(A/N: Natsu's gun now a Beretta 92FS, not a Glock and this has been corrected in previous chapters. Berettas have hammers, right?)

Chapter Nine

Ruvido

"Cigarette?" Sol offered , holding out a pack of Galoises.

"You and your French ciggies," Juvia teased as she took one and let Sol light it for her.

Sol shrugged as he lit himself one. "What can I say? Je suis français."

They both took a drag and exhaled streams of smoke before Sol got to it.

"So, you are out on a zhob for old Zhose?" Sol tapped some ash off.

"I am," Juvia told him. Why lie? It wasn't like he knew the details, and anyway, jobs were always the only reason she'd ever be outside the Phantom Lord compound on her own.

"Going well?"

"Oh, you know it. They don't call me the Siren for nothing."

Sol clucked his tongue playfully. "Quelle malveillance."

And Juvia giggled coquettishly but doing so felt so foreign to her now. Then again, acting like this had never really been her. It was just…out here…she'd been able to act more like herself than she had been able to in ages.

Then Sol said, "You know…you do seem a little bit different. I cannot, 'ow you say, 'put my finger on it', but zere is definitely somezing."

"Perhaps it's all in your head then."

"Ah, peut-être que oui."

"And you? How did the exchange go with Oración Seis?"

"Très magnifque. I got a very good price for ze product. Zhose will be pleased."

Juvia wasn't surprised. Sol had always been the smoothest talker, which was why he primarily handled sales of Phantom Lord's drug stock. He could make very high asking prices sound wonderful with the way he wove words together. Having the suave French accent helped too. Not to say all francophones were automatically smooth-talkers, but Sol definitely knew how to use what he'd been born with.

Just the same, Juvia kept on her guard. Sol had tracked her here, despite his being unaware that she was on a job. She couldn't be sure whether or not if Jose hadn't called him to make a pitstop and "check" on her. That sounded like something he would do in fact, he was very partial to pitting her, Sol, Totomaru, Aria, and Gajeel (when he'd been around) against each other when it suited him. So far it hadn't resulted in anyone dead, just Gajeel going A.W.O.L. with orders from Jose to kill him on sight…since Juvia had conveniently "lost track of him".

Juvia shivered as she remembered the cold metal of the barrel of Jose's gun nestled between her breasts as she worked up the courage to pass that lie onto him, and finally, finally got him to believe her (enough) to let her off the hook and not punish her.

Moreover, she was reminded now, as she smoked quietly with Sol while they leaned against his car, how much the four of them were all bound together as Jose's tops and yet had a mutual distrust for one another. All loyal to Jose, but to each other? It was so cold compared to the warmth she'd found with the people who hung out at Fairy Tail.

Once they found out that she was no longer loyal to Jose, Sol, Aria, and Totomaru would gang up on her without a single qualm. Actually, if Jose had sent either of them out to kill Gajeel, Gajeel would definitely be dead now. Jose had only asked her because he knew how much it would hurt her, and it was meant as a test. Of course, she'd failed, but as far as Jose had been concerned, she was still worth his keeping his faith in her.

"Anyway," Sol went on, tapping off more ash, "when do you finish up 'ere?"

"In a bit," Juvia lied. "I have to make sure there aren't any loose ends to tie me to Phantom Lord before I carry out my objective."

"Ah. And suppose you tell me 'oo ze target is? Per'aps I could be of assistance to you?"

"What? You think I can't handle a little old kill? Have you forgotten how many I've racked up?"

"Ah, oui, oui, you are ze best of us, next to Gazheel, Mademoiselle Sirène," Sol conceded, waving the cigarette in his hand. "I zhust zought…never mind." He took one last drag and then dropped the rest of the cigarette in the grass and ground it out with the toe of his snazzy shoe.

Juvia took a step away from the car when he turned and opened the driver's side door. "Well, I shall see you when you return triumphant to ze compound, oui?"

"Mais oui, mon cher." Juvia winked and Sol flashed her a grin before ducking into his vehicle.

Juvia finished her own cigarette as she watched him pull out and drive away, and she realized then that at this point, even if she went A.W.O.L. like Gajeel, it wouldn't guarantee Makarov's safety. Or anyone else's who hung out at Fairy Tail.

Including Gray.

That and even though that meant that eventually she would have to tell Gray and the others the truth in order to protect them (though she'd avoid that for as long as she could), she actually felt better about doing things this way. Perhaps making a run for it now and never coming back would more effectively spare everyone's lives from Jose's wrath, but the more she considered it, the more it felt like the coward's way out.

And she was tired of basing all of her decisions on fear.

Even if Gray hated her, deciding she'd rather fight for his sake, as well as the sake of everyone else who hung out at Fairy Tail, gave her a surprising amount of strength she hadn't realized she'd had inside her.

Even if Gray hated her—and he would, undoubtedly—she would fight to protect him and those he cared about.

Because that sort of thing came with caring about other people: you're on their side and have their back even when they hate you.


Honey Bone was definitely still the dive Gray had claimed it to be based on memory, though it'd been years since he'd been here. Not since he'd come here once with Ur and Lyon while Ur was taking them out in the field in her training them to be bounty hunters like her.

Contrary to the warm and inviting, almost idyllically British-pub style that was housed within Fairy Tail Bar, Honey Bone was very seedy in how it was dimly lit and smoky, with all of its surfaces having at least a little bit of grime right down to the glasses marked here and there with questionable smudges, and, to complete the whole thing, along with this sense that everyone glared at you upon entrance if you weren't a regular, and even then no one here who was a regular was much of a friend to anyone else, it also held the faintest pungency of stale beer mixed with barf and piss.

If there was a place that was any less charming, Gray had yet to see it.

Honey Bone was indeed an ironic name. At least the Honey part was, anyway.

And indeed, when he and Natsu took the steps down to the bar's basement level entrance and pushed their way inside, heads turned, their faces appearing out of the smoke, squinting at the sunlight that came through the door as though they'd start hissing like vampires when it touched them.

The door swung shut, and without a word, Gray took out his mother-of-pearl handle stiletto and flicked it open, before he flung it at the nearest dart board and landed a bull's eye with it. He remembered distinctly how Ur had done the same thing with her own personal knife when she had entered with him and Lyon, and despite her having the look of a single mother who had clearly lost her way with her two brats, the moment she'd showed this off, it appeared to work the same as some initiation test, and she didn't receive any further negative attention. Though Gray also remembered still getting mean looks from some of the patrons behind her back.

Things played out now like it did then. He and Natsu were left alone, everyone going back to their personal business in the bar, murmuring over the rock 'n' roll playing at a minimal volume on the radio speakers, as Gray went and yanked his knife out of the dart board, Natsu following him.

"Hey, was that how you tell people not to mess with ya here?" Natsu asked him in a low voice.

"Basically." Gray considered the look of his dark eyes reflected in the blade of the stiletto before he closed and pocketed it. "Okay. Let's see if we can get the owner to spill his guts. Not literally of course. If we can help it."

"Hey, c'mon, I ain't a sicko who's into that stuff," Natsu grunted and Gray smiled.

At the bar, Gray and Natsu both asked for a couple of beers on the pretense of getting chatty with the barkeep.

"You guys got any of those candy hearts?" Natsu asked as he pinched a few greasy peanuts out of a greasy dish and popped them into his mouth. "I could really go for some of those."

Gray palmed his forehead. That was more on the nose than he would've liked, but that was Natsu. Subtlety wasn't exactly his forte, but thankfully he made up for it tenfold in his prowess as a fighter and gunman. Otherwise he wouldn't be here. But seeing as how Gray was the one who was a former bounty hunter, it made sense.

The barkeep raised his bushy, grouchy eyebrows at them as he went about twisting a rag in a shot glass (which given the state of the rag was indeed doing little to actually clean it).

"Candy hearts?" The barkeep scoffed. "You're real funny, you know that?"

"You know…." Natsu winked. "Candy hearts."

The barkeep tossed the rag over his shoulder and leaned his palms on the bar, leaning in so close that he and Natsu were practically nose-to-nose. "Listen, dickhead, I dunno what you're insinuating, and sure this place ain't the Ritz, but I don't allow shit like that anywhere near here. You got that?"

"Huh? But…."

"Natsu…."

"Oh come on, Kain, don't be such a grump," said a sultry young voice nearby, and Gray and Natsu looked round to find a young woman with bright pink hair tied up in a large ponytail and wearing a billowy yellow blouse, ripped jeans, and a rugged pair of leather boots.

The barkeep, Kain, raised an eyebrow. "Are you…vouching for these two then?"

"I am," said the pink-haired woman, taking a sip of her own beer. "I mean I don't imagine they're here to cause trouble. Are you boys?" she added to Gray and Natsu, and they both shook their heads.

"Not at all, ma'am," said Natsu.

"Well then." The woman tossed Kain a smile. "You can leave them to me, okay?"

Something passed between her and Kain, an unspoken understanding, before Kain let out a sigh and took a step away.

"I'll leave you to it then," he said, and went back to ineffectively cleaning shot glasses.

The woman meanwhile turned back to Gray and Natsu with a flirty grin. "Well, what brings you two here then? Candy hearts you said you were after?"

Gray and Natsu exchanged glances and then Gray said, "Yeah. I mean…if you get what we're talking about."

The woman glanced sidelong at the barkeep's back before she answered. "Depends. How much do you know about you think you know?"

"Enough," said Gray. "My friend and I are just lookin' to score. The stuff we usually get's gotten too tame, and we wanted to kick things up a notch tonight. You know. Headin' over to Club Tartaros later."

"Oh." The woman fluttered her eyelashes. "I see."

Club Tartaros had a fairly large reputation for being the perfect blend of partygoers both rich and poor. And in the depths of that hellish orgy, the time old ritual of snorting coke in the bathroom. Erza had been working to crack that place wide open for years without success.

The woman considered them another moment and then held out a tiny hand for them each to shake. "Meredy Milkovich."

Gray nearly choked on his beer, but managed to pass it off as him just getting some of it down his windpipe on accident. Even as he waved a hand at the other two not to worry, his mind was reeling.

Milkovich?

So…was she a relative of…Ur's…?

Then he caught Meredy's eye, at the way she was studying him, and cleared his throat. "Pleased to meet ya. I'm Lyon Silver."

"Happy Igneel," said Natsu, providing his own fake name.

Meredy raised an eyebrow but Natsu just grinned and she seemed to accept it enough not to question it. "So, first time for you guys here, right?"

"For me, yeah," said Natsu.

"Not for me," Gray put in, twisting his beer bottle in his fingers. "I came here once when I was little."

Meredy blinked in sincere surprise. "When you were little?"

"Yeah, my…foster mother…was a bounty hunter." Gray met her slightly stunned gaze unflinchingly. "Don't worry though: I didn't follow in her footsteps or anything like that."

"Oh?"

"Yep. I just drift now. Same as Happy."

"What about you, Meredy?" Natsu asked, swinging his beer lazily around by the top of the neck like a rotating pendulum. "I'm guessing you're a regular, since you seem tight with the barkeep and all."

"Yeah, I've known Kain since I was little. He's a good friend of my mother's, you see." Meredy flashed a winning smile before taking another swig of her own beer. But as she did, she gave a Gray surreptitious look that he couldn't quite place, but one he didn't trust either.

And then she set aside her beer and asked them, "Well, now that we're all a little better acquainted, would you like to follow me? I think I can hook you up with some of those 'candy hearts'."

That was fast. But if there was indeed a cache of Siegrain here, and they could get a hook in, they'd have what Erza needed in no time. All they needed was to get out with at least one heart-shaped box.

Meredy led them round to the back where the men's and ladies' rooms were respectively and pointed to a section of wall between the two. This turned out to be a secret door that, when slid open, revealed a staircase that led to level below this one, further down in the ground than the bar was.

At the bottom of the stairs, they were faced with a small concrete-walled room full of crates. One of the crates was open, and inside of it were stacks of red heart-shaped boxes. So unassumingly looking like packages of candy.

"Here's where we make the medicine," said Meredy.

In that same moment though, there was a click as she had put the end of a Sig Sauer P320 she'd had on her to the back of Natsu's head.

"Lose the gun," she threatened when Gray whipped out his Silver Desert Eagle and aimed it at her, Natsu going still and slowly raising his hands in a gesture of surrender. "I mean it. I will blow this fucker's head away if you don't."

Gray exhaled out of his nose, trying to remain calm as dropped his gun and shoved it away from him out of easy reach with his booted foot. At the same time, he had no doubt in his mind that Kain the barkeep was more than aware of what Meredy was doing here, and was totally on board with turning the other cheek, if he wasn't at least directly involved.

"The knife too. Don't think I didn't see you throw that thing."

"Fine."

Gray held the knife out at arm's length and dropped it onto the concrete floor with a clink.

Meredy glanced at the knife though, and she slowly closed her eyes. "Damn you," she muttered. "I was suspicious of you on principle, seeing as how it's part of my job and everything, but now…." She lifted her hard eyes to Gray's. "Now I know who you really are…I think a slight change in protocol is in order."

Gray frowned, trying desperately to think of an out even as he genuinely was curious as to what Meredy was talking about. "How did you…?"

"The knife," Meredy sighed. "It was just like she said. It looked just like she said. A stiletto with a mother-of-pearl handle…and the name 'Gray' carved into it."

Sucking in his breath, heart pounding, briefly losing focus, Gray croaked, "Who…?"

"Ultear. Ultear Milkovich."

"M-Milkovich?"

"Yes." Meredy glared daggers at Gray. "Ur Milkovich's daughter, her only child."

Daughter? Ur had had a daughter? But….

And then he remembered again, that night he'd found her crying over some stuffed animal…had that belonged to…?

"Gray Fullbuster." Meredy shook her head and chuckled humorlessly. "Which means your friend here must be the infamous Natsu Dragneel. Erza Scarlet's bloodhounds. Of course. It was only a matter of time before you came around sniffing. But so much the better for me."

"What the fuck are you going on about, lady?!" growled Natsu.

Meredy ignored him even as she went and pressed the muzzle of her gun right into his back, for her cold glower locked onto Gray's. "All right. I'll start with killing your partner Dragneel here. You get to watch him die, right here, right now, and maybe…maybe you'll know even a fraction of the pain you caused Ultear." A crystalline fracture broke in her eyes, and in her voice, Gray heard a mixture of anguish and hatred culminating in the threat of rageful, sorrowful tears fiercely held back.

Sadness sunk into Gray's heart like a dull blade. "Because it's my fault…that her mother died. That about the size of things?"

"Yeah. That's about the size of things."

"Fine. So…you want to kill me on her behalf?"

"To punish you for what you've done. Though if I'd let Ultear get her hands on you, I can promise you your death would be ten times worse then what I'd do to you."

"Lucky me. I get to add the two of you to my growing list of people who want me dead."

Meredy jammed her gun hard between Natsu's shoulder blades, at the same time grabbing him by the wrist and yanking him towards her, causing him to swear in pain. "Anything you wanna say before I blast a hole through this idiot?!"

Juvia…I won't die here…I promised….

"Just one thing," said Gray, neurons now firing in flashes of brilliance, and in the moment that he kept Meredy in anticipation of what he would say next, he used that to his advantage and leapt forward before she realized what he was really planning on doing all along.

His forehead connected with hers and she gave a yelp of pain and fell back, releasing Natsu and dropping the Sig Sauer P320. Natsu wasted no time in taking up his Beretta and aiming it square between Meredy's eyes.

"Stupid of you to think you could take us on," said Natsu with a vulpine grin.

"Hmph." Meredy actually pouted and then quick as lightning roundhouse kicked the gun out of Natsu's hand from where she was lying on the ground.

As she made a grab for the Sig Sauer though, Gray hooked her underneath her arms and yanked her up, holding her back.

"Let go of me, you fuck!" she spat at him venomously.

"Natsu!" Gray yelled.

Natsu swiped Gray's knife and tossed it over before grabbing his Beretta and Gray's Silver Desert Eagle.

"Now," Gray hissed in Meredy's ear, snapping the stiletto and pressing the blade to her milk-white throat, "you wanna tell me who's this Ultear who's supposed to be Ur's daughter?"

"Fuck you," was all the answer he got out of her.

Then Natsu held Meredy at gunpoint. He had the Sig Sauer in his other hand, having handed Gray back his Desert Eagle.

But Meredy, quick and slippery, socked Gray in the stomach with her elbow while at the same time she kneed Natsu in his. As Natsu crumpled and Gray staggered back, gasping for air and blinking tears out of his eyes, she ripped the Sig Sauer out of Natsu's hand, spun around and aimed it at Gray.

"Shit!"

Natsu aimed his Beretta in kind at Meredy and squeezed the trigger. But Meredy dodged and fired the Sig Sauger at Gray.

Luckily Gray was fast enough to dodge too, and the bullet from Meredy's gun blasted a hole in the cement wall.

He wasted no time scrabbling up the stairs, and sure enough he got Meredy hot on his heels. At the top, he twisted around and aimed his father's gun right at Meredy's heart, his own heart cold as stone in his chest, Ur's face flashing in his mind's eye just for a moment.

He lined up the sight just as Meredy aimed the Sig Sauer at him for another shot.

And fired.


It was getting late. Lisanna and Elfman were well into their comedy set, and yet Gray and Natsu hadn't shown up. Normally they were one of the first people to arrive when the bar opened around five in the afternoon. Up next was Mirajane and her pop covers and then Juvia would be up with her jazz. And her hope from earlier that Gray hadn't had to go anywhere dangerous with Natsu that afternoon came back to bite her.

Unable to help herself, she had to ask Erza if she knew anything. She sidled up to her at the bar in the dark while the rest of Fairy Tail erupted in laughter at Lisanna and Elfman's next joke.

"Hey, Erza," she said, and Erza twisted around in her seat with her Strawberry Amber beer.

"Hey, Juvia." Erza greeted her brightly enough, but Juvia sensed something on edge in her, which put her even more on edge.

"Um…I know it's not my business to pry seeing as how…Gray and Natsu do certain…things for you to help you with your off-the-record policework but…you wouldn't happen to know anything about where the two of them are?"

"Yeah, I'm kinda worried too," and Lucy appeared on Erza's other side with her pink cosmo in hand. This was actually her third glass, which was more than she usually drank, considering how hard cosmos hit. Which meant she was nursing a growing anxiety for her boyfriend. "Natsu said he'd text me later and I haven't gotten anything."

Erza glanced between Juvia and Lucy, and for a police officer, she seemed to have a difficult time keeping guilt off of her face. Then again, maybe it was because this was such a personal issue. Then she glanced away. "I'm worried too. They were…supposed to call in. But…I was kind of hoping that they'd still show up here…that maybe there was just something wrong with their cells…." She looked sincerely apologetic, and Juvia felt for her. "I'm sorry. I didn't want to have to face you two with something like this."

Juvia and Lucy exchanged glances, and then looked back at Erza. Then Lucy reached over and laid a hand over Erza's.

"It's okay, Erza," she assured her. "Natsu always tells me he understands the risk that comes with doing the things he and Gray do to help you and the police out. And this isn't the first time those two've worried the crap out of us."

Juvia frowned. "So…this sort of thing has happened before?"

Erza and Lucy nodded soberly.

Yet Juvia felt she shouldn't be surprised, considering what she now knew about the kind of service Gray and Natsu provided for Erza. And it was a noble service, she could hardly fault them for doing their bit. Nor could she be angry with Erza, because again, this had been Gray's and Natsu's choice to offer this kind of service to her. And again, Gray and Natsu had every right.

Moreover, it wasn't like Erza wasn't putting herself at risk in all of this. She did orchestrate the whole thing, but once her hands were unfettered by the system thanks to the breakthroughs Gray and Natsu were able to give her when the occasion called for it, she would leap into the fray with unabashed fear, from what Juvia understood. All the more reason that the waiting was clearly tearing her up inside as she now abruptly excused herself to have a cigarette outside.

That and…she and Lucy had known Gray and Natsu much longer than Juvia did, so…who was she to judge?

Still, these things did nothing to ease the twisted knots of anxiety in the pits of Juvia's stomach. She wasn't even sure she had it in her to go on tonight. Not if she was still uncertain about whether Gray or Natsu were both all right.

The rest of the bar erupted in uproarious applause as Elfman and Lisanna finished their set, and Mirajane took off her apron. She and Lisanna switched places so she could go and head onto the stage. Calculating then that there was about twenty minutes at least before she had to go on, Juvia turned to Lucy to ask if she wanted a smoke too, only to find her friend digging into her bag for a pack of smokes. When their eyes met they realized they were both thinking the same thing and snorted nervous laughs.

Outside then they joined Erza, who wasn't entirely surprised to see they'd decided to escape outside too, taking a pensive drag as Juvia and Lucy both lit up.

But while Lucy seemed content to leave things unprodded, Juvia couldn't help herself and simply had to ask, "Erza, I understand that what you're having Gray and Natsu do is technically confidential to the police, but…I have to ask if—this doesn't have something to do with…possible drug pushers?"

Erza frowned. "Why do you say that?" she asked after a moment.

"Well, I've heard things…" Juvia answered in evasive half-truths. "I mean I don't live under a rock, I'm aware that these are the favored haunts of gangs like…Raven Tail…Phantom Lord…." She waved the hand that held her cigarette, easily slipping into her casual persona of innocent ignorance.

"Yes, that's true." Erza glanced at Lucy and then seemed to resign herself to something. "Okay. I'll at least say this. Yes, they are looking into some drug pushing, specifically this dangerous cocktail going around nicknamed 'Siegrain'."

"Siegrain?" Lucy raised an eyebrow.

But Juvia experienced a bit of a revelation. The name sounded familiar, and she realized she'd heard of it before, down the grapevine, a new drug cut by none other than Grimoire Heart, one of the few gangs Jose knew better than to cross if he could help it. Apparently, the name had come up during one of their exchanges with Oración Seis, who also dealt with Grimoire Heart but were arguably on better terms with them than Phantom Lord was.

She was getting ahead of herself though. She couldn't let on that she knew too much about these things. It just eased her in some capacity to have an idea of what Gray and Natsu were getting into. Gray had told her he had once been a bounty hunter, so again, it wasn't like he was a stranger to this sort of dangerous work, but just so, those nervous knots kept twisting around and around in her stomach and she puffed on her cigarette, one ear keeping tabs on Mirajane's set inside the bar as she also kept track of the time on her watch (at least she didn't have to depend on her phone to keep the time, which reminded her, she really needed to get a new phone) while her other ear zoned in and out of Erza giving Lucy a basic explanation of what Siegrain was supposed to be.

She'd smoked her cigarette down to the nub by the time Erza finished that explanation, and Mirajane was starting to wrap up her set. Juvia's heart started pounding, feeling just for a moment like she was going to throw up—

"Yo."

Juvia and Lucy, and even Erza, all jumped at the sound of Natsu's voice behind them.

"Natsu!" Lucy exclaimed, and unreservedly bounded forward and threw her arms around her boyfriend, who appeared none the worse for wear as he laughed and spun her around, trying to tell her that he was fine in between her peppering his face with kisses.

Same with Gray, much to Juvia's intense relief—save for a bandage on his shoulder. And, unable to help herself, she too bounded forward and threw her arms around Gray, hugging him close. It really was so good just feel him in her arms, from the moment she collided with his chest and pressed into him, feeling that adrenaline rush, that need, to give herself proof that he was alive and well.

At first, he stiffened on a reflex: he wasn't used to having someone rush up to him and embrace him like this, after all, least of all in front of other people. He relaxed though as he seemed to remember that they'd just spent the better part of earlier that day having sex and he should at least try not to be so tense about it.

Just the same, when he pulled away so he could look her in the eye, he did blush a bit, which was actually quite endearing to Juvia, to see something so boyish in a man who dealt in guns and death. The heat in her own cheeks alerted her to how flushed she herself was in exhibiting such PDA with him.

He gave a reassuring smile all the same.

"Hey," he said quietly. "You weren't worried about me, were you?"

"Well, yes. I mean…Erza had you go on one of her assignments." Juvia's eyes slid to the bandage on his shoulder, at the spot of blood that showed through the white.

Gray followed her glance and frowned in chagrin. "Yeah, it did get a little rough, but nothing we couldn't handle." Then he regarded her with a bit more concern, something that made Juvia's throat grow tight. "Sorry. I didn't wanna worry you or anything. But it's fine. Like I said, Erza has us do this kinda stuff all the time. No big."

He was trying to make her feel better, and Juvia couldn't help how she glowed inwardly at that. It took her back to those moments she'd spent with Gajeel, her only true friend in Phantom Lord, the one who had always looked after her, and she'd always looked out for him in return.

She smiled, and Gray smiled back, and it was really all Juvia could do not to dissolve into a puddle if she was being honest. And she didn't want to ruin the moment by pressing him right now with questions.

"Lucy, I swear, I'm fine!" Natsu laughed as Lucy continued to pepper him with kisses.

At which Lucy finally pulled back and play-pouted at him. "I know, but sometimes you get hurt when you do these little errands for Erza, so excuse me for worrying about my bae."

Natsu shook his head, but he was still grinning. Until he caught Erza's eye over Lucy's shoulder, and they shared a wordless communication. Juvia looked up at Gray and saw him do the same thing. Then he noticed Juvia watching him and tried to smile again.

"It's fine. Just gotta give Erza the four-one-one. We'll do that later though."

"So, it is true," Lucy teased, hands on hips as she looked between Juvia and Gray, while Natsu snickered into his hand and Erza laughed behind her hand like a childish schoolgirl. "You guys are a thing now…."

Juvia had no idea Lucy could look so sly, but she wore the look well.

"Hey, guys, cut it out," Gray grunted, avoiding looking at any of them and suddenly getting a surly set to his brow.

But Juvia was no less happy than she was before. "Oh Gray…."

"Hey, Juvia!"

Everyone looked round and saw Levy McGarden had stepped outside. When she saw them all though she was smiling, even if she did look harried.

"There you are! Mirajane's finished her set and we're all wondering where you are!"

"Oops! Sorry, I should get onstage." As she pulled away from Gray though, he took her hands once in his and gave them a reassuring squeeze. He was smiling again, but it was small and shy, and it was just for her. As if he'd known that before she'd been a wreck on the inside about having to go on when she was so anxious about him.

Now though….

Now she felt so much freer than she could ever remember feeling in her entire life. She truly felt unafraid of the shadow of Jose that had loomed over her for so long, as she finished off her set by breaking out with a rendition of Leslie Gore's "You Don't Own Me" (which wasn't technically jazz, but whatever). The music moved within her so powerfully, the lyrics burned in her throat and she had tears of joy in her eyes.

"You don't own me!

I'm not just one of your many toys.

You don't own me!

And don't tell me what to do!

And don't tell me what to say!

And please, when I go out with you,

Don't put me on display!

I don't tell you what to say,

I don't tell you what to do,

So just let me be myself!

That's all I ask of you!

I'm young, and I love to be young,

I'm free, and I love to be free,

To live my life, the way I want,

To say and do whatever I please!"

It had been so long since she'd dared to feel things like hope, but she felt it now, so powerfully that for those small few moments it possessed her. So much so that when she finished, her forehead was clammy with sweat from the stage lights, and she was even shaking a little as she stepped off the stage to the clamorous applause.

And there he was, her sunshine Gray, hanging out at the bar with Natsu, Lucy, and Erza, and he slid his arm around her so easily though in the shadow of the bar. Then again, he kept it around her even when the house lights came up and the bar filled once more with energetic chatter as everyone broke off, milled about drinking and laughing, playing pool, cards, the like, which of course included Laxus challenging Bickslow to another arm-wrestling match, Freed cheering Laxus on quite enthusiastically. And Gray just smiled that smile of his as he nursed a beer and everyone else came by to tell Juvia how awesome her set was.

Then she shivered at the sensation of his hand wandering down from the small of her back to her lower hip, feeling him through the sheer fabric of the blue dress she'd put on for that night. She twisted around to look at him, and he just gave her a look that was like smoldering ice, and her breath and her heart caught in her throat as everything stilled, those dark irises full of soft yet searing promises of what he had in mind for them to do later, if she was up for it.

She was so glad, so very glad, that she was deciding to stay after all.

She couldn't let herself forget though that again, the truth of her reason for coming here would be revealed. In the meantime, she was happier than she ever could've imagined she'd ever be, and she would savor that for the dark time to come when she would have to come clean.

"You made it!"

Juvia and Gray glanced round at Erza's exclamation, as did Lucy and Natsu, along with Levy, Droy, and Jet who were also hanging out at the bar with them, along with Mirajane and Lisanna behind the bar pouring drinks and ringing people out.

They caught sight of Erza grasping the hands of a pretty woman with long dark hair with a thick white ribbon tied into it. She had on a short leather jacket, jeans, and leather boots, and appeared to have a very friendly relationship with Erza.

"Do you know her?" Juvia asked, and then blinked in slight surprise at the way Gray was staring at the woman. She did experience a small stab of jealousy, wondering immediately if she was an ex of some sort given the way he stared at her, but then she quickly realized it was more a look of bemused recognition.

"I've seen her around," he finally told her, "but I've never actually met her," and then took a swig of his beer.

"Hmmm." Juvia looked back at Erza and the woman who had just arrived as they came over back to the bar.

"So Simon's with Jellal?" Erza was asking the woman.

"Everything's just fine, Erza," the woman assured.

"Well, I'm just so glad you could come out, I was hoping I'd finally get a chance to introduce you properly to everyone now that the gang's all here." Erza winked at Gray, Natsu, Lucy—and Juvia too.

"I only wish Jellal could be here too," the woman said. "But you mustn't feel too bad. He's making really great progress," she added hastily, seeing the crestfallen shade that had fallen across Erza's eyes. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have brought it up."

But Erza managed a smile. "No, it's fine! Everyone here's been anxious to hear how Jellal's been doing."

"Let me guess," Natsu cut in, "this is Jellal's infamous therapist."

"Yes, that's right." Erza gestured to the woman beside her with a wave of her hand. "And I can finally introduce you guys since you're all here at the same time. Everybody: Ultear Milkovich."

There was a burst of glass and beer that splattered against Juvia's legs as the bottle in Gray's hand slid out of his suddenly slackened grasp. Bewildered, she skittered away from the broken bottle, as did Lucy and Natsu, Levy nearby giving a yelp.

"Man, what the hell?!" Natsu groused at Gray.

But Juvia looked up at Gray and alarms went off at the way he'd frozen, staring now in shock at the woman Erza had introduced as Ultear Milkovich, the blood drained from his face.

And Ultear Milkovich meanwhile met his gaze with a grin that to Juvia was decidedly very wicked.

Right before she reached inside her jacket and whipped out the Smith and Wesson handgun that she pointed right between Gray's eyes.