A/N: Hooray for another chapter! Writing this story has become the reward I give myself for completing homework, haha. I hope you guys enjoy!

sallycoombs: Here you go!

I don't own Fairy Tail. :(

"...ian. Lillian!"

"Wha! What I'm up I'm up!" Lillian yelled as she jumped up from her seat at the bar.

She rubbed her eyes with the palms of her hands as she looked up into the worried, if not slightly amused, face of her brother.

"You alright? You were in the middle of talking and then just kind of zonked out." Simon said a smile forming on his lips.

Lillian shoved her brother's shoulder as she took a large swig of her beer, emptying it.

"Yea I'm fine. I just stayed up late reading is all." She said groggily laying her head back down on the bar.

That was only about half right. Lillian did stay up late reading, but she had never technically gone to bed. She didn't realize how long her last job would take her so she had to cram three weeks of reading into one night. Levy wasn't much help either, being as she was more of an enabler. As soon as the blue haired mage found out Lillian loved to read as much as herself, she had given her stacks and stacks of books to read. And of course, Lillian took it upon herself to finish them all. She groaned as she felt someone tapping on her head and looked up to see Mirajane handing her another drink.

"I usually don't advise drinking this early in the morning, but I think you need it." Mira said with a smile.

Lillian sniffed the drink and wrinkled her nose at the unfamiliar smell, hesitantly lifting the glass to take a drink of it. Her eyes widened at the taste and she quickly downed the rest of it. A warmth spread through Lillian as she felt her mind begin to defog as she become more energized.

"Man, what's in that thing? It tasted amazing." Lillian said as she tried to get the last drops out of the glass.

Mirajane laughed as she finally got the glass back from her. "It's a slightly different blend of a tonic to fix hangovers. I changed some things so instead it gives you more energy."

Lillian nodded as she stood up from her bar seat, a new energy surging through her. She thought about going on another job, but decided to stay in town for a little bit before taking on another. She looked around at her family in the guild, wondering if anyone would be willing to spar. Lillian tapped her chin, considering Natsu, but their magic always seemed to just cancel each other out.

"If you're looking for a fighting partner," Simon said "we could fight, we haven't done that in a while." he smirked. "Though I know I'd win."

Lillian rolled her eyes at her brother and laughed. "Haha, yea right. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure the last time we fought I beat you within ten seconds." she said smirking.

Simon opened and closed his mouth a few times, trying to come up with a good comeback.

"Whatever, doesn't matter. I'm not just looking for someone to fight, I want someone to train with." Lillian said. "And no offence, but I'd be afraid of breaking my big brother." Simon huffed while crossing his arms, but didn't argue further.

"Yea okay. I get it." he said grabbing up his things and walking out of the guild.

Lillian sighed running a hand through her long hair. Even though they messed around and ragged on each other, she hated making her brother feel inferior to her. But she couldn't risk fighting Simon, not again. Before her thoughts could go dark, Mirajane's slightly worried voice broke through Lillians' train of thought.

"What about Gajeel?" she asked, looking as though she wanted to ask about Simon but refrained from doing so, which Lillian appreciated.

"Huh? What about him?" Lillian asked, looking back at the woman.

"Well, if you're looking to train, he seemed to be able to keep up with you fairly well." Mirajane said as she kept Cana away from another barrel of liquor.

"Hmm," she said, holding her chin. "I suppose that could work. That is if I can get him to agree."

Lillian began looking around the guild, but came up short when trying to locate the Dragon Slayer. She crossed her arms, grumbling about the always absent man as she remembered the night before. A smile spread across her face as she said goodbye to the barmaid and hurried out of the guild hall. When outside Lillian began making her way into town as she tried to remember where the music shop was located. She passed store after store, becoming frustrated that she couldn't find it again. Arms crossed she closed her eyes, trying to focus on smell only to try and trigger any memories. Her spine straitened as she caught a whiff of a familiar scent and her eyes flew open as her feet began to guide her foreword.

In only a few minutes Lillian was standing back in front of the music store she wandered into yesterday. Today the door was propped open, letting music flow like water out of the shop. When she walked in she was greeted by that familiar scent again, unsure what exactly about the store the smell belonged to. She looked around to see Gajeel near the back wall organizing music and was slightly taken aback by his appearance as he lacked his usual tough guy outfit, instead having on normal jeans and a black t-shirt. She bounded over to him with a large smile on her face.

"Hello fellow comrade." Lillian announced, hands on her hips.

Gajeel groaned as he looked down at the girl beside him, a vein popping out of his forehead.

"What the hell are you doing here again? I thought you said you weren't gonna come back." Gajeel stated as he walked toward the front of the store.

"I only promised not to tell anyone," Lillian said, following him. "I never said anything about not coming by again."

Gajeel rolled his eyes but knew arguing further would get him nowhere, so he went about working as usual.

"Fine. What do you want?" he asked, narrowing his eyes as Lillian smiled and hopped up onto the counter top to sit, swinging her boot covered legs.

"Well, I wanted to know if you could train with me." Lillian said, gaining a 'Ch' from Gajeel. "Oh come on, please? Training is a lot more effective with a partner and you're the only person I've met who I'm not afraid to punch." she said, putting her hands together and sticking out her lower lip in a pout.

He rolled his eyes again as he looked at the girl as she got down from the counter to go up close to him, eyes upturned to look sad.

"Is that supposed to be a complement? 'Only person I've met I'm not afraid to punch'?" he asked, but he did feel complimented. No one ever willingly wanted to fight with him unless they were trying to hurt him, never to train.

Lillian nodded as she continued to beg, tugging on his arm. "Pleeeease? Please please train with me? I have to become a better wizard if I want to be able to protect my family."

Gajeel stood there as Lillian tugged and pulled on him as he tried to decide if he wanted to be extremely annoyed and decline, or to give into her pleas. Growling he picked her up by the back of her dress to hold her up to his eye level. Her eyes widened as she readied herself to be yelled at.

"Why must you insist on being so aggravating?" he asked, causing her to look down in defeat.

He sat her down on the other side of the counter and she looked up to see a smug look on his face.

"What?" Lillian asked crossing her arms.

"I'm just going to enjoy proving what a mistake you've made in wanting me as a training partner, Gi Hi." Gajeel said, laughing.

Lillian's face perked up as she cheered and ran around the counter to hug the man while laughing.

"Yay! Thank you so much!" she yelled, a few people outside glancing in to see what the commotion was about.

She hugged him tighter, realizing the musky smell belonged to the man as Gajeel just crossed his arms and huffed in annoyance, hoping the white haired girl couldn't see the slight blush on his face. Lillian grinned as she finally let him go and laughed, feeling slightly embarrassed at her own outburst, and clasped her hands together.

"Okay, so come find me once you're done at work. I live up in Fairy Hills and I'll wait there till you're done." she said as she smiled and ran out the shop without giving Gajeel a chance to argue or back out.

The Iron Dragon sighed and put a hand to his head, wondering what he's gotten himself into. He finished work a few hours after Lillian had left and was locking up the shop when he felt eyes on his back. He spun around quickly but found no one staring at him, just some people walking by on the street. Eyes narrowed he began walking home, his nerves still on high alert. He sniffed the air and frowned, knowing good and well he was being followed. He stopped walking and looked to the trees around him as he sat his pack down.

"Alright, I know you're out there. There's no point in staying hidden." Gajeel said.

Just as he suspected, Gray and Natsu began to materialize from behind the trees. A growl broke itself from deep within Gajeel's chest. He was tired of everyone being pissed at him. Yea, he'd done bad and he wasn't proud of it. He wanted to mend the scar he'd left on Fairy Tail, but no one would let him try, so he was fine with playing the bad guy.

"We can't have you be in our guild, we can't trust you." Gray said, pulling his hands back in a fighting stance.

"Yea. You hurt our family and you shouldn't just get off free." Natsu chimed in.

The three stood facing each other as a breeze picked up behind Gajeel and spread toward the other two mages. Natsu sniffed at the air and he growled at the dark haired man.

"Why the hell do you smell like Lillian?" Natsu asked taking a step toward Gajeel.

"I don't need to explain anything to you two idiots." he retorted, arms crossed over his chest.

"You stay the hell away from her!" Natsu yelled running toward Gajeel. "Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" He ran and punched Gajeel under the jaw, sending him flying backwards.

"Ice-Make: Hammer!" Gray yelled sending a giant hammer made of ice down on Gajeel just as he landed.

Both Gray and Natsu walked over to where Gajeel was getting up, whipping blood off his lip. Natsu went over and grabbed the man by the collar.

"If we see you around Lillian again, we promise we won't hold back next time. You don't deserve her kindness, and we'll make sure she knows exactly what you've done." Natsu growled.

Gajeel shoved the Fire Dragon away from him. "Tell her whatever the hell you want, I couldn't care less." He brushed past both of them, picked up his pack, and continued walking back the way he had been heading, ignoring the yells coming from the two wizards.

Gajeel didn't go find Lillian later that evening. He knew the best way to get everyone to leave him alone was to keep her away from him. His stomach slightly dropped at the thought, but he attributed it to the punches he had just received. He knew she would be pissed at him for going back on his word, but it was the only way.

"Dammit Gajeel." Lillian said to herself as she paced her room.

It had been a few hours after she talked to Gajeel that she got curious about where he could be. She then started to become angry when the sun had begun to set. Lillian crossed her arms over her chest as she decided to go to bed early, knowing the iron mage wasn't going to show up.

The next morning Lillian was fully rested and still very much pissed. She pulled on a black dress that had light blue flowers sown into it, her favorite pair of boots, and pulled her long white hair into a pony tail. She made her way down to the guild hall and walked inside going right up to where Gajeel sat eating iron. Lillian grabbed the iron from his hands and he looked up at her, meeting her angry gaze with his own.

"What the hell's wrong with you?" he asked, aggravated.

"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you! I thought we had a deal." she said, almost yelling.

"I just said that to get you to leave me alone." Gajeel growled, Lillians' face faltering slightly. "You're annoying and pathetic and you need to get over yourself." he said coldly.

Lillian just stared at him as his words stabbed at her. Even though it hurt, she knew he was lying. Why was he trying to push her away? Did he really think he was better off with no friends? She collected herself and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Bullshit." Lillian said, matching Gajeels' cold tone.

He narrowed his red eyes at her and slammed his hands down on the table hard, causing the whole guild to look over at them. He wasn't really angry with her, but he let his hatred for everyone else in the guild fuel his words.

"I don't care what you or anyone else thinks. Leave me the fuck alone!" he yelled as he got closer, towering over Lillian to try and intimidate her.

She stared at the man in front of her and at the anger burning in his eyes. She held his gaze as she saw the anger begin to fade, but his expression remained hard. Lillian knew she didn't have to take his childish behavior but felt her temper begin to rise, and she knew she had to get out of there before she exploded. She finally broke from his stare and stalked over to the request board, ripped one off before looking at it, then turned back to go out the guild slamming the door behind her.

Gajeel watched her go before huffing and sitting back down. He looked across the guild to see Natsu staring angrily at him before the fire mage got up and went to chase after the water mage.

Lillian angrily wiped the tears from her face as she stalked through town. She wasn't actually hurt by his words, but he frustrated her beyond belief and she cried out of anger. She was pulled to a stop by a firm grip on her shoulder and turned around to find Natsu.

"I'll kick his ass for making you cry." Natsu growled turning to head back to the guild.

Lillian yelled in frustration before punching Natsu square in the jaw, knocking him back on his butt.

"Hey! What the hell?!" he yelled rubbing his face.

"Why can't you give Gajeel a chance?" she asked, her anger beginning to boil over.

"Why should I? He attacked Fairy Tail Lillian! My family! Our family!" Natsu yelled. "He attacked Levy and her team and chained them to a tree! He beat up Lucy and almost killed her! Not to mention he's a giant asshole who has no remorse for his actions!"

Lillian just starred at Natsu, taken aback by the new information. Yes, it was horrible what Gajeel had done, extremely so, but she knew harboring that anger would get them nowhere. She stood there in silence for a few minutes before responding.

"Natsu, did Levy forgive Gajeel?" Lillian asked, her voice significantly quieter.

Natsu's angry expression fell slightly as he sighed. "Yea. Yea she did."

"And even if Lucy hasn't forgiven him yet, she doesn't yell at him and start fights." she said walking over to crouch in front of Natsu. "You doing that though, makes it hard for everyone to begin healing, especially Gajeel." she held her hand over his mouth as he opened it. "Yes, even if he doesn't deserve it, he needs to heal too. Our past doesn't define us, it's how we let it shape us that makes us who we are." Lillian finished, smiling as she ruffled his pink hair.

Natsu sighed and looked up at the Dragon Slayer in front of him. He didn't know what happened in her past to make her so wise, but he didn't want to disappoint her.

"I suppose I can try and be less hostile toward him. But if he starts it I make no promises about any damage!" Natsu stated earning a laugh from Lillian.

"Alright deal." she smiled helping Natsu to his feet. "Now go back to the guild, I'll see you in a bit."

He nodded and ran off toward Fairy Tail as Lillian sighed. He stopped in his tracks and turned toward Lillian sheepishly.

"Yea uh... me and Gray are the reason the iron head got angry at you. We may have kinda ganged up on him and attacked him a little. And I may have told him to stay away from you...sorry." Natsu said scratching behind his head.

Lillian narrowed her eyes at him. "You idiot! Stay out of my business!" she yelled chasing after him.

Natsu took off quickly toward Fairy Tail and Lillian huffed as she stopped and crossed her arms, grumbling about idiot dragons. She finally looked down at the request she had taken and groaned. It was a job worth 100,000 jewels asking to take down a monster, but it was on an island. The sound of a throat being cleared cause her to jump and whip around to locate the sound her eyes finding Gajeel standing by the side of a building, hands in his pockets.

"Gosh don't do that! Make a sound would ya?" Lillian said grasping at her chest.

Gajeel rolled his eyes. "I did make a noise, and it's not like I was trying to hide or anything."

She huffed then walked over and punched him hard in the arm.

"The hell's wrong with you?" he yelled grabbing her wrists to keep her from hitting him again.

"Why don't you want friends?" she asked, face angry. "Why does the idea of having people who want to get to know you seem to scare you?"

He growled and pulled her closer to him, getting right in her face.

"I'm not afraid of anything. I'm just tired of these idiots bothering me." he said.

Lillian narrowed her eyes at the stubborn man and shook herself free of his grip.

"You can drop the bad guy act. I talked to Natsu, he said he'll try and behave." she said.

"Tch, whatever." he said crossing his arms.

"He also told me what you did to my guild mates." she said, slightly quieter.

He dropped his arms and waited for her response. Would she yell at him? Curse him and never speak to him again? The idea slightly worried him.

She looked up into his red eyes and sighed. "I think you could be more sensitive to how everyone feels, but I think you've been punished enough. You joined our guild, which is a step in the right direction. You're past doesn't define you."

His eyes widened in surprise having not expected that response from her, and for the first time he really looked at the girl in front of him. She held a smile on her face but it had a sadness to it that reached deep into her light blue eyes. Something inside Gajeel seemed to snap and he knew right then he wanted to keep her smiling no matter what.

"And he told me what he and Gray did." she groaned shaking her head. "They had no right to do that, to you or me." she stuck her hand out to him, a large smile on her face. "So how about we start over? Hi, I'm Lillian."

He chuckled as he reached out and shook her hand and she smiled more, poking him in the chest.

"This means you owe me for being stupid and blowing me off yesterday." she said.

Gajeel growled again, but didn't argue with her. He did want to make it up to her and, even if he wouldn't admit it to himself, he enjoyed her company. No matter how annoying she could be.

Lillian held up the job request so he could read it as he raised an eye brow.

"You're going to come with me on this job, I'll even give you some of the reward." she said smirking.

"Half." he grunted folding the paper up to put in his jacket.

"You'll get 40%." she said.

"50 or I'm not going." he huffed crossing his arms.

Lillian laughed. "Fine. 50 50."

She turned around and punched the air smiling as she took off running toward the dock.

"Hey, wait! We're leaving now?" Gajeel yelled as he chased after the white haired woman.

"Of course! Come on slow poke!" she yelled as she laughed running faster, happiness of making a new friend filling her soul.

A/N: I'm loving writing Lillian's character. I started with the idea of her being more rough and snarky, but her being a goofball is much more fun!

Onto the next!