Chapter 66

"I promise, they'll be really good to you. You don't even have to get very involved if you don't want. It's mostly just to keep you from going to the police..." Lisanna's voice could be heard as Gajeel slowly walked down the stairs to the cells.

"You know what they are, Lisanna." A woman's voice protested. "You know they do horrible things!"

"What, and our own government doesn't?" Lisanna scoffed. Gajeel had to bite back a laugh at that. True, if only they knew what horrible things his majesty, the king did. "B-besides, you won't have to be involved in any of that. I-I just cook. Other civilians just go about their lives. Almost half the city has ties to them."

"But..." the woman voiced again but trailed off.

"It's not very manly to be associated with criminals." a man's voice came. "But... it's not manly to die by a criminal's hands, either. Not like this, anyways." The was a short pause before he spoke again. "And it's not manly to leave our little sister alone in such a world, Mira."

"I know, Elfman, but-"

"Sister, if he kills you, he'll have to kill me, too." Lisanna interrupted her with a firm voice. Gajeel could practically hear the shock of the silenced siblings.

"Good, then I'll be rid of all three of you and can sleep in peace." another voice came. This one Gajeel recognized as Jude Heartfilia's. Almost forgot he's still down here, Gajeel mused.

"Oh shut up, old man." the woman's voice came angrily. "Lisanna, you wouldn't dare!"

"I would! You are my only family left! I can't live without you guys."

"But Lisanna..."

"Oi, oi, Lisanna's a big girl." Gajeel interrupted as he finally reached the cell, startling all three of them. Lisanna had been sitting just outside the cell, talking to her siblings, who were as close to the bars as they could be. They were all holding hands. It was cute. "She can make her own decisions. Just like you two need to make your decisions now."

"A-and just who are you?" The young woman inside the cell spat. She was beautiful, Gajeel had to admit, but she had a very typical kind of beauty. That copy and paste look lots of attractive women had. Tall, slender, large bust, pretty face, stylish clothes. Her only unique feature was her exotic white hair, which flowed behind her. Some of it was pinned up at the top of her head. The man beside her was younger than her, for sure. He was very stocky and muscular, with shaggy, spiky white hair identifying him as the third sibling. Gajeel could tell this man was very tall, possibly taller than he was. But he was young and had a cocky air about him. He reminded Gajeel of himself when he was younger.

"H-he's the Don." Lisanna whispered nervously to her siblings, who stiffened upon hearing this. This man was the Don? He was intimidating, tall and strong with many piercings and a hard face. But he was far younger than they'd expected him to be. This man... he was the one who would decide their fates.

"I suppose little Lisanna's told ya what I'm about to offer already." Gajeel hummed as he looked between the three siblings. "But I'll go ahead and say it anyways. I can't have y'all out there knowin what ya know without havin a little insurance. So ya got a choice." He focused on the two in the cell and gave them a hard stare so they would know he meant business. "You can join Fairy Tail. You'll be fully protected by the family and can go about your daily lives as usual. Or ya can be silenced the other way." He shrugged like it was no big deal to him. Because it wasn't. Whether they lived or died, it was their own choice in the end. He'd feel bad about killing Lisanna, if she really did ask him to. But that was also her choice...

"So what's it gonna be?"

Levy was silent in the car, barely meeting her husband's eye. She was nervous about the question she wanted to ask... because she didn't know if she wanted to know the answer. Did Lisanna's siblings join Fairy Tail or... did Gajeel kill them? She... she didn't know if she wanted that answer. If Gajeel had killed them... how would she feel? She'd seen him kill someone before. She knew of him killing an innocent, good man before. She knew there were other innocents that he'd killed to protect the family. So why did these siblings dying bother her so much? Was it that she knew Lisanna, cared for her? Or was it that she didn't think it was justified this time? Either way... she was almost scared to find out their fates. But she needed to know.

"They joined." Gajeel answered before she even voiced the question. He figured that's what was bothering her now, that's why she wasn't even looking at him. Seeing her sigh in relief only confirmed this. "What would you have done if I'd killed them, shrimp?" Gajeel asked his wife now, finally getting her to look at him, though it was mostly in surprise. "Would you love me less?"

"Of course not." she responded right away. Gajeel let out a silent sigh. Well, that was good, at least. She answered without hesitation, and her eyes told him she spoke the truth. But...

"Then what would you have done?"

"I... I don't know." she admitted quietly. "I... it's not like this is still new or anything. I just... don't know why I was so worried this time." she told her husband with a soft sigh.

"I know why." Gajeel said gently, pulling her from her seat onto his lap so he could give her a comforting hug. He gave her a gentle smile as she looked up at him. "It's cause ya knew who it would affect, and ya care about them. That made it personal." he explained. "It's so much harder when it's personal, shrimp. When it's just business, ya can tell yerself just that. It's just business. But when it's personal, it ain't just business anymore."

"Then... wouldn't that make everything you do personal?" Levy asked her husband quietly, looking up at him with curious eyes. "You know everyone that's in the family, and you care about the family. Doesn't that make it personal?"

"It does." Gajeel smirked at his intuitive wife. She was sharp, as always.

"Then how do you do it, if everything's so personal?"

"Lot's of experience and practice." he chuckled humorlessly. "It ain't always easy... but that's my burden to bear as the don."

So how's that for an introduction to the rest of the Strauss family? I wanted to have them all in here at some point, and I realized a bit too late that maybe Mira would have been a better candidate for the first sibling in the family. Oh well. Lisanna worked out well enough.

Anyways, thanks for reading. Please, please tell me what you think! I find your lack of comments disturbing (read in Darth Vader voice).

Thanks!

-Nerdy12