The city of Magnolia present day...
It had been one year since Fairy Tail had defeated Acnologia and saved Fiore from the wrath of the evil yet sympathetic dragon, so great was this victory that Fairy Tail was now the most popular guild ever. Sorcerer Weekly had started making weekly visits to the guild for interviews and photographs, the girls were even asked to model a few times. But fame wasn't the only big change that had taken place inside the guild. Erza had gotten a part time job in the Custody Enforcement Unit, a large number of members had made it to S class, Gajeel and Levy were now officially a couple and expecting a baby, Natsu and Happy had currently moved in with Lucy however she swore that it was only because the duo couldn't afford any living arrangements, all in all things were finally looking up for the guild. Yet things were not exactly perfect for every member.
"I still can't believe Erza's mother was a dragon slayer like us." Natsu said to Wendy and Gajeel. "Can you imagine what kind of torture she could put me and Gray through if she had inherited any dragon powers."
"Don't even joke about that." Gray said shuddering at the horrifying thought.
"You know what I can't believe?" Gajeel said. "That Zeref was your brother all along. You two barely even looked alike."
"That battle definitely had a lot of shocking family reunions." Erza said.
"And not just in the fight with Acnologia. Other times too." Natsu said. "Remember when Gildarts found out Cana was his daughter?"
"It took him like ten minutes to figure out who my mother was. The old perv." Cana said.
The group laughed and chatted about their surprise family relations unaware that their conversation was a little upsetting to someone who was listening. That someone was Juvia Lockser. Upon hearing about how Natsu and Erza learned the truth about their biological families it reminded Juvia that she herself had absolutely no idea what her origins were. Her parents, where she was born, how she obtained her powers, it was all a mystery. No one knew a thing about her background not even the Oak Town orphanage where she had grown up. It made her a little sad. Yes she was happy with Fairy Tail serving as her unofficial adopted family but the more she heard about the other members finding out about their origins, the more it made her want to know about her own.
Feeling melancholic, she decided to live the guild hall and get some night time air. Gray was the only one who noticed her leave while looking upset so he decided to follow after her and find out what was wrong. For the past year he had been very attentive to Juvia and more accepting of her affections toward him. However he still had not made it clear how he really felt about her. This mostly because their recent battle had done a real number on him and he needed time to recover. She understood this so she didn't push him and decided to work on giving him more space.
"Hey Juvia wait up." He called after her. "Are you okay?"
"Yes my Darling. I'm fine." She smiled.
"Are you sure?" He asked. "You looked a little gloomy back there and I haven't seen you look gloomy since we first met. You know if something is bothering you, you can tell me right?"
"I know but it's a silly matter. Not worth burdening you with."
"You could never be a burden to me. Now talk to me. What's bugging you?"
She sighed before answering.
"I...I...I guess I was just a little upset about the conversation you all were having."
"Why?"
"Well the thing is almost everyone in Fairy Tail knows exactly where they came from. Who their parents were, where they were born, how they got their powers. They know who they are. But I don't. I don't know anything about my life before I was sent to the orphanage in Oak Town."
"Really? Didn't they tell you anything?"
"Only that they found me drifting in a river when I was just a baby. There was a note but it just had my name and birth date on it. Nothing else. It bothered me a lot when I was a child and when I was in Phantom Lord because no one really loved or accepted me. Except for Gajeel of course."
"I thought Gajeel was a total psycho when you two were in Phantom Lord."
"Psycho is a bit much and granted he was very sadistic in those days but he had his soft side even back then." She smiled as she started to recall a fond memory. "I remember how some nights I would wake up from nightmares of faceless people taunting me about how I would only bring misery wherever I went and he would comfort me with a song. All though they weren't always you would consider a soothing melody to help you sleep but it was sweet. Of course he always made me swear that I'd never tell anyone."
"That's something I've never understood."
"What?"
"Gajeel was pretty much violent and ruthless to everyone before coming to Fairy Tail but for some reason he was nice to you. Why is that?"
"I don't know. I've been asking myself for years but I never asked him about it because you know how he is. He doesn't want to admit that he's a softy. But there's no hiding it now that he's going to be a Daddy."
"Oh yeah, I hear Levy is about to pop any minute. How long has it been? Ten months?"
"Not sure but I know that she's overdue."
"She must be sick of it by now."
"No but Gajeel is. I don't think he can take dealing with her mood swings any longer. I once found him hiding from her in a broom closet."
"Why was he hiding?"
"Her pregnancy hormones were really high that day and she had found one of my bras in his sock drawer."
Gray looked at her suspiciously.
"It's not what you think Dear. Believe me I would never be unfaithful to you nor would I dare attempt to steal away another woman's man." She said. "You see since Gajeel and Levy have been so busy with the baby I decided to help out a bit by doing their laundry along with my own but some of my stuff got mixed up with theirs. Unfortunately Levy didn't know that at the time so she suspected Gajeel of cheating and became very jealous."
"How jealous?"
"My level."
"Oh man! No wonder he hid from her." Gray replied knowing all too well of how scary a woman with Juvia's level of jealousy could be.
"In the end I straightened things out and she spent the entire night crying about how awful she felt for not trusting him. Poor thing."
"All I can say is God be with him until that baby comes."
"Which I bet will be the happiest day of their lives. In my opinion the happiest days are when babies come."
"Do they have any names picked out?"
"They told me if it's a girl Grace, which is such a beautiful name and if it's a boy Levi. Oh I can already picture the looks on their faces when they hold that child for the first time." She fawned. "I wonder if my parents were happy when I was born."
Gray saw her looking gloomy again.
"You're really upset about this aren't you?" He inferred.
"No. It's not as bad as it was years ago. In between now and joining Fairy Tail I haven't once thought about it."
"But now you have since Erza found about her mother and Natsu found about Zeref."
"I'll get over it Darling. I've done it before. I'll do it again. Besides I don't really need to know about my parents when I have you."
He blushed at her endearing words.
"Uh...Well...Uh...Thanks...I mean...I..." Apart from being more attentive, he also started to get flustered with her affection sometimes which Juvia found to be very adorable.
"I should probably go on back to my room now." She said. "I'm getting tired. Goodnight Gray."
"Goodnight Juvia."
She gave him a loving smile and then walked home to her room at Fairy Hills. As soon as she gone Gray was startled to hear Natsu's voice come from behind.
"Wow that was weak."He said. "You could have least kissed her goodnight."
"Where'd you come from?!" Gray asked.
"You know I gotta ask, what's holding you back?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Well it's obvious that you've now become crazy for Juvia, she's always been crazy for you, but you still haven't made a move. I mean that's just sad."
"You're one to talk."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"You haven't even kissed Lucy yet and you're living with her."
"Of course I haven't kissed her! We're not a couple!"
"But you have the hots for her, don't you dragon boy?"
"Them's fightin words ya frozen flasher!"
"Bring it on!"
Thus another one of their infamous brawls was started and in about five minutes it was broken up by Erza who had overheard them.
"Knock it off!" She said pulling them apart, bashing them on their heads, and dragging them away to put them down for the night.