AN: Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima
"So, how can I help you?"
Levy smiled across the small, round, pine table covered in coffee rings which had clearly become a permanent design from her worn, mauve leather armchair. The other woman sat awkwardly with her mug of coffee clenched nervously in both hands. The young woman had requested the meeting with her but, judging by the woman's determination to evade eye contact with Levy, she clearly was not sure if she should be here in the cafe meeting Gajeel's ex-parole officer and previous victim from over a decade ago.
"You know, I have a few questions I would like to ask you, if you wouldn't mind?" Levy continued, the woman's large, empty, blue eyes darting in the direction of the fire escape. "You don't seem to know where to start, so I am simply offering to begin with a simple question that you do not have to answer if you do not wish to." Levy smiled reassuringly at the other blunette. "And I promise I won't tell all the big, scary officers of the law anything that you tell me."
"Juvia should go." The young woman stated emotionlessly as she set her mug down. "This was a mistake and Juvia is sorry to have wasted your time."
"Is this about Gajeel?" Levy suggested lightly, trying to keep any emotion out of her voice.
Juvia froze, half-risen from her armchair. Levy gave her a friendly smile and gestured to the seat that the leggy blunette had just vacated. Juvia seemed to watch the chair thoughtfully for a moment before retaking her seat. Her fingers warily slid over the handle of the coffee mug and she raised it to her lips. She seemed to sigh silently into her mug before her dead eyes darted up to meet Levy's.
"This is indeed about Gajeel." Juvia finally answered after studying Levy for a moment more. "Juvia wishes to know how he is coping?"
"You know, you could just call him up yourself. He's not in the phonebook, but neither is my mobile number." Levy commented, carefully flicking through a list of the other woman's crimes and contacts mentally. "How did you get it?"
"Juvia got it from her old parole officer." Juvia answered, her mind clearly sharper than her eyes showed her to be. Levy did have a way to check that information, but she did not wish to be the one to discover one of Juvia's drowned victims, just as she would not wish to come across someone that Gajeel had beaten to death with his fists. She would ask one of her colleagues to check on the poor man later. "He said that Juvia would find hope in Gajeel's case."
"And why would you find hope?" Levy returned, waiting to find out the true reason for this meeting.
"Is Gajeel's case not a success?" Juvia inquired, an eeriness to her tone.
"There is a chance that he could relapse, but is that what you are hoping for? Were you hoping your ex-boyfriend would turn back to the underworld side of things if you got him out?" Levy interrogated, keeping her voice friendly for anyone able to hear them.
"Juvia would never wish such a thing." The blunette replied, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.
"So, why did you try so hard to get him out? You were the one who contacted me when he was getting a chance to come out on parole?" Levy continued, taking Juvia's smile as a sign of no ill-intent.
"You would not understand." Juvia sighed, her expression becoming an echo of sadness.
"What would I not understand? I read your file before agreeing to meet you with my boss...I wanted to get some sort of idea about you and whether you were a threat to Gajeel's chances. I wasn't disappointed when you agreed that he was ready for the test." Levy asserted, giving Juvia another reassuring smile.
"Not everything is in her file." Juvia returned, her face still holding its shadow of sadness. "Juvia just wished to do one good deed...She did not believe he was the truly the monster he could be."
"And you were right. If you hadn't spotted it and came looking for me, he would still be in prison." Levy reasoned, taking a sip of her coffee. "What made you think I would take him on?"
"Why would a small woman who had been a victim of such a violent crime become a parole officer? Out of a sense of justice? In which case, she would not have let her attacker run free in case he hurt others." Juvia began quietly, her hollow gaze drifting to her own coffee. "Juvia believes that you became a parole officer for answers, but she suspects you did not expect to be handed the man who had done you wrong."
"Very true." Levy laughed quietly, laying her mug on the table and reaching for her bag. "If you want, I'll call him now for you? He has no idea that you're the reason he's out."
"Juvia would like to keep it that way." The blunette nodded as she moved to rise from the seat.
"You're not going to try to win him back?" Levy frowned, watching Juvia pull her coat on.
"Juvia never had Gajeel in the first place, nor does she want him. Juvia knows that Gajeel did not mean to make that mistake that cost Juvia's freedom, but Juvia's heart has a wish and Juvia has no problem letting Gajeel live the life she cannot." Juvia replied in an empty monotone. "Everyone makes mistakes."
"Juvia, wai-" Levy cut off as the fire door slammed back into place.
...
"I met your friend the other day." Levy sighed as she flopped down onto the sofa beside the tall, muscular, dark-skinned man, her gaze directed at Gajeel sitting in the armchair next to her.
"I assume this isn't a 'current' friend from work?" Lily inquired, a dark, questioning tone to his deep voice as he noticed Gajeel visibly tense.
"No, it wasn't." Levy admitted, studying Gajeel carefully. "Did you know I'd seen her?"
"Keep yer ear to the ground and ya hear things." Gajeel grunted, stabbing at his bowl of ramen.
"Is that code for 'Sol told you'?" Levy pressed, pursing her lips.
"I'm assuming that's who's sending the anonymous texts." He frowned, still refusing to look back at her. "I read them to make sure there isn't someone on their way here."
"It seems strange that a man who lost his freedom would be letting you know that no-one was coming to cause you trouble?" Lily hummed, watching Gajeel out the corner of his eye as he began his own ramen. "And even stranger that the woman that lost her freedom for the same incident contacted the woman who'd been hurt during the incident to ask how you were coping."
"How did you know she'd asked?" Levy implored, rounding on Lily.
"I was sitting behind you in the cafe." He chuckled, shaking his head at her. "If you're meeting a known murderer, you should really be more observant of your surroundings." He continued, clearly still amused by her obvious surprise. "I did notice some hints of jealousy and suspicion on your part."
"Jealous of what?" Gajeel snorted, finally looking back at her.
"Levy here seemed to think that Juvia wanted to reclaim you as her boyfriend." Lily continued, ignoring Levy's mortified expression.
"Boyfriend?" Gajeel smirked, a teasing glint in his crimson eyes. "Aw, Miss Shrimp, did you really start getting jealous at the idea of me having an ex?"
"No, I-" Levy began in a fluster, cutting herself off as she realised she was reacting just the way he wanted her to. "She did say something about being unable to live her wish and wanting you to live it? I'm not entirely sure what she was talking about."
"I do." Gajeel replied quietly, an uncharacteristically soft smile pulling at the corner of his mouth. "She had a difficult past and managed to hold onto one wish throughout it...but last time I seen her, she'd given up on it, even if she hadn't forgotten." He continued thoughtfully. "She wanted to fall in love with someone who would love her back and not leave her...someone she could have a family with."
"Why would she give up on that?" Levy urged, a frown firmly in place.
"Ya've met her." Gajeel shrugged, going back to his dinner. "She's not exactly all happy smiles. She's more...bitter and lost. She hides her emotions to protect herself. Hell, I've never seen her outwardly angry, but it wouldn't surprise me if she wanted to drown every man on this planet."
"If she wants to kill people, why is she out? Shouldn't she at least still have her tracker?" Levy ranted, shaking her head at the system. How could Juvia have gotten out before Gajeel if she had still felt like murdering people?!
"Shrimp, ya've missed one key thing – she never got caught for murder. Juvia went down for kidnapping some girl in my place on the orders of Jose. They never pinned any of her victims on her and I wasn't stupid enough to give her up." Gajeel snorted, glaring at the TV. "Ame Onna is not the type of woman ya wanna piss off."
...
Levy glanced over her shoulder as a chill crawled unnervingly quickly down her spine. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end, ignoring the rain dripping from her ponytail as it attempted to make them lay flat. Levy bit her lip as she watched the red man across the grey street, silently begging him to leave so that the friendly green man could glow, telling her that she could finally cross, letting her escape. She had felt eyes on her since the moment she had opened her door to leave for work. She took out her mobile, wondering if she could message someone to come meet her.
She sighed in relief as a green light suddenly appeared in her field of vision and stepped out onto the road, still unaware of the message her mobile was trying to show her. Every muscle in her body tensed as someone brushed past her, leaving her in the middle of the road. Her eyes watched the drenched, blue waves pass in front of her before disappearing into the crowd on the other side. A horn blared at her and she jumped, suddenly aware of the reappearance of the red man and the black taxi flashing its lights at her. She waved an apology to the driver and jogged to the other side.
She scanned the crowd, searching for the eerily familiar blue hair. She felt her mobile buzz in her pocket and pulled it out. She smiled, her entire body relaxing, as she realised it was a message from Gajeel. She opened it and frowned down at his words. She raised her head and began combing through the crowd for the sender but she could not find a trace of him. She bit her lip nervously as she suddenly remembered what he was capable of. As with Juvia, there had been no real evidence linking him to any murders, but he had never actually denied them out-right. He had to have been watching her to have known that Juvia had just passed her on the street.
She quickly replied to his messages; the first having been a warning that Juvia was following her, the second telling her that Juvia was gone. She had to find out where he was. Why was he hiding somewhere in the crowd? They had been seen in public together before, so why was this moment any different? Her mobile buzzed again and she glared down at his warning. He had only sent her four words and none of them hinted at an excuse. What did he mean by telling her to stay away from Juvia?! Juvia was the one following her! He had admitted that much in the first message!
"Because she's out for revenge." Gajeel's voice murmured in her ear.
She spun around to look up at him, only to find several frustrated business men trying to get past her. She squeaked out an apology and hurried towards her work, refusing to look over her shoulder to check if she was still being followed.
...
Levy frowned as she re-read Juvia's file. She was sure she had read it more times than Gajeel's now, but she still could not work out what Gajeel had been trying to warn her about. Juvia's file showed no signs of something that Juvia would want revenge for, except for Gajeel failing his mission. Juvia herself had confirmed that Gajeel was not her target for revenge, but if Juvia was not following her to get revenge on Gajeel, why was Juvia following her? It just did not make any sense!
"Lev? Everything alright?"
Levy's head shot up from the file at the sound of someone's voice – it was several hours past office-times. She let out a sigh of relief and offered her friend a reassuring smile. She glanced at the time and quickly slipped Juvia's file into her handbag. Her friend continued to stand expectantly in the doorway, clearly awaiting a verbal answer. Levy checked her phone and blushed, finding over ten messages having arrived since she had last dropped it into her handbag over four hours ago.
"I'm fine, really, Lu." She smiled sheepishly, raising her hazel eyes apologetically up to meet the tall blonde's brown ones. "I just got a little caught up- I lost track of time." She finished, biting her lip as she looked away from Lucy once more.
"Whose case do you have now?" Lucy frowned, following Levy's gaze which had settled on the brown handbag by the blunette's side. "You've only had three for a while now."
"Ah, it's an old case." Levy explained as she wondered how much she could tell her friend without alarming her. "They're connected with Gajeel, so I'm trying to find out a little background on them...and him, obviously. Gajeel's been doing well, but it turns out he's had contact with 'old friends' lately."
"When you say 'friends'...?" Lucy inquired, the worry clear not only in her voice, but her soft, brown eyes.
"Both Juvia and Sol." Levy nodded, offering her friend a reassuring smile. "Juvia got out six months before Gajeel, as you know... It's her files that I've been reading."
"Why-"
"She asked to meet me at a cafe the other day and I agreed." Levy confessed, guilt creeping up on her as Lucy's eyes went wide with horror. "Nothing happened and I mentioned it to Gajeel the other night. He seems to think she feels the urge to kill every man on this planet, but he didn't seem worried about it? Anyway," Levy continued, shaking her head as she tried to get herself back onto the original conversation, "she was following me this morning and Gajeel warned me to stay away from her because she was after revenge. I've been looking through her files for hours but I just can't find anything."
"So why's she after you?! Is it because it was you who put Gajeel behind bars? Is she jealous because he's with you now?" Lucy rushed, the writer in her already trying to get at the key points.
"I don't think she's after me." Levy mused, shaking her head at Lucy. Levy frowned as a thought suddenly occurred to her. "Lu, you're a writer..."
"Well done for noticing." Lucy snorted in amusement as she wondered where Levy was going with the conversation.
"If Juvia was one of your villains, who would she be after? What would her motive be? I've searched these files and I just can't find anything." Levy sighed, watching in fascination as the blonde instantly began to create a character from a living person.
"What do we already know?" Lucy implored, tapping her chin with her index finger. "She seems detached, numb, as if she's suffered depression for some time...Do we know if she had something she wanted to do with her life? Something she could have failed at or lost?"
"Gajeel said she had a dark past, but other than she gave up on wanting a family to the point where she basically told Gajeel and me to start one in her place, I have no idea." Levy confessed, avoiding the knowing spark that had instantly appeared in the blonde's eyes. "Don't start, it's not like that."
"I'm still waiting to find out why." Lucy returned, pursing her lips before suddenly dropping into the chair opposite Levy and pulling a pen and notepad from her handbag. "Ok, dark past and given up on having a family...Someone murdered her parents and siblings?" Lucy hummed to herself and she stared up at the ceiling, the top of the pen now tapping her chin. "No, too obvious – she'd want revenge on the murderer but that wouldn't stop her from wanting a family...unless she was afraid she'd lose them too? No...What was it about having a family that she'd given up on? Not physically being able to have one wouldn't make her angry with all m-" Lucy cut off, her eyes shining with realisation.
Levy sat quietly as she watched Lucy violently scribbling away on the poor notepad. The pen began tapping against the blonde's chin again and Levy opened her mouth to speak, but shut it again as the scribbling of notes recommenced. What had Lucy come up with? Levy had spent hours on this and Lucy had it all worked out in less than fifteen minutes! Lucy's face shot up to grin back at Levy in a way very similar to the blonde's enthusiastic boyfriend.
"So, this character of yours...why is she out for revenge?" Levy asked quietly, trapped between excitement at the idea of a new character and fear about the real woman's motives and missions.
"Ok, so, Juvia was a lonely child, likely bullied, and as she was growing up, she had a few 'negative' relationships with boys that always ended up in the same way – the guy breaking up with her because she was always so 'down and paranoid', but that was just because of the bullying. She was always waiting for the boy to turn on her and leave her." Lucy rushed in pure joy at her own deductions. "That's not why she wants revenge though. She doesn't want to 'drown every man on the planet', she wants to drown the man. She wants to kill the 'last man', the one that broke her, the one that caused her to snap. She wants to kill the man that lead to her becoming broken and numb, which made her easy for Jose to manipulate. She wants to kill the man that 'took her life away'."
"Are you saying she became a murderer because a guy broke up with her?" Levy questioned, frowning at Lucy.
"No, a series of guys broke up with her for the same reason. The problem is that she is putting all the blame on the last guy to break up with her because that was when she 'snapped'." Lucy pressed, pushing her notepad across Levy's desk. "She was looking for 'love', not a 'family', wasn't she?"
"Gajeel...He did say something like that." Levy agreed as she scanned the notes, following them and matching ones to Gajeel's hints as if Gajeel had been whispering in Lucy's ear the entire time. "She wanted someone to love her back, someone she could start a family with."
"So who's she after?"
...
Gajeel trudged through the supposedly abandoned warehouse. He could feel the cold, deadly eyes focused on him as he made his way to the office. According to Sol, this was where he would find Bora. If his hunch was correct, he would also find Juvia here. He could have sworn she was the one who had rehabilitated to 'life outside' first. He would never say that he was 'the good guy', but Juvia was not an assassin under Jose's control anymore. The possibility of Ame Onna still being a raging force inside Juvia's tiny body made the hair on the back of Gajeel's neck stand. He could not fight her. He could not win against her. If he won, he would have killed her. She had saved him and, although he may not exactly be reformed, he could not let her down. He could not kill the woman who had seen the light in him and thought him worth saving. If he won, he would be back in the dark forever. He could not let the little woman waiting in the light for him down.
...
Levy stared blindly at her phone, waiting impatiently for Gajeel to reply. Where was he? She felt the car turn onto a different road and looked up, searching the surrounding countryside for what they were looking for. There had been a few heavy chains to pull to get the information she had needed. Once she had contact with him, she had a key to every underworld event or business in the city, if not the whole country. She did not care at this moment about his methods, or how the two of them would get him to talk, but they had to save Juvia from herself.
...
Gajeel flinched as his phone vibrated in his pocket. His crimson eyes scanned the silent, crate filled warehouse before dropping momentarily to the ill-timed text message. He frowned as the words 'Unknown Sender' glared back at him. What did Sol want now? He knew what Gajeel was doing, so could he not have waited an hour or two to text with some completely unimportant piece of information?
"Gajeel?" Juvia's hollow voice called eerily, snapping his attention away from his phone as it echoed through the warehouse. "Have you come to help Juvia? Juvia does not need help. She knows exactly what she is doing. Bora is hiding at the moment, but Juvia will find him."
"Juvia, go home." Gajeel grunted, dropping his phone back into his pocket.
"Juvia can't move on until he understands what he did to her." She nodded as she stepped out from behind a nearby crate, her eyes still blank as she spoke so calmly about murder. Of course she did – they all did.
Murder was just another day in the office.
"They'll know ya did it." He returned, painfully aware of his calmness. He was supposed to be moving towards the light, towards his little Shrimp. "Ya wanna be caught? Miss prison that much?"
"Juvia does not mind where she is." She replied indifferently.
"Ya should." Gajeel frowned, folding his arms across his chest. "Why bother with me? Why throw it all away once ya think I'm gonna live yer damn dream?"
"You have already started." She replied, almost looking through him as she seemed to stare at something behind him. "You have a family."
"I have an ex-parole officer that checks up on me and I live with an ex-soldier that nags me into playing my part on a daily basis – not exactly what ya'd call a family." He snorted, shaking his head at her. It wasn't as if he could even get the damn midget to give him another kiss after that blonde girl caught them in her office. She waved it off as him being 'over enthusiastic at getting his tracker off' and hadn't let him that close to her since. "If it is, I'm pretty sure I could find ya one."
"You have Max." She smiled softly, an echo of sadness shimmering in her empty eyes.
"Who's Max?" He grunted, frowning down at her. "I don't know any damn 'Max's. Ya sure ya've been watching the right guy?"
"Juvia found her." She replied, her gaze meeting his. Now what was she talking about? "Juvia found Jackie."
"Shut up." He hissed. That shit wasn't going to get to him.
"Juvia truly found her – Juvia thought you would be happy? Juvia knows you ha-"
"I said shut up!" He snarled, smashing his fist into a nearby crate. What the fuck made her think he'd believe lies about her?!
"She is alive, Gajeel-kun." She offered unflinchingly, even as the crate began to sob. "Just as alive as you or me, or the girls Bora kidnaps and sells."
"I told ya to shut up." He growled quietly, gritting his teeth. "Ya know how badly I fucked up."
"She'll let you see Max...but she is not sure how much you will have changed? Juvia told her that you had changed for the better." She continued, taking a step towards him that almost seemed cautious. "He will be ten in September... He has your eyes?"
"She's dead, Juvia... If I hadn't attacked that- that place, I wouldn't have been followed back, and there wouldn't have been a damn raid..." He mumbled, his body cold and heavy under him. "...she wouldn't have been caught in the crossfire."
"The Police called for an ambulance when they found her. Totomaru told you about her being shot, but he didn't know about what happened after." Juvia explained, suddenly next to him and laying a hand on his forearm. "Juvia went looking for her after she found out the fates of you, Totomaru, Sol, and Aria. Aria is still being held in a high security location, getting daily visits from Doctors trying to help stabilise his mental health – he accidentally killed eight guards in his first two days. You and Totomaru went to the same high security prison, while Sol was kept in isolation for two years before being let out."
"Totomaru got transferred and I don't even need to ask why Sol was let out after two years." He frowned at her hand, unsure if he could trust her so close to him. "The midget recognised me...If I'd just stuck to the plan, ya wouldn't have ended up kidnapping the Heartfilia girl in my place and ya wouldn't have been arrested...so why are ya here telling me that Jackie survived? Or are ya lying to me?"
"Juvia is free because of you. If Juvia had not been arrested, Juvia would still have been working for Master Jose." She smiled, startling him. "Juvia spends many nights considering if she should hunt down the Police Officer that arrested her, but then Juvia remembers that she is a convicted criminal and a murderer, even though it has not been proved. Juvia feels warm when she thinks of him, but how could he love Juvia?"
"I beat a girl and her two friends to within an inch of their lives, only for her to become my Parole Officer ten years later. She still helped me get free." He snorted, shaking his head at her. "Hell, I've even kissed her twice now... I'm not supposed to think about her like I do, but I ain't gonna just give up. If she won't have me, I'll stay by her side anyway – it's not as if I deserve her or anything."
"What will you do about Jackie?" Juvia frowned, concern flickering through her deep, blue eyes.
"I'm not sure I can face her, but I've got to." He answered, watching her as her attention seemed to turn back to something behind him. "I still can't believe she's alive."
"She was considered an unwilling accomplice, because of her ties to Jose." Juvia nodded, offering him another gentle smile.
"She had nowhere else to go." He confirmed, dropping his gaze back to Juvia's hand that still rested on his studded forearm. "I didn't even know she was pregnant..."
"Juvi-"
They both tensed as sirens echoed through the warehouse, accompanied by the sound of relieved sobbing from the crates that surrounded them.
...
He sat silently next to her, his emotions unreadable. She could not expect him to talk to her, not at that moment. What would he say when the police finally dropped them off? She had stepped up to explain their presence there, but she doubted he would accept her words. Not after she had potentially overheard so much. She opened her mouth to speak, only to close it again. The officer sitting behind the steering wheel glanced in his rear-view mirror at her movement before returning his attention to the quiet street ahead.
"Well, it looks like we're here, Miss McGarden," the officer began, his eyes flicking back at her with concern. His partner stepped out the car, poised to release her, "if you're sure you want to be dropped off with Mr Redfox, that is?"
"I do. I wish to speak to Lily, so I'll get the bus back to mine later." She nodded, slipping out the door as it creaked open. The younger officer's eyes darted straight to Gajeel waiting on the other side for his door to be opened. "He's harmless, honest! He's just a little grumpy."
"Sorry...I, eh, heard a rumour." The young officer coughed, flicking his eyes to Levy for only a brief moment before returning to Gajeel.
"About what?" She frowned, cocking her head to the side as innocently as she could. Was it a rumour about their relationship? Was that what was making him so jumpy? Or was it-
"Black Steel..." He mumbled quietly to her. Gajeel's body tensed slightly behind her. "I heard he got the name from beating people to death – black with dried blood." He nodded. He froze as he held the door ajar, his gaze still focused on the giant wall of muscled waiting impatiently in the car. "You should be careful, Miss." He half-whispered, clearly trying to seem unfazed under the ruthless attack of Gajeel's crimson glare.
"He has enough scratches on his back that I know I don't need to worry." She replied, turning her expression to a knowing glance as she stepped past him onto the kerb. "Now, if you wouldn't mind letting him out?" She chimed, keeping her back to the young officer in an attempt to hide her mortification.
Her door shut with a bang mere seconds before Gajeel's door clunked open. Keeping her posture relaxed and still, she waited for him to reach her. The door shut and his arms laced around her waist possessively from behind her to the sound of a gasp. He nuzzled her neck, only to nip at her ear. A growl escaped his lips and the officer was inside the police car, seconds before if vanished around the street corner.
He released her.
"I told ya to stay away."
"I wanted to help." She returned, taking a step towards the block of flats. "I did try to war-"
"Warn me? Ya had Sol text me! Ya think I'm a murderer?! Do ya even know what that freak did?! He's not just some informant, no matter what ya lot think!" He snarled, her wrist suddenly being yanked backwards by his gigantic hands. "And lying to some shitty officers about us is gonna have them asking questions – questions ya ain't gonna want answered."
"He asked us...and he tried to do it to a friend of ours," she began, her voice almost a whimper to her irritation, "so we could answer him. He attacks you mentally, hypnotises your broken soul, and then buries you alive."
"So ya know we're all monsters." He smirked, his eyes gleaming with a disgusting sneer she had not seen since then. "Stay the fuck away." He snorted, shouldering past her. "From all of us." He added over his shoulder.