Lives Lived in the Dark

Levy and Gajeel came out of the maze garden and went to the meeting place. It was a clearing in the woods with some logs here and there. Gray and Juvia were already there. Gray was holding Juvia and she was looking up at him like a god.

"Eh-humm," Gajeel grumbled. He startled the two of them and Juvia jumped away from Gray.

"Damnit, Redfox," Gray said and Gajeel laughed.

"Don't do that! You scared Juvia!" Juvia scolded Gajeel.

"What did you want me to do? Announce myself as I walk through the woods?" he asked.

"No, I think your big head does enough," Natsu said as he walked up, hand in hand with Lucy. Her dress had been ripped and her white underclothes were showing over her chest.

"Hey! You wanna go, Dragneel?"

"Anytime."

"I don't think this is the time," Levy replied. she heard another set of steps coming closer. It was coming from where Erza, Max, and Doranbolt were going to be coming from. The others would be joining them shortly.

"So… what do we do now?" Lucy asked.

"I guess we wait," Gray replied.

"How about we get a fire started?" Natsu asked, "We got a lot of time and we need one to get through the night."

"We're gonna need a few pits to fit everyone," Erza said from behind the brush. She stepped over and the other two men were right behind her.

Erza continued, "We can make one and other people can have other groups sit where they want. But we'll try to start a fire for them." They got to work deciding how many circles they needed and then started in on making said circles. The first circle was done almost instantaneously because of the logs strewn around the clearing. There were just enough for a circle and a half and three logs for all of the fire pits. Juvia dug holes for each of the fireplaces and Lucy helped Gajeel place the logs in the circles. Doranbolt and Levy looked around for sticks and kindling while Erza and Max brought over more and more logs- as quick as they could find them. Natsu sat in the center of the finished circle and tried everything he could think of to get fire. No such luck.

Soon, the Strausses, Laxus, Bickslow, Evergreen and Freed show up and they help out. The work gets done by the time the next volley of workers show up and they all stand around recounting their tales while Natsu continues to try his hand at the fire.

"That's pitiful!" a voice booms from the woods just outside the reach of the moonlight through the trees. Everyone freezes for a moment, but Erza laughs.

"That's what I've been saying, Gildarts!" she replied.

"It's a shame you all don't know my voice by now," he said as he walked into the clearing with Wendy close behind.

"Especially you two," he whacked Gajeel and Natsu on the back of their heads. The two were sitting near where the fire should be.

"You need more kindling. Put the kindling in the hole you made because of your stupidity- which is ironically the only thing you did right…" Gildarts talked them through the process of starting a fire while Gray, Lucy and some others put together the small bonfires for the guys to light when they made fire to begin with.

"Yes!" Natsu yelled as the next team arrived. There should be one more group and the workshop should all be there.

~(^.^)~

Hours later, everyone was back and they talked about the headcounts of each partnership. Some did their best to say words for the guards, few thought it was a good thing so many of the guards went down. They eventually got to the important topic of where they were going.

"... I mean, we can't go back to where we came from," Evergreen pointed out.

"And some of us don't have original homes to go back to," Elfman said.

"Almost none of us do," Gray said. Juvia nodded at his side.

"Well…," Lucy spoke up with a blush, "I do."

Natsu smacked himself on the forehead, "You're right!" he turned to the rest of the crowd, "Luce has a huge house that we could go to!"

"There's no way we'd all fit in a regular house. The Workshop hardly held us all," Gajeel replied.

"Yeah, but… I don't have a regular house. It's twice the size of what the Workshop was," Lucy explained.

"Well, what about the people that live there?" Ever asked.

Lucy shook her head, but it was Juvia that spoke, "No one lives there. It's abandoned. Lucy has a particular circumstance that she could say, but Juvia does not want to tell her friend's secrets. Juvia did not realize it was her until now, but she is telling the truth. We could all easily fit and no one would know we were there."

"Do you wanna tell 'em, Luce?"

"Yeah, it's about time, I guess," she said to Natsu, but raised her voice so everyone who was listening could hear, "My family name is Heartfilia, which some of you may recognize, but don't know exactly why. My father, Jude, started as a local businessman in Magnolia. But, he got very rich over the course of my life, especially after my mother, Layla, died. He spent all his time investing money and things of the sort, but paid no attention to me. We came to be one of the richest families in not just Magnolia, but all of Fiore. I was called Lucky Lucy Heartfilia, but I never felt lucky. I was raised by servants who became my only friends. So, I said goodbye to those who raised me and ran away. I was gone for two months when a pair of guards found me and carted me off."

Gajeel stiffened next to Levy, and she looked up at him. He made sudden wide eyed contact with Juvia, who had been looking at him for quite a while at the other side of Levy. Gray seemed oblivious to the exchange between Gajeel and the woman who held his hand.

Lucy continued, "There was apparently a B.O.L.O.- a warrant- for my arrest so I could be brought back to my father. But, the man who brought me in was a bounty hunter, so he was to be paid by the person who wanted me brought in. But, by then, my father had lost his entire fortune by that point, so he couldn't pay. Then, he was about to pay the first of many payments to get me back when he died. He was only 53. And because there was no chance of anyone paying for me, I was thrown into the Workshop to work off the service I owed from my father's debt. I guessed the government paid the bounty hunter so I had to work off that wage."

"You guessed right," Juvia said to her, "The hunters didn't know that would happen. They didn't know who you were."

"We didn't care," Gajeel said truthfully, "It was a long time ago, before we cared about any of this, before we knew any of you. We're not proud, but it was us. And I thought you might want to know that."

"Juvia and Gajeel are very sorry," Juvia added. Lucy's eyes opened wide for a few moments, then she reached her hand over towards Natsu and took his hand. She didn't speak for a few moments and everyone held her breath.

"Did you meet my father?" she asked with her head down. Juvia and Gajeel looked at each other.

Gajeel spoke,, "Only once. He came to the department begging to get you back."

"What did he look like?" Lucy asked.

"He looked older than he should have. He had mudstained dress pants on and a tan cloak. I remember because I was surprised to find he was Jude Heartfilia, when I thought he was a homeless man."

"And he asked about me?" she looked up with tears in her eyes.

"Yeah."

"Okay." There was a silence for a little while.

Evergreen spoke up, "So I hate to ruin this moment, but we're going to the Heartfilia mansion, right?"

"Yes," Lucy replied. She sniffled and tried to compose herself.

"The edge of the property is about a two day walk from here, but we'll make it," she finished.

"And how long on the estate to the actual rooms?" Cana asked.

"Twelve hours. To the best of my knowledge, the estate includes the hillside behind the house as well."

Laxus whistled, "That's quite the hike."

"It'll be okay. We just need to keep our heads on straight," Levy assured. She saw Lucy was hitting her breaking point. The group dispersed and cliques splintered off to their different fire circles. Levy, Lucy, Juvia, Erza, Wendy, Gray, Natsu, and Gajeel all sat around the first fire built and were silent for a while.

"I really do forgive you guys. You had no idea what was going on," Lucy said from her spot next to Natsu. Gajeel pulled Levy closer as a response and she put her arm around his back for support.

"Juvia wants to know if Lucy will be able to move on with her," Juvia asked.

"I will," Lucy looked at Gajeel, "And even though you haven't apologized, I forgive you, too."

Gajeel smiled but said, "You ain't gonna hear an apology outta me. I did my job and that's all there is to it." He fake scowled, and at this point, Levy could tell it was fake for sure.

"Yeah, yeah," Lucy said with a flip of her hand. There were a few laughs, then silence followed. Levy looked into the fire and marked the differences between is one and the fire at the Workshop.

"I like this fire a lot better than the ones at the Workshop," Levy said out loud. Confused faces met her's.

"What are you talking about?" Gajeel asked.

"The fire," Levy said looking at him, "It's different. … Right? I mean, it doesn't look the same. The fire from the workshop was just a red glow. This is like… orange and yellow."

"Levy, what the hell?"

"What?"

"Wait- have you never seen fire before?" Gray asked.

"Maybe? I guess not, no. We never really used our fireplace right."

"Well… All fire looks the same. It looks like this. The stuff at the Workshop is mostly just burning coal, which isn't the same fire," Natsu explained.

"How have you not seen a fire?" Lucy asked.

Juvia laughed, "Not all have been drinking cocoa next to a burning fire."

Lucy blushed and smiled, "I guess not. But still. We don't really know much about each other before the Workshop."

"So you want a heart to heart or somethin'?" Gajeel asked.

"That's not what I meant," Lucy said, "I was just wondering... None of us ever found out why you or Levy got sent here."

Levy looked up, "You know why I'm here. I owned a bunch of books."

"Yeah, but if that was all true, you should be dead," Erza cut in, "you said so yourself."

"Yeah, but I don't think that's true any-"

"It is," Juvia answered, "It's why Juvia and Gajeel are here now."

"What do you mean?" Levy asked.

"You tell your story first, and maybe we can fill in each other's stories," Gajeel suggested.

"Okay," Levy began, "Well, my father owned about 20 books in total..." Levy went on to tell about her father's collection and his love of it. She told about how she was captured and her feelings about it. There were so many details she let spill forth. How Gajeel had ripped her from her home, brought her to the cell, and how he treated her there. The others couldn't help but be uncomfortable. Sure they were happy together now, but there were some major things they didn't know about. She went on all the way until Gajeel came to the Workshop, telling about their time together.

"That's about it," Levy concluded.

"So you talked her out of killing you?" Gray asked.

"Yeah. Queen don't take lightly to someone saying her punishments are bull," Gajeel said.

"How do ya know?" Natsu asked.

"Cause I did the same thing," Gajeel admitted.

"What?" Levy asked.

"I was brought in for somethin'. Don't remember what," Levy raised her eyebrows, but with barely even looking down Gajeel replied, "Don't worry, Shrimp. Nothin' too bad. Well, I guess it wasn't good if I was gonna be put to death, but hey. We've all been there, growing up on the streets." Others nodded.

"Anyway, she was playing with the ideas of exile, imprisonment, or death. Before she got a chance to settle I said it was just like the authorities to act like they were above forgiveness. That there was no way it could have been an accident-"

"It couldn't have-" Juvia began, but Gajeel talked over her.

"What do you know Rain Woman. You wanna share?"

"Yes. There was a fight and you hurt someone badly. They turned out to be a guard," Juvia blushed as she realized that she was talking about Gajeel's charge without thinking of what the others' thoughts would be.

"But it was self defense and the guard attacked Gajeel," Juvia finished.

"Damn straight. Anyway, the Queen was about to sentence execution, when I spoke up. I said that the guards were shitheads, basically and she sentenced me to be one of them. Originally I got no pay, then I got good. I got good to the point that I thought this was what I wanted to do. Some sick psychological stuff got involved, then, when Shrimp came along, my opinions kind of shattered. Her mom called her in because she was sick of her, like Lev mentioned. She said she would leave town and leave the front door open. I found Levy under the floor and brought her in. Her house belongs to the Queen, now. And her mother was wired a sum of money, while I got a bounty, but during the trial I saw something of me in her. We were the only ones who had ever escaped the court rooms with our lives. And she was stronger than I thought which surprised the hell out of me."

"Gajeel became quite fond of her," Juvia cut in.

"Shut it."

"It is why he was so kind."

"Yeah, cause hitting her with my non dominant hand was great. Anyway, she called me on it, and the Queen saw. So, I had to go back. I had to make sure it didn't look like anything suspicious was going on," Gajeel finished, "And I guess they didn't believe me, so they did what they should have done a long time ago- burn my records and put me in the Workshop." There was a moment of silence as everyone took in the story. Juvia just looked at him.

Finally she spoke up, "Gajeel is leaving a major part of his story out. He forgets that he hunted down the books collected from Levy's home. He read them and realized the reality of the kingdom. He was unhappy and found sympathy in Levy, both to and from him. He read more and felt differently about her. He knew he needed to stop hurting her, but it was his job and if he was to keep it he must continue. He told Juvia a small amount of this, but she looked up Levy's file and found the bound papers. She thought little more about them, but since she was educated- she was the one who taught Gajeel to read- she figured there would be no harm in such readings. Though, she too felt something for Levy. She felt hate for believing and reading such worthless things. Juvia was surprised to learn what Gajeel had been reading made him feel differently for a prison girl. When she was found reading the books, she was brought to the workshop and she finally understood what Gajeel saw in Levy. It was specifically that she couldn't believe all the books, that she just enjoyed them and learned from them." There was more quiet as the fire crackled and the other circles prattled on.

"I was put in a workshop at age three. It was one far away that specialized in those who needed extra help- the young, the sick, the old," Erza began her story, "I grew up in some back nursery where they brought me to a certain point, then brought me into the actual work force. It was a textile workshop. I was one of the yarn girls. I was to hold the yarn and run it around for the looms. There was an old man who practically raised me. And there was a young boy who was my best friend. He was the one who gave me my last name. But he was also the one who burned down that factory. He died and killed the majority of my friends in the process. It was his fault, but he couldn't handle this life anymore. He had known a world before it. Either way, the remainder of the people alive were sent to different workshops. I was the only one who came to Fairy Tail." They took in her story and Gray started to speak.

"My parents are dead, and so is the woman who raised me. She was merciless to me, but she taught me everything. She was also warm and caring. She took me and another kid in and raised us after her daughter died. She was depressed sometimes and eventually left us mysteriously. She went out to the store for bread and never came back. The boy and I eventually went our separate ways on the streets and I found out what happened to her, in a way. She went to the store and there was a robbery. Thanks to a 'mysterious woman in white' the criminal was apprehended, but she was nowhere to be found. So then I ended up stealing and got thrown in that hellhole."

"I never knew my mother. My father died when I was young and I was taken in by the Workshop. It wasn't too big a thing, until I actually got there. I was kind of rowdy and got extra punishment a lot," Natsu recalled.

"That's interesting," Wendy spoke up, "That's similar to mine. My mom died and I never knew my dad. She taught me all I know and the Workshop took me in as an effort to clean up the streets."

"So… how do we move on from this?"

"The same way we will physically. We stick together and don't let anything get in our way."