This chapter is where I start to reveal a little more about Zale's past. I hope you all enjoy it!
Zale, Juvia and Gajeel continued walking along the grassy plains of Fiore.
"… And so Gray comes out of the beach water without his swim trunks and Cana screams and covers her eyes." Zale told Juvia an old story from when he was a kid in Fairy Tail. "Then Erza comes by and hits him so hard that he flew halfway across Magnolia."
"Ahahahaha!" Juvia laughed.
"And guess where he landed." Zale said. "In the women's bathhouse!"
"AHAHAHAHAHA!" Juvia started laughing even harder.
"Geehee… That's actually kind of funny…" Gajeel muttered to himself. "Hey, lovebirds! We should be seeing a town soon!"
"L-lovebirds?" Zale asked as he blushed.
"I'm only kidding." Gajeel said.
The three of them kept walking until they reached the top of a hill overlooking the town that was nearby. Wait they saw at the top caused Zale and Gajeel's eyes to widen and Juvia to gasp and cover her mouth.
"What happened here?" Juvia asked.
It appeared the town was engulfed in a mudslide.
"We have to go down there." Zale said. "There might be survivors."
Zale made a dash for the town and Juvia ran after him.
"Zale, wait!" Juvia called out to him.
"Hey, have you forgotten I'm here, too?" Gajeel asked before chasing after the two.
They arrived at the edge of town where a group of townspeople seemed to be gathered.
"Are you all alright?" Zale asked. "Is there anyone missing?"
"What's it to you, outsider?" One of the townspeople asked.
"We're wizards from the Fairy Tail guild." Zale responded.
"We were sent here to take care of the mercenary who's responsible for this." Gajeel said.
Zale lifted up his shirt to reveal his Fairy Tail emblem and confirm it to the townspeople.
"Is this everyone here?" Zale asked.
"Yes." A short man that looked like the mayor replied. "Even though the mercenary warned us that there would be a mudslide and told us to evacuate, I still don't like that she went and did it anyway!"
"'She'?" Gajeel questioned. "I wasn't expecting a woman."
"Do you know where she went?" Juvia asked.
"She went up to the mountain to wipe out a Dark Guild that set up their base there." The mayor answered. "By the look of things, you might still be able to catch her."
"Even if the three of us split up, it's going to be difficult finding her." Zale said before thinking for a few seconds. "Mr. Mayor, is there anything the mercenary touched before she left for the mountain?"
"I tried hitting on her earlier." A man with a black eye came up. "When I wrapped my arm around her she punched me in the face."
"Pardon me, sir, but would you mind if my friend Gajeel here sniffed your eye and arm?" Zale asked.
"Why do you want me to smell him?" Gajeel questioned.
"Because you're a Dragon Slayer." Zale answered. "We can track her down without having to split up, thus increasing our chances for success."
"Wow, Zale!" Juvia exclaimed as she gazed at Zale admirably. "You came up with that plan in seconds!"
Gajeel sniffed the man's black eye and the arm he supposedly used to hit on the mercenary.
"… I got her scent." Gajeel said. "Follow me!"
Gajeel jumped onto the roof of some houses and Zale and Juvia followed him.
The trio kept moving until they were in the middle of the forest behind the mountain and Gajeel suddenly stopped.
"What is it, Gajeel?" Juvia asked.
Gajeel sniffed the air for a second. "… Move!"
Suddenly the ground underneath Zale cracked open and he and Juvia jumped out of the way to avoid the geyser of mud that rose up.
"What the heck?!" Zale exclaimed.
A woman jumped out of the mud geyser and punched Juvia in the face, sending her crashing to the ground.
"Juvia!" Zale shouted.
Once he saw that Juvia was able to stand up and that the attack didn't do much damage, he turned to identify their assailant.
"Why you-" Zale stopped talking when he examined the women and his eyes widened and his body froze.
The woman was a little over 5 feet tall, looked to be around Zale's age, had blonde hair and green eyes, wore a yellow tube-top and black pants and her chest was about the same size as Levy's.
"Zale, what are you doing?!" Gajeel questioned.
"'Zale'?" The woman asked. "Zale Aeon?"
"Wait, you know Zale?" Juvia asked.
"… Callista?" Zale asked.
"That's right." She said. "Callista Gilbert (Age 18). Remember? We grew up in the same town together."
*They grew up together?* Juvia wondered. *Does this mean… she's a long lost love?!*
"… Until you left." Callista said.
"Callista, I lost my parents!" Zale said.
"You weren't the only one!" Callista snapped back at him. "Everybody lost somebody in that mudslide!"
"Yeah, except you!" Zale responded. "Your family was the only one where everyone survived! Guess it pays to be the relative of the mayor!"
"Don't you dare insinuate we only looked out for ourselves!" Callista shouted.
"Zale, what is she talking about?" Juvia asked.
"Yeah, it seems like you're hiding something." Gajeel said.
"Callista and I grew up in the same town." Zale said. "We've known each other since we were babies."
"Yeah, yeah, get to the mudslide." Gajeel said while rolling his hand in the air.
"A few days before I joined Fairy Tail, after our town experienced four straight days of rain a mudslide threatened it…" Zale said before looking down at the ground with glazed eyes. "I watched my parents get swept up in it right before my eyes…"
"My family would have happily taken you in!" Callista said. "Mother and Father thought of you a son!"
"I would have been reminded of my parents' death if I stayed there!" Zale shouted.
"Zale… I had no idea…" Juvia muttered.
"I never told anyone in Fairy Tail about this." Zale said. "Like I said, I just wanted to forget about it."
"Zale, you need to confront that past head on!" Callista said. "I'm going to take you back even if I have to do so by force!"
"Well, you're outnumbered!" Zale said. "Water God Bellow!"
"Iron Dragon Roar!"
"Water Slicer!"
The three Fairy Tail wizards shot their respective attacks at Callista and a large explosion of dust clouded the entire area.
"Did we get her?" Zale asked.
When the dust settled, they saw that Callista was nowhere to be seen and the hole formed in the ground was caved filled up with mud.
"She must have escaped through that hole!" Zale said.
"I can't track her scent anymore." Gajeel said. "She must be using the mud to make sure we don't follow her."
"Great." Zale said. "Now we've failed a job. I've never failed a job in my life!" He slumped down against a tree and sat against it.
"Well, it's not our fault!" Gajeel said.
"I wasn't blaming anyone." Zale said. "Let's just hope that she doesn't go around causing more mudslides."
"Zale, can I ask you something?" Juvia asked as she knelt down to him. "Does your fear of the rain come from your parents' death?"
Zale didn't answer, but she didn't feel any malice or anger emanating from him.
"… Juvia, I know you're trying to help and I appreciate that." Zale said. "But for right now, I just don't want to talk about it. Let's head back to Magnolia and give Master Makarov our report."
About two days later, the three of them returned to Magnolia and entered the Fairy Tail guild hall. The sky was outside was almost engulfed in a pretty dark overcast.
"Congratulations, you three!" Makarov cheered.
"On what, Master?" Zale asked.
"What else?" Makarov asked. "For convincing that mercenary to stop the mudslides! She just came to Era and promised not to cause any more problems for the nearby towns! How did you guys pull it off?"
"It's… kind of a long story." Zale said. "Actually, I'm pretty tired from this trip so I think I'm just going to head home."
"Well, jobs don't always come easy." Makarov said. "Just make sure you make it back in time for the party tomorrow! Natsu and the others defeated the Oración Seis AND we'll be getting a new guild member, too!"
"That's always good to hear." Zale said unenthusiastically, though there wasn't any sarcasm either.
"Zale…" Juvia muttered.
Zale went back to his house and just sat on the couch with his face in his hands and his elbows resting on his legs.
"I really didn't want to see anyone from my hometown ever again." He said to himself. "And now my guild mates know, too. I just hope they don't pry into it too much."
Ding-dong…
He heard his doorbell ring, so he made his way to the door and looked through the peephole to see that it was Juvia.
"Zale, can Juvia come in and talk?" She asked.
He wasn't sure what to do at first. Pondering his options, the first thought was to just leave her be and not give any response. The second option he immediately considered was to tell her that he just wanted to be alone. However, he knew that the outcomes of either choice would be unfavorable and, on his part, rude. Despite how he was feeling, he didn't want anyone to get upset by his actions. It seemed like he could only do with the third option he came up with.
"… Come in." Zale said before he opened the door.
Juvia came in and looked around to take in the environment of Zale's house.
"This is a nice place you've got here." Juvia said.
"It's nothing special, but it's home." Zale said.
"Speaking of 'home'…" Juvia was about to say, but she wasn't sure how to word the rest of it properly.
"I know why you're here, Juvia." He sat down on the living room couch. "Again, I appreciate that you want to help, but I really want to forget about what happened today."
"Juvia remembers." She sat down next to him. "But do you remember what the Master says what a guild is?"
"Of course I do. A guild is a family."
"And family is always there for you, Zale. You can always talk to Juvia."
Zale looked up at Juvia's face.
"You helped me overcome the sadness the rain brought me." She said. "And I want to help you overcome yours."
A pitter-patter sound came from outside and they both noticed that it started to rain. This made Zale huddle up on his end of the couch.
"It's okay, Zale…" She said. "There's no need to be afraid. Juvia is here."
Juvia hugged Zale in a comforting, soothing manner and started rubbing her hand through his hair.
"Don't think of about your parents when it rains." Juvia said. "Think of your friends in Fairy Tail. Think of Juvia."
Her voice, words and warm smile helped Zale progressively calm down as she continued holding him.
Elsewhere in Fiore, Callista was walking through the empty fields in the rain and holds out her hand to feel the drops splatter on them.
"I'm going to take you back home, Zale…" She clenched her fist in determination.
A/N: I know what some of you are thinking. That I'm just throwing in Callista just for the sake of putting a wrench in Zale and Juvia's romance. Well, you'd be wrong. I am trying to throw a wrench, but it's not to interfere in the romance in a negative way. On the contrary, the way I'm writing it is to help move it forward. Also, Callista isn't a villain. She just wants her friend to come back home. The next chapter will actually be setting up Zale's strength and a proclamation of the nickname he earns much like how Natsu is 'Salamander' and Erza is 'Titania'. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed it! Stay tuned for next time!