"Where is he?!" Gajeel demanded, sitting bolt upright.

"He went out the back door and climbed the fence into the neighbours' garden the moment Jackie started yelling at you from the front door as you left… Several witnesses can testify to seeing you leave, with Jackie screaming at you to never come back…" Levy coughed, looking away from him. "The neighbours told him to come over whenever his mother got upset… They knew about the abuse."

"And they did nothing?!" He snapped, his knuckles turning white as they gripped the arms of his chair. He took a deep breath and sat back, closing his eyes. It was not Shrimp's fault.

"They were scared of her, themselves." She replied, releasing a heavy sigh.

"Gajeel, that's not our main concern right now." Lily broke in, his expression serious as Gajeel opened his eyes. He nodded, watching Lily closely. "This Sol guy you knew?" Lily paused, waiting for Gajeel to nod again. "He has been missing since the day Levy and Lucy went to see him."

"What?" Gajeel blinked, pulling his phone out of his pocket. He flicked to his recent text from Sol and tried to call the number, his blood chilling as the person on the other end refused his call. Fuck. His phone vibrated in his hand. You know I never answer calls, Kurogane. Fuck. "That's not Sol." He blew, passing his phone to Lily. "If it was, there'd be a French word in there somewhere. And he'd have answered. He would always answer calls from both Elemental Four members and me. We only ever called in an emergency and this is definitely an emergency." He explained, watching as they looked over the messages. "He can't be tied to the numbers he uses, so we couldn't endanger him."

"So, Lucy and I lead someone to him…and now he's missing and someone else is using his phone." Levy admitted, the guilt clear in her beautiful hazel eyes.

"It's not your fault. They probably already knew where he was and used ya as cover, making ya feel like it was yer fault. Someone's probably been waitin' a long time for this." He sighed, giving her what he hoped was a reassuring half-smile.

"Aria is dead." Lily stated, handing Gajeel his phone back.

"Dead?" He frowned, turning back to face Lily.

"Two days after Sol went missing." Lily nodded.

"Wait, how do they know when Sol went missing? And why the fuck has there been nothing about Aria's death on the news?! And why didn't Sol- Because Sol was missing and couldn't inform us. Fuck. They took him out first so he couldn't fucking warn us. Why'd they wait so fucking long?!" He snarled, getting up from his chair to pace.

"The police went to Sol's after we'd been… They apparently needed to 'check on him', but I guess it's a good thing they did… They just didn't tell us. They were there at the same time we were at the warehouse, so they know it couldn't have been us..." Levy explained quietly, watching him pace. "And they don't think Lucy and I could have done it."

"How did Aria die?" Gajeel asked, already sure he knew the answer.

"He was kept in a secure facility. He's killed so many people accidentally since he went in, they considered issuing the death penalty…even though they don't do that anymore." Levy began, avoiding his gaze. "He'd been drugged – sedated – and his skull crushed. I don't know if he'd felt anything or if he was aware of what was happening to him."

"He was." Gajeel stated, his voice cold as he turned to stare out of the window. They were being immobilised and killed. Whoever was doing it would make sure they could feel every ounce of pain. "Same with Jackie. I'd bet my fucking life on it. Hell, I'd bet yer life on it, Shrimp." He continued, watching the cars shuffling past. "Aria crushed people's skulls. Jackie, her last job was to copycat Totomaru – that's what her uncle had her and her mother do, copycat us – so she'd burned someone alive inside their home. Only she'd fucked up and the guy's kid was off sick from school, hiding under the bed upstairs. The sick bastard doing this probably thought Max was upstairs. Sol, he's buried alive somewhere. Or, at least, he was. He'll be dead by now."

"That just leaves Juvia." Levy replied, her tone serious. He glanced back at her, only to find her glaring at him.

"Ya think it's my fault?" He frowned, narrowing his eyes at her. If she di-

"No." She stated, her expression still angry. "But we're not going to let someone drown her."

"What about me?" He smirked, trying to pull his old skin back on. He was gonna damn well need it.

"What about you?" She frowned, her head tilting ever so slightly to one side.

"I'm one of their targets." He snorted, turning to face her, crossing his arms over his chest as he did so. "Ya gonna protect me from Jose?"

…

Levy sat quietly in the car, watching Juvia's little white painted flat. She still did not know how Gajeel had known that Jose had gotten out. He had only escaped that morning, so he could not have killed Sol or Aria. Or Jackie. Would he really have killed his own niece? It was not impossible, especially if he had found out that she was the one that had sold them all out. Why would Jose target them all though? Surely he would have wanted to gather them back up?

Or maybe he wanted a fresh start.

"Shrimp." Gajeel nodded as he suddenly opened the car door and dropped into the seat next to her.

"Gajeel." She sighed, trying to get her breath back. "You made me jump."

"If I'd been Jose's new henchman, ya'd be dead. Watch yerself as well as the damn flat." He grumbled, handing her a blue mug of coffee. "He's already been here."

"What?" Levy burst out, spinning around to look at him in disbelief. Gajeel snarled as her hot coffee launched itself onto his t-shirt. "Sorry!" She exclaimed, trying to rub it off with her coat sleeve.

"Stop!" He snapped, shoving her arm away as he snatched the front of his top off of his torso. "That's fucking hot and yer pressing it against me." He growled, hauling his t-shirt off over his head to sit topless in her car. "Well, this doesn't look dodgy." He sighed, gesturing to himself. Levy blushed and looked away, shifting slightly in her seat. "Ya've seen me in a fucking towel before." He muttered and Levy glanced back at him to see what seemed like a bright pink line running between his ears as he pouted. "The place is trashed, but Juvia's text to say she's alright. I'm gonna call her now."

"Topless?" Levy coughed, trying to act like nothing was wrong.

"She doesn't know I'm topless, does she?" He grunted sarcastically, pulling out his phone. "Spill more coffee on me and I'm taking the damn car so ya can walk home."

"What if they take me to get to you?" She shrugged innocently. She knew he would not really leave her here. Right?

"Ya honestly think I'm gonna leave ya here on yer own when I know yer shit-scared of the fucking dark?" He sighed, waiting for Juvia to answer. "Just checkin' it was actually ya." He greeted down the phone. "She's at mine." He explained as he hung up.

"That was short and sweet." Levy puffed, turning the key in the ignition.

"She's found Lil' paralysed on the floor." He added as he took hold of her steering wheel. "He's been beaten pretty bad, but he's breathing."

"Ha-"

"She's called an ambulance." He answered, cutting off her question with its answer as he released her steering wheel again. "We're in seriously deep shit here, Shrimp." He admitted and Levy could feel him looking at her as she drove two miles an hour over the speed limit towards Lily and Gajeel's. "If we hadn't decided to check on her, we'd have been there… They took Lil' down." He growled, his fist clenching where it lay on his knee. "Ya ain't leaving my damn side until I'm going down, ya got that? I can't fucking protect ya if ya go running off on yer own."

"Do you really think Sol's dead?" She whispered, a tear rolling down her cheek. If she had not gone to Sol, he might have been fine right now. If she had not gone to Totomaru, Jackie would not have been left alone. Toto-

"I'm pretty damn sure, Shrimp. A guy just tried to drown Juvia. Ya don't survive being buried alive."

…

"He can look after himself."

"He's still in danger! Don't you care, at all?! Isn't he supposed to be your friend?!" Levy exclaimed, throwing her arms up in frustration as he strode past her to check out of the kitchen window once more. "And who's going to come in from the back?! You can't even get in from the back – it's a sealed courtyard you can only get to through the buildings! You're not going to break into the courtyard to walk straight back into the building!"

"There are four buildings that lead into that courtyard. We can only see out the front of one of them. He could easily break into one of the others and slip into this one." Gajeel returned, storming back through to the front. "Isn't she out the damn bathroom yet?!" He snapped, rounding on Levy.

"Someone just tried to drown her! Give her a break!" Levy retorted, pulling ineffectively at him as he began to move towards the bathroom door.

"If someone had just tried to drown me, a bathroom filled with water would be the last place I wanted to be." He snarled, moving his fist to bang on the door. He stopped and released a sigh. "But it's not me, it's Juvia. She loves damn water. How the fuck did she survive this guy?! Did she say anything to ya when ya came in?"

"She asked if she could go for a shower and I got her some towels, but that was it?" Levy shrugged, moving between him and the door. "I'll go check on her, ok? You keep watch."

"What the fuck do ya think I'm doing?!" He snapped, marching back over to the living room window to look out at the street below. "That's why I need her out of there… I need someone to watch the back. There's no signs of forced entry, so Lil' must have opened the door. Why would he do that?"

"Someone he knew, I guess." She half smiled, turning to knock on the bathroom door. "But how would Jose know someone that Lily knew?" She sighed, slipping in through the bathroom door. "Juvia?"

"Juvia will be one moment." The blunette answered, her eerie monotone in place. Having now seen the same Juvia being all doe-eyed over Officer Fullbuster, seeing this emotionless shell was strange. She was like a completely different person.

"Why didn't you go in the ambulance with Lily? Gajeel says this guy tried to drown you?" Levy gently pressed, letting her concern come through in her voice as she kept her back to the shower curtain.

"Water is Juvia's friend." The monotone answered. "Juvia almost managed to drown the man herself, but he decided to run when he dropped his syringe in the bath. He wasted Juvia's precious water, filling her tub and then spilling it all over the floor."

"You should probably still be checked out…" Levy frowned, glancing over her shoulder to check Juvia's progress. "How did you manage to almost drown him, if he'd surprised you and tried to drown you?"

"The side of the bath was wet from him splashing the water, so Juvia just used the slippery surface to flip us. He started to panic once he realised he could not flip us back and he was going to drown if he did not get his head back out of the water. Juvia is stronger than she looks." Juvia explained, drying herself off. "He had been trying to stab Juvia with a syringe, but he dropped it when he started drowning. After he dropped it though, he managed to use both his hands to shove Juvia back hard… Juvia landed on the floor and he ran out the bathroom."

"Do you think he'll come back here tonight…?" Levy asked nervously, handing the much taller blunette one of Gajeel's t-shirts. "Your clothes are still drying. Gajeel didn't think to grab you a change of clothes, but he did make me a coffee, so your mug is in the kitchen…?"

"Juvia does not mind." She replied, pulling the t-shirt over her head. Levy handed her the brown belt from the floor and gave Juvia a reassuring smile as she watched the blunette fasten it around her waist, creating a makeshift dress. "Juvia believes it to be likely." She nodded, moving to walk out of the bathroom door. "Or he will go after Mr Lily."

"Why would he go after Lily? He's already put Lily in the hospital?" Levy rushed, following after Juvia. "To get rid of the witness." Levy groaned. Of course he would try to get rid of the witnesses first. But was she right about Totomaru? Was he also in danger? "What about-"

"Juvia believes he may already be dead." Juvia answered, cutting Levy off.

"I was talking about Totomaru, not Sol." Levy corrected, pointing Juvia in the direction of Lily's seat on the sofa.

"Juvia knows." She confirmed, gently plopping herself almost elegantly onto the sofa cushion. "Totomaru does not seem as harsh and overconfident as he once was. Juvia was taken by surprise, but she has not been answering to Jackie's every whim." She continued, looking up as Gajeel walked into the living room from the kitchen with two steaming mugs of coffee. "Thank you." Juvia nodded as she reached up for her blue mug. "She is worried Totomaru will have gone soft." She sighed, accepting her blue mug as Levy was handed her usual orange one.

"He was hardly soft – he threatened to set me on fire if anything happened to Jackie." Levy pointed out, blowing on the strong-smelling drink.

"And ya wonder why I don't give a shit if he gets himself killed?" Gajeel snorted, dropping down into his seat. Was he finished with his pacing? Had he suddenly deemed them safe? "Shrimp, stop yer staring." He smirked, wrapping his fingers around the outside of his thick, grey mug, refusing to use the handle as always. "We're all in this room, which is where the front door leads into. Both me and Juvia here are between ya and the door." He explained, obviously understanding what must be rushing through her head. She buried her face in the bowl-wide rim of the mug. Mocha. "Yeah, thought ya'd need the sugar." He grunted, apparently registering her surprise.

"Thank you." She nodded, wishing she could sink deeper into the sofa.

"Why is Gajeel topless?" Juvia's voice suddenly pitched in. "Juvia wasn't going to question it, but he is still half dressed. Did Juvia interrupt something somehow? Juvia did not ask for you to come, she is sure – she came straight here."

"No!" Levy squeaked, her face flushing crimson. "I accidentally threw coffee over him, so he took his t-shirt off…"

"Oh, so Miss Levy poured coffee over Gajeel to make him take his clothes off? Juvia shall have to remember that one." She hummed to herself, clearly trying to indeed commit that idea to memory.

"That's not what happened." Gajeel coughed, that pink line reappearing from earlier. "I'll take the first watch if ya both wanna get some sleep?"

"Juvia is still filled with adrenaline – it has been so long since she last tried to drown someone. Juvia found it felt nice to get that rush again…" Juvia admitted, almost to herself. "Juvia promises she will not do it again unless it is self-defence though." She added, attempting to give Levy a smile.

"Perhaps we should go to the police? Then they could have someone posted outside at least?" Levy suggested, getting up to look out the living room window. She froze as something moved outside. She ran her eyes over the street again, trying to find the movement. Where had it been? Had it been a person? Or was it ju-

"Shrimp?" Gajeel's voice murmured quietly in her ear, causing her to jump. Gajeel staggered backwards, palm pressed to the right side of his forehead as Levy dropped to the floor, clutching the top of her head. "Shit, sorry, Shrimp – hadn't meant to scare ya." He grumbled, offering his free hand to help her up. "I was wondering what ya saw."

"Sorry…" She mumbled bashfully, looking away from his bare chest. She glanced back up at his face, only to find his crimson eyes turned away as his cheeks burned almost fuchsia. "I thought I saw something move, but I can't see anything suspicious."

"I'll take a quick look, while ya sit down – my head'll be harder than yers." He grunted, releasing her hand now that she was on her feet. He watched out the window for a moment before turning to look at Juvia. "Nothing." He reported, his expression serious.

She was not an idiot. He was trying to reassure her, while telling Juvia that there was someone out there. Levy jumped as a phone pinged behind her. Juvia's. She turned to look at the other blunette, waiting to find out if it was something important. How many people texted her? Did she have friends, this strange, almost emotionless girl? She was beautiful, but she hardly seemed… approachable.

"It is Officer Fullbuster!" She beamed, practically shoving her phone in Levy's face in her excitement. "He thought he should come by to check on Juvia since two of the Elemental Four are dead and so is Jackie, but he found Juvia's place in a mess, so he has text Juvia to ask if she is alright!" She squealed, her composure that of a completely different person from moments before. "Juvia must reply!" She exclaimed, suddenly standing from her cushion on the sofa and darting into Lily's bedroom for privacy.

"It's always surprising when she does that…" Levy sighed, her body finally relaxing from a tensed state she had not even realised it had taken.

"Yeah, ya don't get used to it." Gajeel replied, taking up residence in his chair once more. "That monotone and blank expression? Ya should have seen it before she met him. She's almost normal now. I ain't seen her seducing someone, but apparently Jose used to have her do it all the time… I'm assuming she wasn't using her monotone then." He continued, glancing almost nervously across at her. "Ya can go to bed now, if ya want…?"

"No, I'm still too awake…" She mumbled, folding her legs up under herself. "I'll scream if someone comes in, if you want to go?"

"Gihe, nah, I'll stay up." He chuckled, his voice deep and gravelly. "Want another?"

"What?" She frowned, watching him for some sort of hint as to what he could be talking about. "Coffee!" She exclaimed, her face blushing again as he waved his mug at her.

"What else was it gonna be, Miss Parole Officer?" He teased, getting up to take her giant orange mug with a smirk.

"We were talking about going to bed…" She puffed, draining the last of her mocha before handing the empty mug to him.

"And what would I be giving ya another of, if we were going to bed?" He pressed, giving her a knowing smirk as he leaned a little closer.

"I don't know, it's not as if we've slept in the same bed before, so you've never given me anything in relation to the subject at hand." She answered, keeping her expression serious as he blinked down at her in momentary confusion. He chuckled quietly before walking towards the kitchen.

"I'm surprised ya only spilt coffee on my t-shirt," he began from somewhere in the kitchen, making Levy frown, "since ya can't take yer eyes off my naked torso." He finished, a massive grin stretching the width of his face as he remerged, the kettle making noises in the background.

"Idiot!" She snapped, launching a cushion at him.

"Ya wanna just take a nap here?" He offered, suddenly next to the sofa.

"I've already told you that I'm not tired." She puffed, taking the cushion back. "I'm not goin-"

Soft lips suddenly pressed roughly against her own, silencing her. She leant back against the sofa cushions, Gajeel gently pushing against her shoulder as his other hand braced himself above her. He brought his knee up to rest next to her thigh and she hooked her arms around his neck, pulling him closer. Finally. She had waited far to long for this kiss. She slipped her fingers into his hair, tangling them in to get a firm grip, pulling him impossibly closer.

"Am I interrupting?"

"Fuck off." Gajeel grunted, pulling back barely half an inch to reply to Totomaru as he stood in the now open doorway.

"There are two bedrooms, you know." The arsonist sighed, dropping down onto Lily's cushion.

"And that door was locked." Gajeel growled, leaning back in as Levy tried desperately to untangle her fingers. Why did someone have to keep walking in?! All she wanted was a stupid kiss! "What's wrong?" He frowned, watching her struggling to remove herself from him.

"To-Totomaru is currently sitting on the other end of the sofa." She babbled bashfully, her face getting hotter as he held his embarrassingly close.

"And?" He murmured, moving closer again, his lips barely brushing hers.

"And it's 'Totomaru', not 'Tototomaru'." The arsonist corrected, mild irritation in his voice.

"Thought ya'd changed it?" Gajeel mused, his lips continuing to brush against hers as he spoke.

He had not tried to kiss her since that day in her office when Lu had walked in and now he was practically on top of her! While someone else was on the same sofa! What- Why had she not realised sooner? It was no different to that stupid time outside his old bedsit. He was trying to make her look like his girl. Again. It was not that he wanted to, it was that he felt he needed to in order to protect her.

"Shrimp?" Gajeel's voice called, his face almost four inches away now, concern etched in every harsh line.

"Sorry, lost in thought." She answered, trying not to glare at him.

"What did I do this time?" He grunted, pulling away from her completely to head through to the kitchen.

His expression as he passed through the doorway looked like he was suffering from acute disappointment and frustration. The seemingly stereotypical reaction of a guy that had just found out he was not going to get laid after all. That was hardly fair, it was her that was being let down. It had been him who had led her on, pretending that he had actually wanted to kiss her. And she had just went with it. Oh no, what was he going to be thinking now?! How stupidly mortifying! Why had she just kissed him back with no questions asked?!

"You know I don't like an audience." She puffed, turning her warm face away from the two men to look in the direction of the window.

"Gihe, ya did slap me pretty damn hard that day Lil' walked in on us in the kitchen!" He guffawed, appearing back into the living room with their mugs at last.

"Gajeel!" Levy exclaimed, her face burning unbelievably hot in her embarrassment – that had not even happened! Ever! She was going to murder him in his sleep! That was the solution! Hold a pillow over his stupid face while he slept! Until he woke up and started to struggle… Who was she kidding? He would just lift the stupid pillow off and ask her what she thought she was playing at. She sighed, her head suddenly snapping back up as she remembered the others in the room. "You're going to have to start sleeping with one eye open if you keep telling people about that." She grumbled, taking a deep gulp of her second mocha.

"Why don't you two go 'sleep' and I'll take the first watch?" Totomaru offered, smirking as he watched her closely. He still didn't believe there was anything between them and she did not blame him.

"Why'd I trust ya? Ya threatened Shrimp." Gajeel snarled, already bracing himself to punch the seemingly defenceless guy on the couch.

"Because some guy in a trench coat just tried to stab me with a syringe." Totomaru smirked, holding his hand with his fingers pinched as if to show Gajeel something. "That cop Juvia has a thing for is watching the front of the building from his own dark blue Vauxhall across the street, as I'm sure you've noticed." He grinned, the expression echoed in his eyes as Gajeel glanced at the window. "And I'm pretty pumped from a fire fight."

"Fire fight?" Gajeel questioned, moving over to the window. "And that car pulled up when ya came in through the door. I heard the engine cut out as the door clicked."

"True." He admitted, tipping his head slightly in acknowledgement. "Yeah, syringe and a chef's blowtorch. Think he was planning on cooking me slowly – that would of fucking hurt." He laughed, almost gleefully. "Was I ever that cruel to my victims?"

"Occasionally, but ya had a habit of making the fire so hot, the house may as well have been a fucking incinerator." Gajeel mused, shaking his head. They were insane. Completely insane! Calmly talking about murder – burning people alive – as if it was a perfectly normal, everyday occurrence. "Then again, I guess that was the whole point of that accelerant ya designed."

Yeah, did its job beautifully!" Totomaru boasted, suddenly producing a disposable lighter. "I got him with it – think he thought it was a normal lighter!" He snickered, wriggling it in mid-air. "He ain't got a trench coat anymore!"

"Ya still keep some on ya, huh?" Gajeel smirked, moving to snatch the lighter and missing it by a fraction of an inch as Totomaru made it suddenly vanish.

"Uh-huh, and I don't think the bastard will be coming back tonight. Nearly drowned by Juvia, blackeye from you, and I set him alight!" He cheered, suddenly wielding an open beer bottle.

"Sorry to say, the blackeye wasn't from me – the blackeye was from my flatmate, who the bastard hospitalised." Gajeel grunted, killing the jovial mood in an instant.

"Fuck, sorry, mate… That Lil' of yours seems like a pretty decent guy." He nodded, holding his bottle up in what seemed like an almost respectful gesture. "Guess that explains where he is."

"He'll pull through…" Gajeel replied, offering Levy his hand to help her off the sofa. She squeezed it gently as she took it, letting him pull her up as she did.

"Unlike Sol. Nasty way to go…" Totomaru admitted quietly.

"Ya find him?" Gajeel enquired, leading her towards his room as she followed in silence.

"Of course I did. Why do you think the bastard had a chance to get me – I was in the middle of fucking nowhere. If the idiot hadn't kept such close tabs on us, Jose wouldn't have found us all so damn quickly. Two fucking birds with one damn stone… All our identities and locations handed over to him and our little warning call was silenced before it could be fucking made… Why'd he kill her though? She was his fucking niece…"

"She ratted him out." Gajeel offered almost apologetically. "Hell, all these years I thought it was my fucking fault and it had been hers. I'm not surprised he took her out." He continued, gently pushing Levy into the dark room. "Think her mother's still alive? She disappeared long before that raid, but we never did find out what happened…"

"She's actually got some massive company now, with a new name she bought. Jackie found her… She wanted to tell her about having a kid of her own, but her mother acted like she'd never met her before." Totomaru replied, taking a melancholy sip of beer.

"Guess there are worse fates than Sol's, huh?" Gajeel sighed and Levy tugged on his hand, silent asking him to follow. Totomaru clearly needed a moment, but she was starting to feel like it really was not just him who needed one.