This one was brought on by Gajeel chatting with Makarov during the parade. I thought it explained some interesting things, so I had to write it! And yes, somehow this fic just keeps going and going, I don't know how. Oh well, enjoy it!
What Started the Change
Characters: Gajeel, Lily, Makarov, Levy
Sometimes Gajeel didn't even want to talk with Lily. It kind of shocked him, even if he was positive no one else was surprised. Lily knew when it happened, too. The Exsheed would glance at him for a long moment, a crooked smile on his face before he pulled out a book and headed for his lounge chair. The silence would be different from the silence that Gajeel once knew. It would be comfortable.
It was at those times that Gajeel would think back, his mind sorting through the various guilds he had taken down, the missions that he had in Phantom, the growing self hatred that he had always thought was a natural part of life. A vital part of life.
And then he would remember that day.
"Gajeel drinks too much." The voice had shocked him, even if he hadn't shown it. How Juvia had found him in this hole in the wall bar, he had no clue, but he didn't care, either. His hand tightened around the handle of his mug, the knuckles turning white with the pressure. "Gajeel, Juvia is going to join Fairy Tail."
He jerked, finally responding to her. The metal dragon twisted on his booth, staring at her incredulously. "What?" he asked.
"You haven't found a new guild yet, have you."
It wasn't a question. The knowing tone in her voice made him sick to his stomach. What the hell was up with that, he thought. "Why the hell isn't it raining?" he asked instead, looking at the window with a scowl. He always knew when it was raining. Even if he was in the middle of a windowless room he knew when it was raining. His nose told him. "I could have avoided you if it was raining," he muttered, scowling at her.
"Juvia doesn't quite understand what you're saying," she admitted. "But Juvia doesn't make it rain anymore. Juvia has found love!"
"Oookay, freak," he muttered as she pulled herself into the chair next to him. She had changed her hair and her clothing style, which sort of freaked him out, as well. Especially that huge pendant she was wearing. What the hell had Fairy Tail done to her?
"Come with me?" The tone made him jerk and look at her in shock. She sounded like a little girl. She was even chewing on her bottom lip with worry.
"Are you kidding me?" he asked finally, once he had gotten his jaw back in place. Somehow it had dropped to the floor with his shock. "Their Guild Master took Master Jose out with a clap of his hands! What do you think he'd do to me if I-"
"He could have taken you out at the same time," Juvia said. "That was Fairy Law, which destroys all of the user's enemies at once. Gajeel is not his enemy." She reached out, touching his forearm with her tiny hand and he scowled down at it. When had her hands become so small? When they had been children, she had been bigger than him.
"Yeah, well-" he started out, blustering as he tried to come up with something. "I can find a guild." He hadn't tried. There was no good guild in this area other than Fairy Tail. And a part of him whispered that he hadn't ever seen a guild as strong as Fairy Tail.
He wanted to be part of a strong guild, dammit.
"Just talk to the Master," Juvia said, her hand tightening on his arm because he had failed to move it away from her. "Talk to the Master and see if he'll let you join. Gajeel can't survive like this."
"Who the hell do you think you are to say I can't survive like this?" he demanded, staring her straight in the eye.
"Juvia is Juvia," she said. "Juvia watched you grow up. Juvia knows, Gajeel," she went on passionately. "Juvia watched as you drew further and further into yourself. You can't keep going like this. And... and Juvia is scared to go alone."
He stared at her for a long moment, then stood, heading for the door. "Is-"
"Are we going or not?" he demanded roughly.
"Oh, thank you, Gajeel!" she said with a brilliant smile. She used to smile that way when they were children. As they grew, though, that smile had slowly faded away. He had hated it. It had made him feel even more bitter, because he knew that he couldn't give that smile back to her. Just like Juvia, Gajeel had grown more and more disillusioned over the years. What, he thought again, had those freaky bastards done to make her smile like that?
She pulled him down the street, heading for the newly built guild and chatting away about whatever she had been doing while away. He didn't listen. In fact the closer they got to the guild the louder his heart seemed to beat in his ears. He bit back a gulp as she hauled him through the door, his worry turning to a glower as he saw every eye in the room turn to them.
He was so dead. Arrogantly, or at least hoping to be, he crossed his arms over his chest, tilting his head back at them as if daring them to bring it on. He could handle this crowd, sure. His eyes flicked over them, appraising who would attack first and who would come from behind. There was that "manly" guy with the scar and the white hair. He would go first-
"Juvia-chan!" The cheerful old voice made him jerk, the color fleeing his face as he realized that Makarov had been sitting on the bar and he hadn't even noticed him. "You're a new face!"
"Hello, Master," Juvia said with a bright smile. "Juvia has come to join Fairy Tail-" She arched her back, showing off the gaudy as hell necklace she was wearing.
"What a surprise," Makarov said with a smile. "But who's that behind you?"
Juvia reached back, hauling Gajeel forward. "Gajeel would like to join as well."
"WHAT?" The word was said from every corner of the room. Half of the people there lunged forward, as if to attack. Before they could, Makarov grew to a gigantic size, slamming a wooden walking stick on the ground.
"Silence!" he bellowed. Shockingly, he got it. "Juvia-chan is welcome," he said with a cheerful leer. "Gajeel... I will talk to first," he went on, standing and heading at a jaunty little pace to one of the rooms in the back. He turned, motioning Gajeel forward. "Well, come on, then!"
If he died, Gajeel thought as he followed the old man, at least he would die with privacy. He stepped into the office, looking around the brightly colored, comfortable room with a hint of confusion. This was nothing like Master Jose's room had been. There weren't any massive tomes of magic piled on the tables, although he saw a few propping up various strange objects. There weren't any dark magic items, although a neglected glass ball sat in the corner collecting dust. It had a hat with cat ears on top of it.
"So," the old man said as he hopped into a massive fluffy chair. "Well, sit down, sit down," he ordered, motioning to the footstool in front of him. Gajeel crossed over, hesitantly sitting on the very fluffy footstool, his feet apart, his elbows resting on his knees. He was still taller than the old man when he sat like that. "We have a few things to discuss before I think about letting you into our guild, you know."
"You ah... would?" Gajeel asked, his shock showing.
"It's a parent's responsibility to guide a child," Makarov told him. "Master Jose didn't do a very good job, did he?"
Gajeel just looked at him blankly, wondering when the old man had cracked. Maybe he had always been this way?
"You know, there are a few guild rules in Fairy Tail. Some of them I never even have to mention to most of our members. Like Levy-chan, I doubt she even knows that it's an official rule. She doesn't need to," the old man went on when Gajeel didn't reply. "But in this guild no one can bring harm to the guild and its members intentionally. That is one of the reasons I will expel someone from the guild. People need to know they can trust their nakama to keep them safe as well as possible. What makes a strong guild are the bonds formed."
"So..." Gajeel said slowly. "I can't fight back."
"You're not quite understanding this," Makarov said. "We have our brawls, we have our random fistfights, but what you did to your own guild during the fight with Phantom, it won't happen here. In this guild the strong protect the weak, the weak support the strong. Everyone has some ability that makes them special, that makes them unique and valuable. When you come here, you won't be the top dog."
"You're stronger, I get it-"
"Not just me," Makarov said. "A few of my children are. But even if you're stronger than the others, you are still a member of Fairy Tail, just like they are. Even if you become an S-Class mage, you're still equal to the others. All that it means is you can do dirtier jobs than they do."
"But-"
"If you support my children," Makarov said, "I'll support you. If you care for my children, I'll care for you. Does any of this sink into that head of yours?" he asked, his hand shooting out an extra foot to tap Gajeel on the temple. "Don't tell me that the dark guilds haven't been trying to recruit you."
Gajeel went silent for a moment, looking down. "Ah," he said in agreement. "They have."
"Including Raven Tail," Makarov said. "You're just the type my son would go after."
"Your son?" Gajeel asked, jerking.
"My son," he agreed. "But before we get into that," he said, hopping out of his chair and heading for the door. "Mira-channn? Can you call Levy-chan for me?"
"Yes, Master," Mirajane called back. The room went silent as the two males waited for the little solid script mage to show up. Gajeel tried to think of who Levy-chan was, and what she had to do with his joining the guild.
Then she appeared, smiling like an angel before catching sight of Gajeel's face. She promptly stopped at the door, hiding everything except her head. The smell of fear radiated off of her. "Is there-is there something you want, Master Makarov?"
"Damn," Gajeel muttered. He was so well and utterly screwed. There was no way that the little blue haired girl he had attacked would let him in, and it looked like this would be up to her. He let out a sigh, mentally going over the various dark guild offers he had gotten to see which was most likely to get him a legitimate job. There weren't many. He had taken out several of their guilds-
"Levy-chan, Gajeel wants to join Fairy Tail. But I think you should have a say in this one. Do you think we should let him in?"
Gajeel looked at her, waiting for her to disagree, knowing that she would. Who would have thought that his entire future would hinge on this little slip of a mage?
"I-I don't mind," she said in a worried little voice. It jerked Gajeel, making him fall off of the footstool. He moved right back onto it before anyone could say anything.
"Thank you, Levy-chan, you can go now," Makarov said. Gajeel couldn't help but think how unsurprised the old man looked at her reply. He went on once Levy was gone, "You have your answer. Now we need to talk about Raven Tail."
Gajeel nodded a bit stupidly, so stunned by what had just happened that he found himself agreeing to the double spy job before he realized it.
The old man was tricksy, he decided as he was given his tattoo. Very, very tricksy.
That might have been when he started noticing Levy, Gajeel decided now as he looked over at Lily. Of course, it was hard not to notice her when she let out a little yelp and raced out of the room whenever he entered it. It was annoying, but every time she said she didn't mind, he felt guiltier and guiltier. She should have minded. He damn well would have minded.
So, she was the one he decided he would protect. As a fellow guild member. You know, since that was what the guild master had told him to do.
"Thinking about Levy again?" Lily asked.
"Huh?" Gajeel blustered. "Not really."
"Right, I believe that."
