xGx

Now that his kidnapper was officially ' not talking to him', Gray was free from any and all distractions, or mindless small talk.

She still sat stubbornly in the hall, chair facing his cell, but she no longer kept a complete unending watch of him, choosing instead to bury her face in some book, as though somehow her silent treatment was the real punishment in all of this.

Meanwhile, Gray was practically left to his own devices, and he used this time wisely.

While the Rain Woman had given him a run-down on his first night of why his position at the bottom of Phantom's dungeon was an insurmountable task that he couldn't possibly conquer, Gray had since then made the unilateral decision to ignore just about everything she said.

It's not that he completely doubted her word, oddly enough there was a part of him that believed she might have over-shared there in the beginning, but it was very easy to weave lies between truth, keeping your enemy so far down mentally that they never realized they were in a prison made of cardboard, rather than stone.

The ice mage refused to fall victim to such tactics.

So, he decided to start fresh, wipe the blackboard of all her suggestions and collect some information on his own, and plan his escape from there.

Here's what he learned:

Number 1.: Gray's cell was at the very end of a rather long corridor of cells. He knew this because more light from the sconces bounced into his cell than the one slightly across from him and to the right.

The candlelight was only strong enough to pool out directly in front of it, in the hall – which the Rain Woman used for reading – and just beyond his bars.

It wasn't the most important fact he'd collected, but still, at least he had some bearing of where he was.

Number 2.: The opposite direction, the one the blue haired woman constantly disappeared to, had a staircase somewhere, that led people out of here.

This was important, Gray had listened carefully each time she disappeared and arrived, particularly when it was time to eat, because he could hear her hesitancy as she carried down those heavy trays to him, before confidently striding the rest of the way towards his cell.

He was still unsure of the exact number, somewhere around two dozen on his last count, but he knew they were steep and old, and he knew of their existence and that was all that mattered at the moment.

Number 3.: There was a door.

He heard the heavy squeaks of old hinges all the time, with other members of Phantom Lord seemingly popping in to give her some signal that Gray couldn't see.

Interestingly, he never heard a lock.

But the ice mage wasn't foolish enough to believe Phantom would just leave the vault wide open. More than likely there were runes at play. Probably some nonsense about Only Members of Phantom Lord Shall Pass, or else, Enemies Of Phantom Lord Beware, Thou Will Be Fried Within An Inch Of Their Life Should They Breach This Point.

He put nothing past them.

But it was ok, Gray had plenty of time to adjust his plans as he thought of them.

Perhaps instead of bottoming out the cell and watching the little bluenette plummet to central Earthland, he'd get her to re-write the lock so he could get through.

Maybe use her as a human shield, who knows?

Those kinds of details were still kinda up in the air.

Number 4.:

Well, there was no Number 4. Not yet anyway. Things in the dungeon seemed to go by like clockwork, exceedingly dull and never changing.

There weren't as many hints dropped as he would have liked, if he were being honest.

But rest assured, that wouldn't be enough to keep Gray from busting out of here, the second the opportunity arrived.

He just had to wait…

xJx

How did things end up this way?

All she'd wanted to do was get closer to the mystery man of ice, the frosty prince who could turn her kingdom of isolation and endless rain, into something beautiful, something worth living for.

Her perfect half.

But in all her blind infatuation all she'd ended up doing was taking advantage of an already injured man, while leaving the other members of her guild to fend for themselves and ultimately lose.

Juvia sighed, then groaned, stomping her feet in place with frustration.

Perhaps if she'd been thinking straight, she'd have noticed there was something wrong with him earlier, or even had a moment of clarity and left him in the care of his own guild, trusting in fate that they would one day meet again.

Instead, between one second and the next, Juvia lost focus for an entirely different reason. She wasn't even thinking when she ran towards the voice, a booming call of action, that Master Jose had three seconds to give up and agree to a truce, or else anyone Fairy Tail decided was an enemy would face the consequences.

Juvia didn't know what that entailed really, but she knew there were no circumstances on Earthland that could get her Master to give up his crusade against Makarov Dreyer's guild. Which was unfortunate, because the water maiden could recognize powerful magic when she saw it, and the magic circles that began forming in the sky showed all signs of being Lost Magic.

She'd run before her Master in a thoughtless rush, shoving him out of the way and, for once, ignoring his screams of displeasure.

He thought he could handle it.

She knew he could not.

There was a moment of total stillness then, when the old master of Fairy Tail missed a beat in his count and Juvia didn't move, not sure if she was ready to handle the cost of her rash decision, and in that moment they locked eyes.

She felt completely out of her league, like a rabbit trying to lock horns with a bull, but she wasn't trying to hurt him, not really.

She just wanted all this to stop.

And the only way out she saw was to get them away.

So she took advantage of that single moment of hestitancy, that slice of stillness, gathered all her concentration and shouted, " Water Cyclone!"

A tunnel of water shot out of her body, straight towards Makarov Dreyer's chest, pushing him clean off the pile of rubble he stood on, out the broken window behind him, and out of sight.

From there, she didn't stop to assess if that had been enough to keep him down. She had other plans.

Running the rest of the way up the stairs, Juvia stood squarely in the middle of the dais there, and activated the magic circles.

She knew the mechanics of the guild well enough to operate the motor, and get Phantom moving, away from Fairy Tail, out of their little beach, through West Forest, using Mt. Hakabe's position to the north as a guide.

Her intentions had been to go back to Oaktown, but once she got it going, the guildhall seemed to take on a mind of it's own, literally.

First by draining her magic greedily in its own mad rush to repair itself; she watched walls, roofs, and windows reform before her very eyes, leaving no evidence of the fight behind, as if nothing had happened.

She may have been able to handle that if it had stopped there, but once everything was back to normal, it continued syphoning off her magic, this time to increase it's speed.

Juvia hadn't been aware Phantom Lord could move faster than two miles an hour, creaking and creeping it's way to a new location whenever Master Jose wanted to pull out all the stops in intimidating his enemies. It was always an offensive move.

The other day the guildhall must have realized they were on the defense, because it reached within her deeply, taking all it could get to propel itself forward.

Going 50, 65, 77 miles

Just when she was sure she was going to collapse, completely drained of magic, strong hands came down on her shoulders.

Gajeel Redfox caught her right before the black spots took hold of her vision, and hooked himself in her place, so she could collapse nearby.

Juvia was well past exhausted, by then. She'd laid on the steps adjacent to the steering dais like it was a bed fit for queens, eyes shut, body numb, deaf to the shouting and chaos around her, until one voice cut through all the din to reach her.

So, you're saying no one knows where bubble boy came from?

Her eyes had snapped open then like someone had kicked her in the chest.

The water maiden had completely forgotten about him until Sue pointed him out, grabbing not only her attention, but the notice of their guild master as well.

Already enraged for having to retreat from a fight Juvia was certain her Master thought he would win handedly, she could see the bloodlust in his expression when he'd realized the prize trapped right in front of him.

The next thing she knew, the possible man of her dreams was declared an official prisoner of war.

She had no say in the matter, besides asking to keep watch over him, a request her Master was thankfully too distracted to care about.

So, that's how it happened but…

In all that, what had she actually accomplished?

Three quarters of the Element Four were left on the mend.

Master Jose was furious and humiliated, lashing out at anyone who moved, when he wasn't holed up within his office.

And the man she thought was the love of her life, looked at her with absolute loathing and contempt, almost from the moment he'd re-awakened.

It was the kind that burned right through her and reminded her sharply of all the other failed relationships of her past, because she wasn't good enough, because she kept trying when all they'd wanted was for her to disappear, because she was gloomy.

But if she were being honest, this had less to do with all that, this time. The man down in the dungeon hated Juvia only for her actions, and no matter how many times she turned them over in her mind, she knew they were reprehensible, not at all what she'd wanted when she'd first trapped him in that sphere of water.

She couldn't blame him for his reaction, and there was nothing she could do to prove he wasn't right, that she hadn't already tried…

A loud bang on the kitchen door broke through her thoughts, and Juvia had to suppress the little squeak that worked it's way up her throat at the sight of the newcomer in the doorway.

" Finally."

Gajeel.

Turns out there was no meeting yesterday, there has never been a meeting yesterday, Gajeel had made the whole thing up.

When Captive-san had questioned her last night, rightfully suspicious that the meeting they had to rush off to had only lasted five minutes, she'd managed to put on a politely bemused face, waving away his concerns like boogeymen in the daylight.

The truth hadn't been quite so neat.

Master Jose hadn't left his offices more than three times since they'd gone rogue, and none of those times was he pleased to be reminded of his fellowship with Phantom Lord's lot.

He hadn't called any kind of meeting to give direction or some hint of where they all went from here, rather Gajeel had forged his signature and plastered the walls of the guild with a false sign-up sheet and reminders Not To Be Tardy.

And she'd fallen for it hook, line, and sinker.

" Get rid of him."

"What?" Juvia had been so confused by the sudden change in demeanor, she'd actually looked back to see if things could have somehow managed to shift just by walking through a doorway, as though it were a portal or something.

He pulled her a little further into the stairwell, away from the door and closer to the boiler room where it was harder to hear over the sound of the ancient machine inside choking and puffing as it tried it's best to heat the guild hall.

"Look, no one is more proud of you for taking some initiative against those sparkly Fairy scumbags, but your little game of house has gone on long enough."

Juvia blinked, not sure what he was getting at.

"He ain't ya boyfriend, he isn't even a prisoner at this point; Jose's so far gone he probably won't even notice his absence once we get rid of him, but he is a hindrance and ya can't keep him like some goldfish you won at a street festival."

She couldn't meet his eyes then, throat thick with emotions she didn't have the time to sort through, "…He is injured."

"Not our problem," Gajeel stated bluntly, "Look, no one's saying it, so I will. We're damn near on our last legs. We've got limited supplies, the old man ain't releasing anyone from the guildhall, so we can't get work. We don't need a charity case on top of everything else, especially one from the pixie guild, ya get what I'm saying?"

She did. And she didn't like it.

Her lack of immediate response didn't appear to sit well with the dragon slayer, "Wakey-wakey!" He snapped, clapping his hands sharply in front of her eyes, as if her focus was anywhere but right there, in that moment, "This isn't one of those meet-cutes from one of yer dramas, Puddle. We are in deep shit."

Juvia rolled back her shoulders, doing her best to feign some assertion,"Juvia will see to his needs herself. She has some money saved up, and it is no problem for her to give her share of the supplies over to him, at least until he is better or we can leave him in a safe, neutral location. From there…"

She didn't know. Perhaps she could send his guild some sort of signal? Coordinates and an urgent S.O.S. so he wouldn't be left languishing alone, at least.

He quirked his lip to the side, looking her over for a moment, "Don't tell me…"

Her stomach dropped, the unease she'd been feeling since yesterday doubling over itself.

"Damn it, Ame-Onna." His thumb worked a nerve just under his brow, pushing the studs towards his spiky hairline while he roughly massaged the area. "Less than two days alone wit' him, and he's already got ya around one of his fingers?"

Her face burned, less from direct shame and more at the realization she was apparently so transparent, "It's not like that…"

She hadn't felt like explaining herself, but the pointed look Gajeel directed at her, demanding she elaborate before he take matters into his own hands regardless, compelled her to explain, "He is unavailable for… He is already spoken for… by the Heartfilia girl," the bluenette mumbled, recalling all he'd said during their battle on the rooftop, regarding the blonde, "He has already made bold, open declarations regarding their passions, he would stop at nothing to protect her, and Juvia has no reason to believe that feeling isn't mutual."

His assumption that the water maiden had begun to fall for him… wasn't as out of left field as she'd like it to be, but she saw no reason to give Gajeel a run-down of her silly longings, he'd probably just tsk at her stupidity. "He doesn't need to be jostled or alarmed right now. Juvia only just got him to agree to eat, and even that improvement seems shaky at the moment. You need not worry about any additional strains for the guild, Juvia takes full responsibility for him. And she will say as much to Jose-sama."

Not a conversation she was looking forward to having…

"But Juvia will not simply 'get rid of him' not in his moment of need. If only for her role in dragging him into this mess in the first place, she will do all she can to nurse him back to health."

Whether he wanted her to, or not.

An odd glint began to shine in the older boy's eyes, and Juvia felt immediate unease, "If it's guilt yer feeling, we can remedy that real quick." A sharp smile flashed, increasing her sense of misgiving, "Give me five minutes alone wit' him–"

"Absolutely not."

"You don't need to lift a hand, Puddle," Gajeel grinned, raising his own in a cruel parody of a scout's solemn oath, "I don't even need five minutes, three and a open window–"

"Gajeel-kun."

"Alright fine, I won't beat his ass first. One good right hook, and we toss him overboard."

"Gajeel-kun!"

His amusement only seemed to grow in the face of irritation.

" Juvia will not negotiate this. If Gajeel-kun so much as touches him with ill intention, you will have Juvia to reckon with."

He looked a little surprised at the ferocity she responded with, but just quickly dismissed her with a scoff, looking more amused than even before, "I'm supposed to be scared of ya now, Rain Woman?"

The water maiden had already pulled herself out of his hold, stalking back the way they'd come, before she replied honestly, " Yes."

Since then he'd been trying to confront her on her own, going so far as to send other members down to the dungeons under blatantly false pretenses, to try to get her to talk to him.

All of these attempts had been neatly dodged by the water maiden.

Until now.

"I know I ain't winning any spelling bees around here, but I'm far from stupid, Puddle. What the fuck are you thinking?"

Juvia continued beating her spoon around a bowl of whatever it was she was making, movement frantic and sloppy, as she stared down into it, unseeing.

"Juvia appreciates your concerns," she mumbled, "but upon further review your suggestions have been wholeheartedly rejected by the cou–"

The dragon slayer spluttered for a moment, clearly not expecting that response, "What are you not getting? We. Cannot. Keep. Him. When it came to Bunny Girl, we had her old man's go-ahead, at least, that was a job, but this is different. It's been three days. The last thing we need is The Magic Council down our back, we could face charges! We could wind up screwed, or worse disbanded."

Yes. She knew all this. She'd been thinking about it all day!

"Oh sure, when Juvia makes one tiny little request, we all have to live by The Good Book, but when you went and hunted down the one team in that whole guild that couldn't fight back–!" She hissed, just as angry at herself but unwilling to take on the full brunt of their situation alone, "We were already on thin ice when you destroyed their guild, add that little ambush on top and we've well and truly broken through, so don't pretend you have such a concern for regulations now, Gajeel-kun!"

For his part, Gajeel tsked, turning his head away stubbornly, "Just cause they was cryin' foul, don't make it true."

Juvia didn't respond.

After several seconds of tense silence, the older boy tried again, "You know the geezer's running around, trying to come up with a plan, right?"

She nodded once.

"I don't know what happened, but somehow that old man got under his skin. Whatever fight they got into wasn't like last time."

"Well, of course not," The water maiden sighed, pulling the skin off the sweet potato halves, before adding it to a bowl to be pulverized, "Jose-sama was nowhere near the guild when they broke in before, and he had you and Aria-san there to take care of it, then. Juvia honestly doesn't believe the two masters have ever come to odds like that before, in all their time as wizards." She tossed out the scraps. "How is Aria-san by the way?"

"Same as Sol and Totomaru, still down for the count and out of magic," he grunted, rolling an egg around the counter absently.

Sol and Totomaru…

They should have bounced back by now, she was sure she'd seen the fire user at least lucid a few times, but without Aria there to heal them, they would have to take the slow route to get back to 100%...

She thought Gajeel was going to comment on what terrifying strength Titania must be capable of to keep the strongest member of the Element Four out of shape for so long, but instead he looked up suddenly, mind clearly elsewhere, "Did you know Salamander was a dragon slayer?"

"Yes."

She'd read up on Fairy Tail for a full week before they'd made their first move, wanting more information on the members, to know who to watch out for before going after Lucy Heartfilia – that was part of the reason her not knowing Captive-san's name was so frustrating, she didn't recall seeing him in any of her extensive research, what else had she missed?

In the end she decided they were all a bit too dangerous, and waited until she was alone.

Turns out, it was more than likely the right move, making Juvia quite the adept kidnapper, if the last two incidents were any indication.

"He was trained by a real dragon, too."

"Oh, really?" While Juvia had never doubted his past, many others in the guild were quick to turn their jealousy of Gajeel's strength into fuel to power their rumor mill, denying that any dragons had roamed Earthland in the last four hundred years and that he'd gotten his power from a lacrima or something, and invented the story so no one else could achieve what he had.

He always claimed it didn't bother him, thrashing anyone into a stupor who was foolish enough to spread such rumors in his presence, but Juvia was acute enough to notice when he'd eventually stopped sharing.

"Yeah," he sighed. "I mean, the guy was a dope," Gajeel supplied quickly, as if to sow doubt into his claims, "Apparently he's still running around looking for him, thinking there's gonna be some grand reunion, 'cause he can't come to terms that he was abandoned."

"His dragon left him, too?"

Gajeel lifted his head to look her directly in the eye, before leaning in, "Not only did his dragon ditch him, you'll never guess when he did it."

Juvia dropped her spoon, mouth agape and whispered, " July 7th?"

"x777." The iron slayer nodded grimly.

"So… there must be a connection! Perhaps, Metalicana-san didn't leave with the intent to abandon you, maybe…"

"What, you think they both went off to a conference and lost track of time?"

"Juvia doesn't know what to think, besides there's a clear connection and you should investigate further. Maybe you two can go looking tog–"

"Lemme stop you there. First off, if I ever catch sight of that fire-eating bastard again, I'm paying him back for these," he gestured to the cuts healing along his face as well as the bandages hidden under his shirt that Juvia had helped him tend to earlier, "and I'm gonna be generous with the interest added. Second, I have no interest in tracking down that deadbeat. If he wanted to find me, he'd sniff me out. He hasn't bothered in damn near a decade, so that's that. We're done with each other."

"Gajeel-kun…"

" Don't," he cut in sharply, jabbing a finger at her chest, "I'm not looking for your pity, Puddle, I just thought I'd make some small talk. Get your mind off the prison sentence you're looking at if we don't come up with a plan, and fast."

Juvia rolled her eyes, and watched, mildly amused to see the slight surprise Gajeel showed in the face of her sass. "If you do not wish to speak about this subject, fine. Juvia understands how sensitive this is for you, but the prison thing… Why does everyone go there?"

"Because you've snatched up two people now in the middle of the day, within the span of a week," He said slowly, deliberately, placing his arms on the counter, as though he needed to steady himself, "and now you're keeping one of them captive like some demented game of house. That's a goddamn crime. There are movies about this kinda shit, and none of them end happily. Some people might even end up touchy about it, press charges and all that."

"So Juvia has heard," she replied sardonically, recalling the hour the ice mage downstairs had spent rattling off different infractions he'd have her imprisoned for, as well as the things she'd done that weren't crimes yet, but he'd spend his life lobbying for until they were.

He'd just kept going and going, until he eventually passed out. The bluenette was surprised to find herself smiling when he did.

She shook her head quickly.

This was serious, and she should give it all the somberness it deserved. "Juvia wanted to apologize for startling you that day," She heard from some of the others that Gajeel had barely finished his fight when she'd accidentally kicked the guild into overdrive.

"Nah, we was on the north side when you got this thing moving again. I was surprised, not gonna lie, but it wasn't the worst thing I've been through..." He shrugged, grabbing up an apple, before giving it a sharp sniff and dropping it where he'd found it. "Salamander, though, he has some serious motion sickness issues. I kicked his ass off somewhere around 65 miles an hour, just to make sure he was plenty dizzy in his way do–"

" Gajeel-kun!" This was exactly the sort of thing she was talking about, why did he have to take everything to the extreme?

But rather than shrink at the sight of her displeasure, he bared his teeth at her playfully and chuckled out, "You shouldda heard him scream, gihee!"

"That isn't funny."

"Weird, I crack up every time I think on it." As if to extenuate his point, he burst into another round of his signature laughter.

The water maiden took this time to pointedly ignore him, choosing instead to add sausages to the stove and blend the sweet potatoes with chicken stock, then cream, until it was like velvet on the back of her spoon.

"He called him, Dad…"

Juvia blinked, refocused on the man across from her, with his face so somber, "Hm?"

Gajeel slapped his hands on the counter suddenly, startling her, and stood, "Nothin'. Look, try to get that brain running sometime before we're surrounded by Rune Knights, alright? I'm sick of making the trip over to Era."

The bluenette glanced out the window, just beside the stove, curiously, and took in the endless mountain ranges and wilderness shrouded under dark gray skies, that greeted her, "Juvia thinks we may well be on our way there now."

"Great," he grumbled, "gotta re-steer the old man before we corner ourselves in a jail by mistake."

He headed for the swinging door before Juvia called out, "Should she save you some soup? Or there's sausage, blistered just how you like it."

"Nah, I think I'm just gonna sit on the roof later. Maybe check out the clouds. I've got a toolbox hidden up there if I get hungry."

"Once again, Gajeel-kun, you don't need to leave your things in odd corners around the guild, no one is going to steal and eat your hidden supply of iro–"

"Yeah, 'cause I hide it–"

"Oh, goodness, we're not having this conversation again!" Juvia said impatiently, dismissing him with a wave of her hands until he was out the door.

Now alone, Juvia prepared yet another tray to take downstairs, knowing full well, their new prisoner would no more eat it than a stray worm.

xGx – Dinner

Another cloche, another waft of steam, another stare down.

There was a slot at the bottom of the cell door, allowing her to slide it through without much contact between them, something Gray hadn't noticed before they'd descended into their silent standoff.

He really wished she'd used it earlier.

Along with a bowl of bright orange soup was a plate of blistered sausages and sauteed cabbage. Beside them sat a dark green bottle, some kind of alcohol he'd guess, and a new squat brown jar of the same ointment she'd been pushing on him, since day one.

It was odd how she could look at him with such a deadened stare, not only because all the food she presented sat in direct contrast to her air of irritability, but also because she had no ground to stand on for being so annoyed in the first place.

She decided to cut their ogling short, standing straight up in one quick movement, before taking her seat across the hall.

Despite himself, this caught Gray's interest, "What, no speech?"

No response.

" Come on," Gray pouted, sarcasm dripping from each syllable, "I might have been convinced this time. After all, 87 is an unusually lucky number."

She sighed, but said nothing.

"Well, guess there's nothing going," he shrugged, adjusting himself so she was his entire view, silently determined to turn the tables on their situation a bit. "Maybe Black Steel's fist really will be the first thing I swallow down here."

He'd kinda gone on a bit of a tangent yesterday, insisting that if Black Steel had been his guard, he'd have eaten anything the violent boy gave him, to which the Rain Woman replied, breaking her silence just once the whole night, that the only thing ' Gajeel-kun' would feed him was the knuckles of his right fist.

For all she knew, that was his favorite snack, and she was standing between him and an excellent meal.

"At least have a bite," She piped up suddenly, still not looking at him, "You may well die of malnutrition before anyone upstairs lays a hand on you."

"Oh, she isn't mute!" The ice mage cheered, grin broadening when he noticed her brows dip, "I thought that I was going to finally finish my bingo card of strange personality traits. You've collected so many already: flagrant kidnapper, inept nurse, wild mood swinger, the board just keeps filling up before my very eyes. You claim to have beaten me in some fight, so I'm feeling pretty confident you're also into sucker punches, I'm just waiting for the evidence to waltz on down here, as I'm sure it will eventually, and then, bingo!"

The Rain Woman's eyes remained fixed on her book, but he did notice them flash in annoyance.

Good. It felt amazing to shed his frustration, especially if it was onto the person who'd caused them to begin with.

"All Juvia has done is try to keep you healthy–"

That was quite a bit of revisionist history there, did she honestly believe he'd just let the whole pill-swallowing-incident from Day One go?

"–Juvia does not want to question you or harm you in any way, your stubbornness is getting in the way of your health. You are putting yourself through an unnecessary trial, when you could be up, walking and–"

"Walk where? I stretch my arm out too far and I've hit the borderline of my new waterfront property," Gray groused, demonstrating what he meant by throwing out his hand until it hit solid stone. "Is there some amazing place I'm missing out on just beyond these bars?"

She looked more stubborn than his throwaway question called for when she replied, "Juvia will answer almost any question you have, so long as you eat."

The ice mage rolled his tongue over his teeth, "Then I guess it's gonna be pretty silent down here."

"Juvia supposes so."

The minutes rolled by without another word passed between them, but this time, it wasn't due to Gray's determination for a stalemate; it was quiet because the young mage was thinking.

Her offer was tempting, that he couldn't deny.

He stood by what he said earlier, nothing she said could really be trusted, he would need to roll over her words with a fine tooth comb, double dissect everything, evaluate late into the night, but still, her offer was tempting.

Gray's investigation abilities were limited and only seemed to shrink with every hour he spent in this two-by-four, he didn't want to go to sleep that night knowing he hadn't managed to add a fourth fact to his list.

While the steam slowly drifted and died, and the Rain Woman's stack of read pages began to dwarf the unread ones, Gray made up his mind and cleared his throat.

"I have one question actually."

She looked reluctant to acknowledge him; hell, she looked reluctant to look at him. But she did, eyes narrowing a bit while she looked him over and asked, "Yes, what is it?"

"How'd you get the hose in here?"

She blinked, turning to face him more fully, "Hose?"

"Yeah, the jet of water you sent my way, first night here. How'd you manage it?" It was cruel and unnecessary, and it seemed like a lot of effort to lug whatever had damn near waterboarded him, ten minutes after he'd come out of a coma, all the way down here.

"There was no hose."

"Alright, a weapon then." It made no difference if it was a magical tool, or an odd feature of the dungeon meant to spark conversation amongst guests; she'd tortured him with it.

Frustratingly, she just shook her head. "You are misunderstanding."

" Really?" Gray asked, not hiding his irritation. He hadn't really bothered to try before, but… "What exactly am I missing?"

"Juvia…" She pointed to herself, eyes wide, expression almost doll-like as she explained, "Juvia is the Rain Woman. Her body–" She slid off her seat then, down to his level and raised her arm, sliding it through the bars up to her elbow, so he could watch as it went from paper white to entirely translucent, bouncing candlelight around his cell in a multi-prism spectacle, while the liquid warped and waved. "Juvia's body is made entirely of water. There was no hose. Only Juvia."

Oh.

For some odd reason – well, it wasn't all together odd, but – Gray hadn't realized her powers went beyond what her nickname hinted at.

The Rain Woman could obviously control rain.

An all together silly power, but not one he was really willing to judge. Maybe there were some uses in starting thunderstorms at will, he'd rationalized, the best way to stomp down the spirits of your enemies could very well be having all their plans for picnics and outdoor concerts thwarted right before a big battle was about to take place.

Now he knew this wasn't the case.

Her body was made of water. She had complete control of water… That was frightening, something he'd obviously need to look out for if he planned on fighting her head on.

In a battle between ice and water, who would really control the element?

She continued holding her arm out to him, while the ice mage tried to wrap his mind around what he was seeing, until the moment went on a bit too long and turned awkward.

Then she withdrew, standing to her full height, arms corporeal once more, before she shuffled back to her space across from him. "When you are ready to eat, let Juvia know."

Something else seemed to connect in his mind then, the image he conjured up stark and unsettling.

"Are you saying… I swallowed you?" That couldn't be right. Surely, there was some kind of filtration system set up in the cuffs of her coat, perhaps she summoned the water from a third party or something, maybe it was all just a misunderstanding again…

"No."

He felt the breath returning to his lungs, " Oh," Gray laughed, relieved for the first time in nearly four days, "ok, because I tho–"

"It was more like you choked and gagged on Juvia." The Rain Woman went on thoughtfully, "She had no idea Captive-san was so inexperienced–"

"What the hell's that supposed to mean?" If he could feel his legs, he'd have jumped up by now.

The Rain Woman wasn't picking up on his mood. "Well, based on the flailing and panicking you did," she shrugged, leaving him feeling smaller with each word uttered, "Juvia would cautiously guess Captive-san does not have much talent in the ways of w–"

"I'm gonna stop you right there." His ego demanded it. "I have had– plenty of experience, thank you very much.

"Alrigh–"

"And not just with swimming. All kinds of things! Things you couldn't conjure up in your dizziest daydream! Things with parental guidance suggested!"

Her head tilted to the side, almost like she lost function of her neck, "Juvia is not following…?"

"Yeah, of course not! Because you lack experience. And honestly, it's really sad you have to project your insecurities on others– Juvia, was it? –on others, Juvia. Maybe that's something you can reflect on when you're given your very own bunk bed in Era."

She rolled her eyes and the ice mage was genuinely shocked – it was the most sass she'd displayed since he'd got here. She was astonishingly sincere in her actions, now that he thought about it.

"Are you ready to eat yet, or not–?"

"Not."

She gave him a patiently disagreeable expression, like a school teacher who'd caught the local paste-eating child once again scarfing down some of that forbidden white goo, "You agreed to eat in exchange for answers. Juvia has allowed you seven questions, she expects at least seven bites."

If he didn't know she was made entirely of water he'd have given her seven hearty bites on the leg. "A wise woman once told me that unless it's in writing, it doesn't exist."

Although calling Cana wise was a bit of a stretch, even clocks running entirely on booze were right at least twice a day.

The Rain Woman sighed.

Not like she'd been thoroughly outsmarted, more like she was beginning to realize that her lifelong ambition of teaching a herd of ostriches to read was going just as poorly as everyone had always warned her it would, and the truth was only just then starting to make itself known to her.

The sound set his teeth on edge.

She sat up neatly, giving herself a hearty, impassioned shake, before plastering on a brand new expression of patience, and replied, "Alright, then."

And she was nose-deep in her book once more.

xJx

"…because I don't actually hate it. Really my entire ire against it – it's almost superficial. Y'know, it's more about the conversation, that unique sense of comradery with strangers when you loudly announce in a crowded plaza on market day how much you can't stand golf, and suddenly 80 hands go up to declare that yes, they can't stand it either. I really don't know of any other topic that can garner such a universal reaction, and until I do, golf will just have to take it's punches, I'm sorry."

He was talking to himself.

He'd been talking to himself a lot in the last 24 hours. His topics varied wildly, bouncing around as his mind thought up whatever bothered or interested him, in the moment.

Juvia wasn't entirely sure why he hadn't picked up his tirade against her from yesterday and early that morning, except mindlessly threatening another person who blatantly couldn't care less about a word you had to say seemed to have stolen quite a lot of the wind out of his sails.

So instead he settled on golf.

She hadn't tortured him – at least not on purpose – why was he allowed to treat her so poorly?

"Captive-san," she began, subtly checking her ears for any residual blood, "perhaps you were unaware, but those sausages aren't spicy. They're more of a smoky sweetness which Juvia finds to be universally compliant with most taste buds."

"I was aware of that," He replied readily, as if he'd been counting down the seconds to the moment he knew she would break her silence, "Here's something I'm actually curious about: if you're so ashamed to call him your boyfriend in public, why're you going out with him?"

Dark blue eyes bored into him, before looking down pointedly at the tray of food still sitting in front of him.

She'd already fallen for this little trick before, did he honestly believe that she would do so again, just because he started asking inane, ludicrous questions, rather than interrogate her about incidents she felt rolling guilt over?

No more answers without food, that was her final stance.

His jaw twitched in response to her look, giving her a clear signal that he had no intention of meeting her demands.

She pulled her book up further.

Silence reigned for a steady period of time, before he inhaled deeply and began, "Some people say zoos aren't ethical…"

She inhaled deeply, certain he was going to link his unfair and morally-dubious capture in with the many outspoken conservation efforts to keep creatures in their natural habitat, pointing out that if wild, violent beasts deserved freedom according to most, than clearly the water maiden was insinuating that he was the lesser of both animal or man, some wiley third option, a demon or a delinquent that ought to be tased and beaten into compliance right down here, just outside of society's scope of decency.

Instead, he started talking about penguins.

How he appreciated the close proximity to his apartment (just within walking distance!) and the babies were fluffy and confused, who was really being hurt here? Plus he had a stamp card, visit two more times and he'd get to feed the baby penguins, and right there all the hours those protesters had put in to change the minds of the masses had been lost, because there was no way he was missing out on feeding Hanleng-De and her brothers some sardines.

She exhaled.

Captive-san's motivations were clear. He did this because he thought his constant ramblings annoyed her, breaking her concentration when she was so clearly focusing on an activity that required silence.

In truth, Juvia actually felt the opposite. While golf had been a deliriously dull subject to want to broach, it was also the only topic he'd ranted about where Juvia actually got any reading done.

Once he'd stopped his verbal tirade against her and started pulling different points of interest from thin air, the water maiden found herself drawn into his musings and views as if she were a part of an enthralled audience, waiting and listening for fresh nuggets of knowledge to be dropped in her presence.

She found she very much liked his voice. Some words were accented differently from what she was accustomed to hearing, no doubt a result of his upbringing in the north.

She often wondered if Fiorian was his second language, it was common enough for it to have been his first, spoken all around Earthland as it was, so perhaps the informal roughness layered and swirled between lilting, well-rounded speeches were also a result of his upbringing.

Aside from his speech patterns, Juvia just enjoyed the tones he made, his words pulling and dragging as he grew tired or even bored of whatever he was speaking about, before diverting his own attention somewhere else and recapturing his own passion.

Her book worked especially well to hide her smiles. He was funnier than Juvia would have expected, his humor more dry, often giving a sarcastic commentary of the ridiculous things that went on around him, deemed as normal, that he believed should absolutely not be.

He had issues with things Juvia hadn't thought to be against, like Fiore's constitutional monarchy. A branch of government that apparently did nothing in terms of lawmaking or protecting the nation. He declared it an outrage! Were his taxes just paying to keep a strange old man draped in velvet capes and pretty jewels? Then he'd like a note attached to his little stack of cash, insisting the pampered preponderant shove his head in a pumpkin and dance around the city square for his own amusement.

She had no idea where he came up with this stuff, for one thing preponderant was an adjective not a noun.

But she was amused nonetheless.

His skepticism for those who held power didn't stop at Mercurius Castle, he had questions for the Magic Council, too.

For instance, why would the Magic Council allow two wizards under 25 to join their ranks when every other member needed to keep a spare set of dentures hidden under their desks at all times? Sure, one of them was a Wizard Saint, but that didn't explain the woman. Did they come as a pair? What kind of leverage did Siegrain have to insist on her appointment? Where was the list of her qualifications? Why weren't wizards allowed to vote on which bitches (his word) made up and enforced the laws they all had to abide by?

Then he corrected himself, noting that he understood why Fairy Tail wasn't given any voting power, but that shouldn't extend to everyone, honestly you (Juvia) ought to be outraged!

Honestly, Juvia couldn't remember the last time she felt true, impassioned outrage, though many people might comment her life in-and-of-itself might qualify for the emotion.

Yet here he was before her, ready to dole out a bit to every little thing that annoyed or inconvenienced him, from the public's insistence that everyone must be clothed shoulder-to-toe or else expect a refusal of service – she couldn't make heads-or-tails of why that would upset anyone, it seemed a reasonable enough decree – to his local ice cream parlor dishing out half-scoops for the same price the full scoop used to cost not even a year ago.

Another outrage!

Juvia was careful in hiding her mirth, she traced her eyes along the lines of her book, unseeing, turning the page every so often, when the moment felt right.

He didn't seem to be aware of her preoccupation, but her suspicions leaned towards the idea that hunger was dulling his senses, rather than her outsmarting him.

Why was he so determined not to eat?

"…not my favorite," He went on, tapping his nails along the stone walls, "They're not scary per say, but I do not trust animals with teeth larger than mine, just as a general rule. Have you heard about the June-Crow scandal?"

Juvia turned the page.

"Yeah, well, it didn't make the headlines the way it should have. I blame their press agent. The man is 98 years old and determined to make skywriting the dominant advertising medium. I asked him, well, what about cloudy days? And he threatened to shove a plane so far up my ass it could use my tongue as a window wiper. Now, why he doesn't apply that level of creativity to newspaper articles, I'll never understand."

Juvia bit her tongue to control her expression, turning another page.

"Anyway, the June-Crow scandal goes as follows. Once upon a time, there was an otter, found abandoned and underfed floating belly up in the ocean. As we all know, many otter species can adapt between salt– and freshwater, however, this species in particular was strictly made up of freshwater otters, and so, she had no business being out there, and to this day no one can say for sure how she ended up there in the first place.

"Eventually a little family came across her, saw her struggles and alerted the proper authorities. The authorities decided that she was basically on her last legs and returning her to her natural habitat would get her killed sooner rather than later."

Juvia blinked, realizing she hadn't moved as she should have, and turned another page.

"After a month of watch and rehab, she was deemed fit enough to be taken to her forever-home: Magnolia Zoo and Safari. There, she was healed to full health, taught to swim, fed regularly, and eventually her story became so prominent her likeness became the zoo mascot. Children traveled far and wide to see her. I traveled down the street, which is a lot of effort on my part, let me tell you.

"Everything was great, until– Well, an incident occurred."

The bluenette wondered idly if that incident involved his guil–

"Some people like to blame Fairy Tail…"

Well, that cleared that up.

" I, however, am not one for the finger pointing game." Captive-san shrugged, fluffing the lumpy pillow under his neck.

While completely ignoring the plush one she'd given him just yesterday, why–?

For that matter why didn't he just use the cot, he was so clearly uncomfortable. Was maximizing one's discomfort a point of pride where he came from? How far did that philosophy go? Did they stick needles in their birthday cakes, and boast about swallowing enough to be detected by machines?

His madness seemed to know no end!

"So, after this accident – where no investigations led to formal charges, thought I'd add that – occurred there was a bit of chaos. Flying rainbow fish with the lemon leopards, bats bunking with dolphins, the rodent pit was empty yet the bellies of every resident in the ghost owl exhibit were full, that sort of thing. And of course, our poor little June was not spared.

"This little otter, the only one that stayed put during the chaos, was found three days later, in a corner of her exhibit, wrapped in the belly of a beast."

She was eaten?!

Captive-san nodded as though he could see her thoughts, though his eyes were shut, " The Black Mamba. A snake so deadly it could wrestle a Vulcan into submission if it looked at him wrong, could kill a person with just two drops of venom. This thing was long and powerful; they found him looped up tight in an enclave June slept in every night, five rings high, with nothing but her head sticking out between his coils."

…That didn't sound like she was eaten, why would he make her panic like that?

She turned the next page.

"Of course, once the zookeepers discovered them, they worked to get him out of there before something terrible happened. He couldn't just stay, it wasn't safe for her, it wasn't safe for the other otters. Unfortunately, luring him out wasn't as simple as the experts were expecting. No one could figure out why, but Crow – that's his name by the way – had taken a liking to the innocent June, going so far as to make himself at home in her nest.

"This wasn't a simple case of unlikely friendship, mind you, this snake was known to hurt his companions, that's why he had a solitary tank in the most isolated part of the zoo. Yet they kept him; he brought in plenty of jewel from the unregistered psychopaths that enjoyed watching spontaneous animal fights. Anyway, everybody agreed it was unnatural, no one thought it was a good idea, but they couldn't seem to move him. Eventually, wizards were called in to knock the little bitch out, and they took him home. Everything was back to normal, balance had been restored. The end, right?"

Right.

" Wrong."

Juvia held back a gasp.

"When Crow came to he flew into a fit, smashing his face into the glass, thrashing around. They couldn't figure out the cause of his little tantrum until someone passed by with one of those giant June plushies. He zeroed in on it, calm for the first time in ages, so they gave it to him.

"But it wasn't enough. He ripped the thing to shreds and went right back to his frenzy. They knew what he wanted, but they refused to give in. The brutal beast wouldn't take no for an answer though, biting and hissing and spitting venom at them during every interaction.

"Then one night, he'd managed to sneak out, immediately breaking into her sanctuary, fangs bared at her adopted family of otters, before pulling her off to the side and wrapping her just loose enough to keep her breathing, but never enough to escape his hold. When they found him, they went through the same process all over again, getting a wizard and all, but they knew they couldn't keep this going. Blue Pegasus has fees like you wouldn't believe.

"So they came to a compromise. They couldn't get rid of him, no other zoo wanted to deal and he was deemed too brutal for the wild. June couldn't go back, she had a pack and a home she loved. So they came up with supervised playdates. Whenever he went crazy, they'd go and get her, bringing June to his enclosure, for the safety of the other otters, and she would spend her time there until they could distract him long enough to pull her away, or else when he got bored of being around her."

That sounded like a terrible compromise.

"Of course the public – the ones who knew to look up at the sky for updates on the zoo, anyway – were outraged at the poor treatment of June, certain that the little otter would become food one day, when Crow got tired of playing nice, but to their disappointment there was nothing the zookeepers could do to stop the snake, short of putting him down.

"And to this day, June is forced to pick up and leave everything behind at the drop of a hat, the moment Crow deigns to call for her company, even if he only wants it for a five minute meeting…"

Juvia froze.

Captive-san shook his head tragically, eyes open once again, gaze now directed towards her, brows pulled up in deepest regret. "A toxic relationship if I've ever seen one. Now, let me ask you, does that remind you of anything in particular?"

She refused to believe… That whole story… He couldn't possibly be making yet another utterly ridiculous allusion to her and Ga–!?

Juvia turned yet another page, this time firmly and soundly, in an effort to cover her rather audible and disgruntled huff, teeth clenched like a vice.

"Maybe the moral of that story was a bit too ambiguous," Captive-san sighed, genuinely concerned, "Here, let me tell you another. Once upon a time, there was a dolphin named July–"

"Eat. Your. Food."

His eyes looked slightly wild when he replied twice as deliberately, " Make. Me."

The water maiden crossed her legs, expression resolute. "You would not appreciate Juvia using force, Captive-san, as we've already established you are a terrible swimmer, and your muscle mass at this time has shrunk too much for you to learn on the fl–"

"Is that the only way you know how to do anything around here?!" He asked, outraged once again.

"You said make me," the bluenette repeated, dumbfounded, "how else is Juvia supposed to interpret that?"

"I meant we could strike a deal!"

"We already did that and you reneged on your part; you still owe Juvia seven bites!"

He turned his head away, then, arms folded, while he muttered something about, "... pulled that number out of thin air…"

The water maiden slammed her book shut, beginning to feel the onslaught of that outrage he was so fond of. She most certainly did not 'pull that number out of thin air', Juvia had counted quite deliberately, excited at the prospect of him gaining even one calorie tonight.

" You will eat."

"Nah," he yawned, stretching lazily and only further gaining her ire when he ignored the cot beside him, to pat affectionately at a corner of stone floor next to him, before curling up, "I already consulted my appetite and it didn't like your tone. Let's try again tomorrow."

"If Captive-san refuses to feed himself, Juvia will do it for him!"

"You see, it's shit like that that really turns him off, I'm telling you."

"Give me the spoon ."

Juvia froze for just one moment, before whipping her head toward the end of the hall, dread blooming in her stomach.

"Gajeel-kun."

The iron dragon slayer was back, in person, no substitutions or messengers. "I'll make him eat."

She was already halfway out of her seat at the sight of him, eyes darting quickly to the ice mage, then back again, unable to believe the dragon slayer would circumvent her wishes so openly.

One studded brow was raised in mild interest at her alarm, but his focus was clearly directed towards Captive-san, "If ya got questions, Princess, I'll answer anything you go–"

" Princess?" The ice mage repeated in warning, pulling himself back up into a sitting position, face pressed up against the bars of his cell, probably trying to get a more direct look at Gajeel, though he was still a bit too far down the corridor to be within his sight, if Juvia had to guess.

"Yer a damsel, yer clearly in distress," the slayer explained simply, lazily striding the rest of the way, "Yer waitin' to be rescued and ya gettin' fancy food delivered. I mean, if the thing's quacking and waddling it's probably–"

"Gajeel-kun," the bluenette began in warning. He knew quite plainly how she felt on this matter, if he honestly believed luring him out into a ill-advised fight and pouncing then, as if in self-defense would be any kind of workaround for the water maiden, he was playing a dangerous game with her.

The dragon slayer looked back at her with a transparent display of faux-innocence, "I could hear your little spat from all the way upstairs," he tapped an ear subtly, "I'm just here to be of assistance."

If his expression hadn't given him away, Gajeel Redfox managing to get through a full sentence without a single contraction, tone lighthearted and overtly-polite, would have been the flashing neon sign she needed to detect something was up.

Her face was set.

Unfortunately, Captive-san was not residing in the same galaxy, thought-wise. "Yeah, you're just what I need actually, come right on in. And don't worry about the food, I'm actually more interested in a little chat."

"And whaddya wanna talk about, Pretty Boy?"

"First, you've got a weird obsession with my looks, cut it out," Captive-san stated dryly, "If you're trying to get a rise out of me, the effeminate angle you're working to the bone, isn't gonna work, I'm actually very proud of my bone structure."

Oh, thank goodness.

"On the other hand, maybe I was being too subtle. I don't wanna talk. I'm inviting you to open the goddamn door, and see for yourself just what three days stewing down here has done for my mood. You seem to have so much fucking concern for me, once again, open the door."

Juvia sighed.

Gajeel huffed out a laugh, "That's where you're wrong, if it were up to me you'd be face down in a hole of your own making, a family of maggots feasting on yer face." Juvia smacked his arm, but he paid her no mind in turn, too busy leering down at the ice mage, "Wouldn't be no fight, Fairy."

"However much you think you know me, I can hold my own against the likes of you."

He scoffed, "That's funny. All I see is a heap of skin and bones, flapping it's gums."

"Wanna bet?"

She could not believe this! Juvia watched, flabbergasted, while the man in the cell reeled to his feet unsteadily, the toll of three full days without food or beverage clearly taking a hold on him now, yet he was geared towards a fight, salivating for it.

She'd never in her life met anyone with such poor survival instincts, he ought to be studied!

There was triumph layered between the usual gruff tones of Gajeel's voice when he bit out, "Look at that! Finally grew some teeth, I guess. Last time I saw ya, ya looked like a skeevy little rodent in a cage, and the time before that– That was when the whole gang had arrived right, to try and rescue blondie or you'd pissed your pants over yer guildhall coming down like a stack of cards or whatever. Remind me, how long did our fight last, then?"

Captive-san's jaw worked, but Juvia was more concerned about the look in his eyes. He really planned on fighting Gajeel, didn't he?

"I think I might have spared a good ten seconds on ya when I knocked you clean into that big-mouthed oaf. Looking at the state of ya now, even five seconds would be drawing it out, whatcha think?"

"I think you're talking a lot. Which was not what I would have expected from someone as vile as you. Words are pretentious, given what a rotten bastard you are, I had higher hopes than this."

"Oh, I'm a bastard, am I?" Gajeel purred dangerously, gaze sharpening, "Practically scum…"

"You're worse than scum. You attack from behind, you don't spare women, or comrades, or innocent bystanders. I guess you think the world is just an open vault where you take what you want, whenever."

She knew Captive-san thought he was calling Gajeel out, but the truth was, he wore a lot of those facts like a badge of pride.

Also, she distinctly remembered him telling her that he wouldn't go easy on her ' just because you're a chick', did he have no memory of that?

"I mean look at the way you treat the people closest to you!" He went on, swaying slightly on the spot, "You didn't even spare a moment for your Precious Puddle. Y'know, she's wearing a new dress today, would it kill you to give her a compliment? Show her some appreciation for all the effort she puts in, day in and day out?"

Gajeel paused, expression slack.

Her poor Captive-san, he really needed to eat…

The dragon slayer turned to Juvia then, asking in an undertone, "The fuck's he talkin' about?"

Juvia's tone was equally muted when she replied, "He appears to be under the illusion that we are entangled in a romantic tryst…"

The iron-eater nodded, not like he thought that was reasonable, more like some dots were beginning to connect themselves in front of him, and he did not like what he saw. "You always did like 'em stone-cold stupid, Ame." He remarked, disappointment clear.

He stepped back up to the cell, some of the wind clearly knocked out of his tirade as he actively tried to shake off his shock, "Apparently, talking to you ain't worth it. And by the look of ya, fighting you even less so, it'd be like getting in a cage fight with a wet paper bag."

"That's fine."

Juvia wanted to breathe a sigh of relief, but knew better than to do so at this point. Not until there were three floors between them, would she relax.

"As a matter of fact I hope you get comfortable." The ice mage nodded, expression mocking, "Take a load off. You've dropped your guard, probably thinking you're safe, maybe even slapped up some runes to protect yourself and this shitty guildhall, not realizing that Oaktown is less than thirty minutes from Fairy Tail. The moment they figure out a way around your little protections, they'll be here full force, and you'd better hope you've only got Elfman to deal with then, because if Erza gets a hold of you, she won't let up for even one second. Your face will be firmly under her boot, on her way to taking out that ghoul you call master."

Silence followed these words.

Gajeel turned to Juvia then, while she worked to avoid eye contact with the pair of them.

The dragon slayer's gawf was boisterous, disbelief clear, "You ain't inform your boy toy on what's been goin' on, have you?"

Juvia shook her head sadly. He refused to cooperate, that was her only reason. She would have explained everything plainly, but Juvia had hoped keeping him in the dark would give her enough leverage for him to eat something and use the medicine she'd provided.

No such luck.

She could tell Gajeel relished telling him the ugly truth, his grin only would have appeared natural on a hyena. "We ain't in Oaktown."

The ice mage blinked, confusion clear, "We can't still be in Magnolia…"

"Try again."

Irritation flashed across his face, but it did a poor job in hiding his panic, "What, you want me to pick blindly from a tophat or something, there's about a million towns in Fiore, we could be in any one of them!"

Gajeel nodded, slowly, deliberately.

It took a moment for the dragon slayer's hints to click, and Juvia saw the exact moment it did, real dread appearing in his eyes.

Captive-san placed a hand against the wall; it looked like he was using it to try and hold himself up, but Juvia suspected he was really testing it, trying to feel for any vibrations in the wall, something that could signal whether Gajeel was lying or not.

Though the guild was more steady at its current pace then when it labored and shuffled at much slower speeds, every so often one could feel a rolling hmmmm-bmp!. It was subtle, something easily passed off as the pipes gurgling, the boiler humming to life, or maybe a building's natural settling noise, but once you paid attention, could actually identify what you were hearing and feeling, the guild hall's movements were unmistakable.

She watched as his skin blanched.

" Oh, where's the big man now?" Gajeel whispered, antagonizing yet edging on genuine wonder, as though Captive-san had honestly disappeared from his sight, "How fast things change, you find out we've been on the move since before ya bothered to wake from yer little beauty sleep, throwing a little wrench in all those plans you were relying on, and suddenly you've got all the backbone of a jellyfish. Don't tell me he's more mouse than man now without his big-mouthed calvary behind him?" His head tilted, tongue caressing a sharp tooth, "Y'know, you and me can still play if ya want."

As easily as Juvia could fold a piece of paper, the dragon slayer placed his hand on one the bars separating the two and bent it back, giving him uninterrupted access to the cell and the man within.

Immediately Captive-san stumbled back, clearly startled, until he landed on the cot, eyes wide, while Juvia tossed her book aside, heart pounding, body already prepared to attack while her mind worked frantically to catch up.

But their panic was apparently unwarranted.

Gajeel bent forward, ignoring the man in the cell completely as he grabbed up the dinner tray she'd prepared. Shuffling off the brown bottle of ointment with a disinterested grunt, he pulled back, tray in hand, before bending the bar back in place neatly.

Juvia and her charge were frozen, practically paralyzed, while Gajeel used his smallest finger to uncork the bottle of honeyed mead, sniffing audibly once he got it open.

As if he could feel her gaze, he turned, bright red eyes clearly amused at the moment of hysteria he'd caused, before shrugging casually, "I changed my mind. You know damn well yer food's too good to pass up, Ame-Onna."

Juvia's breathing picked up, her arms still raised at the ready. Then she tried to voice her outrage, but failed spectacularly.

What was she supposed to say? How dare you, a scary monster, pretend for even a moment that you are a scary monster?

Her expression must have said more than her tongue was capable.

Sharp teeth flashed at her before they tore into a bit of charred sausage, ripping it apart heartily, "What? It ain't like yer boy toy plans on having any, why let it go to waste down here? I sure as hell ain't gonna pass this over for Sue's Tuna Surprise."

The surprise was that Sue could manage to wrongly identify anything that came out of a can as tuna in the first place.

Juvia had once made the mistake of trying some, in an attempt to make a friend, and spent nearly a month in the infirmary after choking down three bowls of fermented-pork-brain-cranberry-sauce-refried-bean ' tuna surprise'.

As if remembering her misfortune just as clearly, Gajeel's smile widened.

Then his gaze flickered back to the man in the cell, "Y'know, this place is crawling with hungry, restless, vile bastards just itching for a bit of fairy blood under their nails, you'd be better off being a little nicer to the only one here that still gives a shit about keep her humanity intact."

And with that he waltzed away from them, down the hall and out of the dungeon.

xGx

Gray resettled for the night, eyes fixed on the soft glow of the dying candle as it swished and swayed along the walls, while he waited for the heaviness of his lids to win out.

Today had been… something.

He had good news and bad news.

The bad news was the rescue party he'd been counting on as his first choice of escape from this place, probably wasn't going to happen.

At least not as soon as he would have liked.

Everything seemed to fall into place when that bastard Black Steel revealed Phantom Lord had been on the move since before he'd awakened.

Of course Fairy Tail was delayed, they weren't just hopping down the street and through a forest to the next town over, they had to track this place down, probably relying heavily on eyewitness accounts, with so many of their heavy hitters still down for the count.

The bad news was a disaster he'd prefer not to think about.

As for the good news, well, as small as his goal to gather more information had been, he'd actually managed to exceed expectations.

He now knew the Rain Woman controlled water, was made from it, in fact. This was rather devastating to discover, and he still mentally shied away from it, hoping that perhaps she was simply very skilled in optical illusions.

The alternative was too difficult for him to come to terms with; in his current state, he had less than no chance against her, he couldn't even cool his own skin, let alone Ice Make: Excalibur.

Then there was the guildhall itself, working to keep him trapped. Not only would he have to go through her, and the runes, and the members upstairs – possibly extending to their guild master, Gray would need to find a way off their giant moving building, currently racing across the country at breakneck speeds.

With good news like that, why even bother with the bad?