10th: Matchmaking

Summary: She couldn't fix her own life but she wanted to fix other people's lives.

Mira washed glasses as she talked with Gray. "…seriously, you should search for a girlfriend, Gray," she said as she handed him another drink. "You would have someone to spend time with."

"I have friends, Mira," he said. "I don't need a girlfriend. I am happy without one, honestly."

She shook her head as she sighed. "I am just saying that you should go out with someone," she said as she raised her hands in a defensive gesture. "Look at it from my point: Fairy Tail mages – especially those with S-class potential – take dangerous jobs … jobs where you might die. That's not only the risk during an S-class job. The risk is always there," she went on. "And it would be a shame if you would waste your time by not dating a nice woman … like Juvia-san."

The ice mage looked over to the water mage who was talking to Cana. "You think so?" he asked.

"Yes," she said as she patted his shoulder. "She really, really likes you and she proved that she wouldn't betray your trust. And water and ice magic compliment each other…"

"And you really think that she would say yes?" Gray asked as he bit his lower lip. "She is nice once you get used to the third person self-reference all the time…"

For a moment, Mira wondered how dense Gray had to be not to notice that Juvia was very much interested in him before she remembered that Cana had once mentioned that Gray tended to focus so much on one goal that everything else became a distraction and he had learned to ignore anything distracting. (Cana used this as an explication for Gray's stripping habit as well.) "Go over there and talk with her," the white-haired barmaid said as she patted his shoulder.

"Thanks, Mira," he said before he slowly walked over and started a conversation with the water mage while Cana strolled over to Bisca who was talking with Evergreen.

Mira hid her smile behind her hair as she continued her work. Everyday in the guild was similar to the ones before – at least to her. She would wake up in the earlier morning after another night filled with nightmares. She would leave her warm and cosy bed to brush her hair before she would drink coffee to get rid of the headache. She would wake up Elfman who always overslept (perhaps he considered it as extremely manly or something like that) and would make breakfast for the … two of them. Sometimes, she wished that it had been her who had died on that damned S-class job two years ago because she missed Lisanna. It had been Lisanna who had brought light and laughter. Mira had only brought darkness and despair to everyone.

Elfman always told her that she should move on and 'be a man' but she couldn't. She was stuck in this post-Lisanna's-death-depression and nothing she did helped her to get out of this. And so she smiled a broken smile and helped other people. When Levy needed help with something, it was Mira who helped her or who organised someone to help the short solid script mage. If Cana had had a 'completely terrible date', it was Mira who patted her shoulder and reminded her that there were still far better and more deserving men out there in Fiore. As Evergreen had been in need of fashion advice after the failed attempt to take over the guild because she had wanted to find out who she really was inside, Mira was the one to go shopping with her – well, Bisca had joined them because she had had needed a new hat but this didn't count.

Mira had become the helper of everyone in the guild and she loved helping other people even if it meant that she didn't help herself. She wasn't going on jobs anymore but she took care of all the little problems her nakama had. She borrowed money when someone couldn't afford lunch after being tricked by a client. She fixed ripped of clothes. (Never Lucy's though because their state usually was a hopeless one.) She calmed down arguments between teammates and helped in cases of lovesickness. (Alzack had been in need of lots of advice lately because the pistol mage feared that Bisca might leave their team to make one with Evergreen since both women were getting along quite well lately.) She helped Levy when she was mad at her teammates.

Erza had once said that Mira was too busy with helping other people to help herself and this was right – partially at least. The truth was that Mira couldn't save herself. She could only save others because even a former S-class mage like the once-feared Mirajane Strauss who had the strongest demon soul in her arsenal of takeovers couldn't fix her own life. She was more like Cana than she would like to admit. Both the takeover and the card mage had troubles which were etched deep into their souls and both simply couldn't let go of their issues. Mira didn't know which secret Cana kept inside her heart. She just knew that it was this secret that caused the excessive drinking – and not some one-sided love to Macao Conbolt. (Mira even suspected that the heightened amount of alcohol Cana had consumed after Fantasia was to blame on Laxus' betrayal because the white-haired woman hadn't forgotten that the lightening mage and the card mage had been friends once and it would be like Cana to drink to forgot about this betrayal.)

But even if she had tried to fix her life, she had failed and so she could only fix other people's lives. She smiled once more as she looked at Gajeel with a smile. "What can I do for you?" she asked as she poured in sake into a cup.

"The stripper … he is talking to Juvia," the iron dragon slayer stated darkly. "Do you know why?"

"Well, I believe that he wanted to ask her out," she smiled. "Oh well, talking of asking other people out … when are you going to ask out Levy-chan? You have been showing interest for quite a while after all … and Jet and Droy need to get over her…"