This is both an armada fic and also a gift for my good friend gsut on Tumblr, who thoroughly sold me on this pairing.
I hope you all enjoy it.
Questioning.
It sounded like such a benign thing, like all she had to deal with were a few polite clarifications on her actions. The reality, however, was that she was going to be all but interrogated. Unpleasant though the prospect was, it was something she was going to have to deal with if she wanted to stay at Sabertooth permanently. Minerva did not want to leave them, not after finally realizing how much they all meant to her and how much she belonged with them.
However, being actually guilty – and of multiple infractions at that – had her sweating bullets. She hadn't been this afraid of Erza, or even the demons with whom she'd taken up with in Tartaros. Her father was the only one that had ever struck fear this deeply into her soul before, which was not a comforting thought.
She wasn't confident in her prepared responses for the questions she knew they would demand answers for. The cruelty that lurked inside of her was as much of a part of her as her hands, as her magic. Which was the problem. She was guilty, after all. Minerva had conspired with not one, but two illegal guilds. Just the act of joining them was enough to earn her a sentence in some dark and dank cell, never to see the light of day or her friends' faces again. And although Minerva hadn't actually killed anyone herself, it hadn't been for lack of trying. She had tried her damnedest to erase Erza from the face of the world; she'd merely been unsuccessful in the execution. Even the things she'd done in the public eye – the cruelty she'd put on display on live broadcasting during the Grand Magic Games came immediately to mind – did not paint her as capable of sympathy or worthy of it herself.
Guilty of attempted murder. Guilty of aiding and abetting known criminals. And Guilty of being like them.
Monsters though they had been, Minerva had found echoes of herself in Succubus Eye, and Tartaros, and she was afraid that her interrogator would see inside her, know just how much like them she still was, and condemn her for it.
Her guildmates were supportive, of course, with Sting threatening all kinds of things if the Rune Knights didn't let her go. Words could not express how much it all meant to Minerva, that they wanted her to come back to them so fiercely. She'd looked everywhere for a place to belong, but in the end it had been right where she was, with these people who cared for her so much.
These thoughts kept swirling around inside her head, overtaking any rational lines she might have taken.
She was roused from her self-flagellation session by the arrival of a Rune Knight. Her heart beat harshly in her chest, and the moisture drained from her mouth. Minerva barely heard him introduce himself around the sound of her blood pressure skyrocketing, but she didn't need to hear the introduction anyway. She knew who he was on sight.
One of the dragon slayers from Fairy Tail. The one that had humiliated Rogue on the final day of the Grand Magic Games, if she wasn't mistaken.
Gajeel Redfox.
Her luck was truly horrible.
There went any chance she had of making it through this intact. Minerva's crimes against Fairy Tail, in particular, were many. She'd fought Erza three times, and outright tortured the blonde celestial mage from his guild. It seemed that now she'd get what was coming to her.
His red eyes were boring into her intensely, his pierced brow furrowed. There was no doubt that as a dragon slayer he could hear and smell the absolute mess that Minerva was in. There was no hiding from this, from his senses. She was as good as locked away, no need to try to excuse her actions. Fairy Tail would get its revenge for her actions.
Everything she'd wanted to change in herself was as good as dead, now. Her future was over before she even had the chance to try again.
What an absolutely humiliating farce.
"So," the Rune Knight drawled, his voice as raspy as rusted iron shackles. "Minerva Orlando."
Minerva swallowed thickly. "Yes."
"I have a few questions for you about your involvement with Tartaros." When she nodded in response, he then hesitated visibly. Then he let out a heavy sigh. "This is pointless," he grumbled, to her amazement. "I was fucking there, there's no need for this shit. Fucking waste of my time."
"That's fair," Minerva told him. "So what happens now? You handcuff me and haul me away?"
He recoiled a little at her words. "Hell no. Why would I do that? It's just more paperwork. You're free to go. Sting and Rogue gave us the…" His lips quirked up at the corners for a brief moment, like he was holding back a smile. "They told us what happened. How you were captured and experimented on by the demons of Tartaros. Erza even backed up the story."
The way he emphasized that last word gave Minerva pause. There was no way that this man didn't know the truth. But here he was, letting her go anyway. Irregardless of all she'd done wrong.
"Why?" she asked him, barely holding herself together. Every cell in her body screamed at her to just take the charity and run as fast as she could away from here. But… she had to know. Minerva forced the question out from deep inside of her. "Why?"
Gajeel raised an eyebrow at her. "I would assume they're backing you up because they believe in you."
She shook her head. "That's not… what I meant." Try as she might, she couldn't summon up the words she needed in that moment. To clarify, to ask him why he was just letting her go anyway. The words welled up inside her, but they stuck fast in her chest. Why he wasn't acting in revenge upon her. Now would be the time to do it. He was just throwing the opportunity away.
She didn't understand.
The dragon slayer grumbled various curses underneath his breath. "Would you just go, already? Before I change my mind."
The words she wanted to say died inside of her. With trembling limbs, Minerva stood up from her chair. She turned to leave, her hand clutching the handle of the door, when she heard Gajeel say something else. Hesitating, Minerva twisted her head to peer at him over her shoulder.
Gajeel grimaced at her silent entreaty, not fond of repeating himself. "It's… It's not like I don't understand," he said gruffly, his eyes not quite meeting hers. "That's all." He waved his hand at her to be gone. "Get going already, would ya?"
The dam inside of her broke, and Minerva nodded once at the latest person to offer her a taste of the freedom she'd wanted all her life. "Thank you," she told him, and then she left – striding out of the Rune Knight post with a confidence that had been sorely lacking in her as of late.
The compassion he'd shown would not go to waste, she vowed.
It was time to pay all of the kindness she'd received forward.
Starting with her guild.