09 | Memories

"Sir, with all due respect...WHY WOULD YOU ALLOW THOSE GUILDS TO PARTICIPATE?!" Arcadios shouts at the former king, knowing it was his idea and not Hisui's.

Toma simply holds up his hand in response, asking for silence "I understand your concerns, but considering how last the couple Grand Magic Games have been, people have stopped coming. We need as much excitement as we can get this year to get the Grand Magic Games going again. Besides, I'm not worried about those guilds too much. If they were to get out of hand, they wouldn't last long at all. We have the best mages in all of Fiore right there to put a stop to them,"

Arcadios just looked at the former king in surprise yet understanding. It's sometimes easy to forget that while the former king can be fun and friendly, that he indeed was a king and knew how to rule a kingdom. The Grand Magic Games is free to get into, but it's also a big part of Fiore's life. It's something that the people can look forward to every year, and it brings up their spirits again. Without the Grand Magic Games, the people would have nothing to look forward to. If keeping the Grand Magic Games going means that they have to allow dark guilds to participate then so be it...

"I understand sir," Arcadios said, "But what does Queen Hisui have to say about it?"

The former king grimaced at that, "She didn't like it at first and wasn't going to allow it, but she begun to understand and gave the ok. The most she's worried about is what Fairy Tail's feeling,"

"And did you found out?" Arcadios asked curiously.

The Toma nodded, "I spoke to Master Makarov about it. He immediately responded saying that he would ask his grandson and Gajeel about it. I was told that Laxus said it would be a fun challenge and Gajeel said that it would just give him a reason to beat his former guild to the ground, and that he was ok with it. He didn't know how Juvia, that water mage, would take it though; he assumed that as long as Gray Fullbuster were there that she'd be ok,"

"I only have on last question," Arcadios said, to which the king raised his eyebrow, "How did you get this past the council?"

At this the former king just bellowed out in laughter, "Simple, if either of the guilds do something against the rules or cause severe crimes. They get to throw them in prison. It seems as if the two guilds joining was almost a win-win situation for us. As long as we have Fairy Tail on our side, we'll be just fine,"

At this Arcadios smiled, that guild was something else, "Of course sir, I understand."

Juvia

"Juvia," Gajeel asked, concern showing in his eyes when she looked up, "Are you okay?" He asked.

This made Juvia smile, this was a side of Gajeel that only those close enough to him got to see. Which was her, Levy, Lily, and even sometimes Lucy. Gajeel might be rough, but one thing about him is that he's a gentleman. He knows that girls need love every now and then. It's one of the reasons Juvia loves him; she loved him because he was her older brother and she was his little sister. This is how it's been ever since she joined Phantom Lord and met him.

"Juvia's ok Gajeel-san," Juvia said, wiping her tears away from her face, "Juvia was just a little shocked at seeing them,"

"I'm sorry Juvia," Gajeel said, hanging his head down.

Juvia just looked up at him in confusion, "What does Gajeel-san mean?"

"I knew they were going to participate, in fact I had a say in it," He said, somewhat in shame, "I just thought that this would be a go way for us to get back at them,"

"Gajeel-san, it's ok," Juvia said, firmly, "Juvia will indeed kick their butts and get back them," She said, a fierce look in her eyes, "Both Phantom Lord and Raven Tail,"

At that, Gajeel looked up at her and gave her a knowing grin then gently let her go seeing that she was ok and walked over to Levy and Lily who were looking at him with concern; which immediately disappeared once they saw that he was grinning.

"Are you ok?" Juvia looked around to see Gray looking at her, deep concern showing his eyes.

Juvia just smiled brightly at him, "Juvia's never felt better!"

Gray just smiled back at her, and brought her into a tight but gentle embrace.

"Good, because we need you to kick some Phantom Lord butt," Gray whispered into her ear, to which Juvia smiled.

Yep, I've never felt better...

Gajeel

*Flashback*

Oi! Where is all this rain coming from? It's been raining for the past week, straight; I'm gettin' sick n' tired of it! No matter where I go there's rain, and I'm pretty sure that's not supposed to happen in the middle of summer...I think.

"Gajeel!" I looked over to my right to find Master Jose looking at me with his grin that really makes you want to hit the guy...Oh well, his fault for messing with me when I'm in a bad mood.

"Oi! Where's all this dumb rain coming from?!" I asked, shouting angrily. I have a short temper; one that you really don't want to push it to its limits.

"Oh c'mon Gajeel, surely you know?" Jose said, grinning at me evilly because he knows that's I don't give a dang about what goes on in this guild.

"As a matter of fact, I don't; care to tell me?" I say, playing along.

"We have a new guild member," He said "She's a water mage," This took me by surprise, Jose rarely let's girls join the guild, he believes their emotions get in the way; makes them vulnerable. The fact that he let a girl into the guild, let alone a water mage that's a girl in which her power relies on her emotions is shocking.

"Let me rephrase that," He said, "She's a powerful water mage,"

There it is...

"Why are you telling me?" I ask, suspiciously.

"Because you're going to be the one to welcome her into the guild, and make her trust us," He said, simply as if it was obvious.

I chocked on my spit.

"Why me!" I ask angrily, my temper immediately breaking, "I don't want to talk to her!"

"Gajeel," He says firmly, looking at me in the face, "You will talk to her and you will be the one to welcome her to this guild...unless you prefer something else," He said, in a tone that offered no arguing.

I might have a temper, but I wasn't dumb enough to go against Jose. I've been in Phantom Lord since I was nine years old, and I'm fourteen now. I've been in this guild for five years, but that doesn't mean I should be the one to welcome newcomers...but looking at Jose, I guess I have to. Especially since I haven't been able to master my dragon force yet.

"How old is she, and what's her name?" I ask irritated, to which Jose responds with a smile.

"She's ten years old; her name is Juvia Lockser, be nice to her."

"Whatever," I muttered, "Where is she?" I ask, still irritated.

"She's in the infirmary,"

"Why?" I ask, sort of in a stuck up voice, "She's not hurt is she?"

"No," Jose replied, "Just go see her, you'll understand once you talk to her," Then he walked away...that didn't make me happy.

"What the heck?! You're just going to walk away!" I shout angrily at no one, my voice echoing of the walls.

I sigh defeated, "Guess I better go find her,"

As I approached the guild infirmary, I immediately heard sniffling and hiccups, like some had just stopped crying...thanks to my dragon ears. I really wanted it to stop, so I opened the door to find a little girl with blue curly hair in a plain white hospital gown huggin' some freaky doll.

"What's with the weird doll?" I ask bluntly, not intending it to be rude but genuinely curious.

I only realized my mistake when I saw her look up, and her deep blue eyes fill with tears.

"The boy with black spiky hair and a weird face really think it's freaky?" She asked, her voice breaking...then she started sobbing.

Is this girl going through puberty early? What was her problem? Why is she crying?! I started to begin to panic.

"No," I said rushed, to which she looked up tears running down her face, "I just didn't get a good enough look at it...it's very...interesting," I say, trying my best not to be rude.

She surprisingly smiled softly, "Juvia knows you're just trying to trying to be nice, boy with black spiky hair and a weird face. She appreciates it but Juvia's used to it...She's u-used to-to-to people n-not liking her," She says, her voice cracking and then begins to cry again.

Oh Lord help us all...does this girl ever stop crying?

"Hey it's ok," I said, in a total stupid way...She didn't stop crying. Ok, so talking wasn't going to work...does that mean I have to hug—I chocked inwardly—her?

I definitely have to hug her, she's been crying for two minutes straight!

Here goes nothing...

"Hey," I say gently walking over to her, "It's ok," I said as softly as I can, and pick her up in a gentle embrace. For me, it was awkward as heck I'd never done this before and it just felt weird, but she seemed to be somewhat comforted because she grasped unto my shirt and started crying there...great. Just what I wanted on my shirt, snot and tears...just perfect. Once it got less awkward I laid back on the bed, still holding the little ten year old girl in my arms and gently rubbed her back comfortingly. Eventually, after five minutes, her sobbing turned into hiccups and sniffling.

All of a sudden she asked, "Will you be my older brother boy with spiky black hair and a weird face," She asked bluntly, to my surprise.

Even more to my surprise I replied, "As long as you stop calling me 'boy with spiky black hair and a weird face' then sure,"

I felt her smile softly, "How is Juvia supposed to do that if she doesn't know boy with spiky black hair and a weird face's name?"

"Easy, Juvia Lockser my name is Gajeel Redfox." I said, surprisingly feeling a smile start to show on my own face.

"Gajeel Redfox," She repeated, "My big brother,"

"Juvia Lockser," I copied her, "My little sister,"

After that, we just kind of sat there until she felt better to meet the rest of the guild. The rain never stopped, and she really didn't smile much after that, but at least she stopped crying.

The rest was history after that...

I smiled proudly at Juvia.

You'll be just fine sis.

A:N

Hey my lil donuts!

So this was by far my favorite chapter to write! As I'm writing this fanfic, I've noticed that my thoughts have begun to stray a little actual plot as you can see. So please just respect that the facts won't be 100% correct, but from my imagination just like other fanfics. Regardless, I hoped all enjoyed this chapter! Also don't forget to leave you guys' thoughts in the comments below!

Thanks for Reading!

Rissa