What I Live For

"I'm the son of rage and love."

-Green Day

Please R&R.

Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima.

Bandnames/Song names I do not own / Song Lyrics.

Previously:

He interlaced their fingers, taking a deep breath before beginning to explain everything to her. She smiled at his story, turning to face him and wrapping her arms around him.

"Gray is in a band now? Juvia is glad."

He shrugged, "well, I told Jellal I'm only agreeing to one rehearsal."

Juvia giggled, shutting her eyes and placing her head on his chest. "As long as Gray is happy. Juvia will support him."

"I know." He said softly, placing his lips on her hands. "That's why I love you."

IV. Falling Together


She felt a warm scarf wrap around her neck, followed by two arms around her waist, and lastly, a chin rest on top of her head. Juvia sighed, able to see her breath because of the beginning transition from fall to winter. It was a pretty chilly day. Almost everyone walking down the streets had begun to use heavier jackets, hats, and even scarves. Juvia was wearing a dark red knitted sweater, along with a short black skirt, black stockings and brown knee high boots. She nervously nibbled on her bottom lip, her eyes remaining on the empty train tracks in front of her.

"You're shaking." Gray said softly. "It'll be okay." He reassured, pressing a kiss to her head before resting his chin on it again.

"Juvia knows..." She whispered. "Juvia is... Just... Juvia..."

He chuckled. "You're cute when you're nervous."

"Juvia isn't nervous... She's scared." She stepped forwards and turned to look at him. "What if it wasn't the right thing to do? What if she comes back and hates Juvia for getting involved!" She swallowed a lump in her throat and moved towards him for comfort. "Juvia just wanted to help her."

"She's your best friend." Gray said to her, placing his hands on her shoulders. "I remember how sad you were when she left, but she's back now. She's gonna be better, and once she's with you again she'll be able to put this behind her."

She ran a hand through her wavy hair, looking back at the train tracks. "O-okay..."

"She'll need her best friend to be smiling." He told her and kissed her cheek. "I promise you Juvia. It'll be fine."

A short while passed. Juvia was pacing back and forth wondering when the train was going to appear. She checked the time on her cellphone, quickly tossing it back in her purse when she heard the train approaching. A large grin spread across her face and she turned to her boyfriend.

"She's here!"

"Let's hope we find her fast." He mumbled, grabbing her hand as many people began to emerge or step closer to the train to find their friends or family members.

Juvia rose an eyebrow, looking around the large crowd of people who were walking in random direction. "What if we don't find her? Of if she's hiding and doesn't want to see Juvia?!"

Gray looked down at his girlfriend with concern. As he was going to say something his eyes widened when she was tackled into a strong hug.

"JUVIA!"

The bluenette' eyes widened. She immediately recognized the voice. "L-Lisanna? You don't hate Juvia?"

The platinum blonde laughed, pulling away. "Are you crazy? I could never hate my best friend. If it wasn't for you I probably wouldn't be here right now." She wrapped her arms around Juvia again. "It's so good to see you!"

Juvia smiled softly, before hugging her best friend once more. "Juvia... really missed you."

"Yeah," Lisanna whispered softly, a smile on her face. "I missed you too."

They pulled away and looked to Gray when he finally caught up to him. "Well well. Lisanna it's good to have you back."

The short haired girl turned around and smiled at him.

"It feels good to be back." She sighed, still smiling.

"So, are you feeling better?" Gray asked, picking up the bag she had dropped when she tackled Juvia in a hug.

She nodded. Her large blue eyes looking right at him. "Yeah! I'm better now. I'm totally better!"

"That's good to hear." Juvia responded. "Elfman-sama is sorry he could not get out of work, but he wants to see you as soon as possible."

Lisanna smirked. "Right. But, let's forget about my big brother right now. I need to go shopping then I want to get my nails done and then go shopping again. I'll just visit big brother Elf before we have lunch."

They made their way out of the station and into the chilly city streets. Lisanna sighed happily. She felt good to be back home. She was dressed in a dark blue knitted sweater with light blue jeans and brown boots. She turned back to look at the couple, with a large smile.

"So where to?" She asked.

Juvia pressed her lips together before stepping forwards and asking, "did you...eat... something on the train?"

Lisanna rose an eyebrow, before quickly bursting out in laughter. "Juvia you don't have to worry about that. I told you I'm better. I'm totally better."

The bluenette nodded. "Juvia knows. It's just..."

Lisanna pulled out a candy wrapper from her purse. "See? I had this big chocolate bar on the train." She smiled and stuffed it back in her purse. "Totally better. One hundred percent. Can we shop now? I've gained weight and need new clothes."

Juvia smiled softly. "Of course."

"As fun as shopping sounds." Gray interjected. "Today I have to meet up with the guys today, so I'll have to catch up with you girls later."

"What guys?" Lisanna asked curiously.

"Gray-sama is in a band now." Juvia answered, looking up at her boyfriend.

"A band?" Lisanna repeated.

Gray sighed. "It seems like it. We're kinda seeing where it goes. Today's our first official meeting though, so I'd better get going."

Juvia nodded. "Will you meet us for lunch?"

He smiled sweetly at her, "I'm not sure how long we'll be over there but I'll call you." He pecked her lips. "I'll see you later."

She nodded, returning the smile, watching as he walked away.

Lisanna hooked her arm into Juvia's as they moved in the opposite direction of Gray.

"It seems you two are still better than ever." She noted, raising an eyebrow with a smirk. "Am I hearing any wedding bells soon?"

Juvia giggled, looking at the ground with a blush. "Gray-sama does want to get married, and we have talked about it before... but we just like the way things are right now."

Lisanna pouted. "C'mon. You guys are so in love, you live together, you let him have you whenever he wants so one of these days there might be a little Gray on the way..."

Juvia blushed, shaking her head. "No Lisanna is completely wrong!" She cried. "Juvia wants to be a mother one day but... Not anytime soon! Gray-sama just joined a band, and Juvia wants to open her very own bakery soon!"

Lisanna giggled, wrapping her arms around the flustered woman. "I really missed you."

"What about you? Is Lisanna ready to get back into the dating world?" Juvia probably could have guessed the answer. For the past 30 days, Lisanna had been in a clinic getting treatment for an eating disorder she had been battling for a long time. After Juvia had lost her memory, and was wandering the world scared and alone, Lisanna was the first person she had met. They became great friends and soon began to work together. Juvia was grateful to have another girlfriend she could talk to. There was always Evergreen of course, who was just as kind. But if Juvia was to name the person she trusted the most besides her boyfriend, Gray, it would have to be Lisanna.

"Nope. No new relationships." She winked at Juvia. "The doctor said I should just focus on me now."

Juvia nodded. "As long as you're better."

Lisanna put a thumbs up. "I am. One hundred percent."

...

"I'm glad you all made it." Jellal began, standing in front of a chalkboard in the old music room. Gray looked around in awe, while Gajeel leaned against the wall and Natsu sat on the drum set. "Our first order of business, is what music genre we will be playing. The obvious choice would be to try and make it as a rock band, don't you think?"

Ignoring him, Gray's eyes landed on the half packed up boxes in the old classroom. There were wires everywhere, all kinds of instruments, cd's and old records that nobody had seen in over 50 years. He spotted the bass he had played the night they first played together, before turning to stare at the grand piano. "How have I never been in this room before?" He asked, out loud.

Natsu turned to look at him. "According to Jellal, this building has been abandoned for like the past two years. There isn't a music program at MC anymore."

Gajeel rose an eyebrow, crossing his arms. "Are you serious?"

Jellal nodded and with a soft sigh said, "Nobody seemed to notice when they got here." He jumped up to take a seat on the dusty teachers desk which had been shoved into a corner. "Since nobody wants to be a professional musician anymore they cut all funding for the music programs and just threw everything in here. It's pretty sad."

"They could've at least donated this stuff." Gray mumbled loud enough for the guys to hear him. "I mean, there are orphanages and places like that which need donations for the kids."

Gajeel turned to look at Jellal, a smirk settling on his lips. "So this could be our base of operations, and the dean or professors wouldn't have a single clue."

"Not one." Jellal answered, looking between the three young men. "Luckily for us, things just seem to be falling together. Even if we did not have this space, we can always use that old storage building underneath your apartment."

It was a Saturday morning when they had finally decided to get together to actually plan out what they wanted to do. They sat in Magnolia College's old music building, a bit awkwardly since they were only beginning to get to know each other.

Gray was dressed pretty casually. He wore a dark green jacket over a plain black v-neck, straight dark blue jeans, red Vans, and his sword chain hung around his neck tying his outfit together. "Alright look. I told you before, I'm only agreeing to one rehearsal. I don't know about the rest of you, but I have a girlfriend who I prioritize more than anything." He began to remove his jacket, dropping it over the lid of the grand piano. "If this isn't worth it and starts to disturb my personal life I'm out."

"Now Gray." Jellal stood up. "We're not only a band now, but I'd like to think of us as friends. We need to trust each other. I mean after all, we will be working very closely together." He was dressed in a grey Fall Out Boy pull over sweatshirt, and black jeans. He had on brown male boots, and a black watch around his wrist.

Natsu nodded in agreement. "Yeah that's right. Maybe we should do those introduction things they make you do on the first day of school." He suggested. Natsu wore a plain white tee with an unbuttoned long sleeved plaid shirt over, faded skinny jeans and white Nike sneakers.

Gajeel scoffed. "Ugh. Not that again." He had on ripped jeans, male leather boots, a dark green shirt, a dark jean jacket, and a red bandana slightly taming his wild hair. He had fingerless gloves on his hands, and with all his piercings he looked like a total rockstar. "I really thought the last time I would do that was back in high school."

Jellal chuckled. "I think it's an excellent idea. I'll start."

"Don't start getting sentimental and sharing anything too personal." Gray interjected.

Jellal began to pace, "I'm Jellal Fernandes, I grew up here in Magnolia alongside my cousin Levy and our grandfather, who played music for a living. I'm a third year student here, and I can sing and I play the keyboard. Music is the thing I love most in the world."

"That's the basic stuff we already know about you." Gajeel commented. Jellal shrugged with a smile.

"Gray didn't want us getting too personal right? And I agree, we can get to know more about each other as time goes on. How about you go next Gajeel?" The blue haired man suggested.

Gajeel rolled his eyes. "I'm Gajeel Redfox. I hate a lot of things. Especially annoying, know it all, punks that piss me off. I play guitar and I'm into heavy metal."

They all turned to Gray. "Well. I'm Gray Fullbuster. I moved here about a year and a half ago, I haven't really played much bass since my second year in high school. I live with my girlfriend, and I was classically trained on the piano from age 7 till 13."

Natsu stood up, walking forwards. "I'm Natsu Dragneel. I've always played drums. I have a little sister named Wendy. I like fire."

"He's a fucking pyromaniac." Gajeel hissed.

"I feel like I know you all a lot better." Gray said sarcastically with a small smile on his face. He crossed his arms and leaned against the grand piano which has had its wheels removed. Gajeel smirked while Natsu chuckled a bit.

Jellal pulled out his cellphone, pulling up an Internet ad and showing it to them. "When we played together last time we did great, even with no rehearsals. If we practice do you guys imagine how musich better we'll sound?"

Gray looked at the screen, his eyes widening slightly. "You want us to sign up for Battle of the Bands contest which is only two weeks away?"

"You fucking crazy!?" Gajeel exclaimed.

Jellal rubbed the back of his head. "Well I have been called insane a lot in the past week."

They all looked back to the door when Levy McGarden walked in the room, holding four medium sized energy drink bottles in her hands. "Hey guys!" She greeted cheerfully. "I brought you some drinks. I would have brought you coffee but Gajeel hates coffee."

"Alright Levy!" Natsu cheered, walking over and grabbing the fruit punch flavored one. "This was much needed thank you."

She handed one to Gray, who graciously accepted, "Thanks."

She set Jellal's down beside then handed one to Gajeel.

"Is that the only reason you came here?" Gajeel asked, immediately opening it and taking a sip.

She pressed her lips together, fidgeting slightly. "Well... Every band needs a number one fangirl don't you think?"

He looked down at her studying her outfit a bit. She wore a short, red, ruffled skirt, with a white, long sleeved shirt tucked in. The shirt was trimmed with red lace, she had a matching headband on, and she wore ankle boots on her small feet.

The tall man rolled his sharp, red eyes. "You might be even crazier than Jellal."

"Given we were raised in the same home, it's understandable." Jellal added. "Anyways thank you Levy, now back to the battle of the bands discussion."

Levy's eyes widened. "You guys are playing in the battle of the bands? That's like, two weeks away!"

Natsu nodded. "We know."

"You do know that in order to participate in a battle of the bands we need to have original work right? We haven't even decided on a music genre!" Gray commented, rubbing a hand through his hair.

Jellal placed his phone back in his pocket. "I'm aware. We can work together to write a song, and spend a week practicing it."

Natsu rose an eyebrow. "You make it sound so easy."

Jellal walked towards the closet and pulled out a keyboard, setting it on a desk. "You guys, we don't have to win. We just have to get people to hear us."

Moving slowly, Gray took a seat on a small table. "Why would we even sign up for something we aren't trying to win?" He asked, opening his drink and beginning to take a sip. "I don't think we should do it."

"I've already signed us up." Jellal commented.

Gray spit out what he was drinking, Natsu choked on his drink and Gajeel glared at him.

"YOU DID WHAT?!" They yelled in unison.

"It's the perfect first gig." Jellal tried to argue. "C'mon, when we're playing at sold out arenas it'll be cool to say we started off at a local battle of the bands competition."

"Are you even listening to yourself?!" Natsu yelled. "Usually I'd be in on your crazy plans but this is insane."

Jellal rose an eyebrow. "We can't lose anything by trying."

"Except our reputations. If anyone we know appears and watches us and we make fools out of ourselves I might kill someone." Gajeel commented. Sitting down and pulling out a book from her bag, Levy chuckled lightly at his comment.

"Now let's not be negative." The blue haired man began. "We create our future with the decisions we make in our present. I know it's crazy. But I also know that we can do this."

Gray rose an eyebrow, crossing his arms. "Alright Jellal. Tell us. Why do you want to be a professional musician again? Don't hit me with music runs the world line again. There has to be some ulterior motive."

"I don't follow." Jellal responded quickly, not looking up.

Natsu scratched the back of his head. "Yeah me either."

"If you're asking why I want to be a musician than its simple. I was given a talent. I want the world to know what it is." Jellal said, his fingers hovering over the keyboard. "I know that you all have talent too, if we just put our minds to it, and actually try, we can say something with our music. Remind this school and others that music truly matters. Hey, who knows we may even win battle of the bands."

"Alright." Natsu began. "So what are we gonna play?"

Jellal turned to Gray. "Remember when I went though your notebook?"

Gray rolled his eyes before crossing his arms. "Yeah, what about it?"

"Well, I saw this page of music lyrics you had written down, and I hope you don't mind but I edited them a bit."

Gray sighed softly, surprisingly he didn't feel angry. He knew his lyrics needed work. "Which song was it?"

"I believe you called it Diver, but I only took a stanza and added music to it." Jellal looked down at the keyboard. "Alright well here it goes." Jellal's fingers moved against the keyboard, and he began to play just as good as usual. Natsu, Gray, and Gajeel watched with interest.

Fighting to hold on tight,

Yearning for a breath of life!

I cannot tell if I'm alive, but

Feels like I'm a suffocating diver!

Staring with endless sight,

Into a darkened night.

Taking in one last breath I dive into the unknown.

To the endlessness I go!

"Gray you really wrote that?" Natsu asked with shock.

The young man looked away, rubbing the back of his dark hair. "It was a while ago after my parents died..." He said quickly without realizing it. "I guess it came back to me in math class."

Jellal looked at Gray. "It's a good song, if we work on the lyrics a bit and compose music sheets I'm sure we'll be ready to play this by Battle of the Bands. That is if you're okay with us using it."

"It's cool with me." Gray responded. "Yeah. Let's do it."

"So it seems we're actually doing this." Jellal said. "The last thing, but the most important, is our band name."

"Band name?" Gajeel repeated. "Well it's gotta be somethin' hardcore."

"Yeah I agree." Gray added. "Something that says were a rock band."

Natsu stood up from his spot, a finger in the air. "I've got it. Natsu and the Dragon Slayers."

The three young men deadpanned.

"Is he serious?" Gray mumbled.

Gajeel grit his teeth. "I don't even know anymore."

"I like the dragon part." Jellal admitted. "But I was thinking more of a one word name."

"This has got to be the hardest part of being in band." Gray mumbled, rubbing his temples.

"I still think we should call it Natsu and the Dragon Slayers." The pink haired young man commented.

Gajeel and Gray glared back at him. "ITS NOT FUCKING HAPPENING!"

He crossed his arms with a pout on his face. "Well ice-brains or metal face aren't coming up with anything better."

Gray stepped forwards. "You trying to pick a fight with me?"

"I'm all fired up. Let's go!"

"Hey now. Let's keep a level head." Levy interjected, getting up from her spot.

Gajeel rose an eyebrow. "You've been quiet. I almost forgot you were in here."

She shrugged. "I was just reading this book on some rocks for my science class. I guess I got lost in the world of literature."

"A book on rocks? You were that bored?" Natsu questioned.

She furrowed her brows, glaring at him. "I'll have you know there are some pretty interesting facts about these things. Like there's this thing called Etherion which-"

They all turned to her with interest as if in that instant they were all thinking the same thing. There is a moment when the stars align. When fate gives you an obvious sign. This was that moment. She gave them a confused look, holding her book to her side while backing away.

"Etherion..." Jellal repeated.

"That's pretty hardcore." Gajeel added.

Gray smirked. "I like it."

Natsu nodded. "Yeah me too."

"So it's agreed." Jellal began. "From this moment on, we will be known as Etherion."

"Strange, but it's not bad." Levy commented. "People will get used to it."

"Alright!" Jellal cheered. "How about we play a song we all know just to see how that would go."

Gajeel picked up his guitar with a smirk. "Now we're talking."

Natsu moved back to the drum set already in the classroom, pulling out his drum sticks from his back pocket. "I'm fired up now."

Jellal stayed at his keyboard while Gray picked up the bass guitar which he had been using lately.

"Which song?" Gajeel asked.

"How about Strike Back? You know that song from Back On?" Natsu suggested.

Gray nodded. "That's a good one. Let's go."

"Fine by me." Jellal commented.

They began to play together, The bass and the guitar starting off while Natsu slowly made his way in, keeping the sound in sync. Jellal had begun to sing, as well as Gajeel and Gray who somewhere along the lines found themselves singing along. As they played they each focused on their instruments and how to contribute to the song playing in the best way possible.

They weren't as good as the ones they had at home, as a matter of fact, none of the instruments in that classroom were in that good of a condition. But they didn't care. They made them sound good. Music was music. It was what they lived for.


Well finally, they've become an official band. Sorry if this was kind of boring. Drama begins to pick up next chapter. Yes. There will be tons of drama. Hope you liked it. Please leave a review so I know people are reading, also on what I can improve.

Song lyrics were from the song Diver, by NICO touches the wall.

Thanks for reading & thank you to you all who have reviewed. Please keep them coming!