Gajeel Redfox followed his nose through the castle's corridors. He sought the scent of rain, and was surprised when it grew stronger than he'd expected. "...She didn't." He sighed.

Sure enough, however, as he turned to head down the final staircase, he began hearing the pitter patter of drops on stone; and as he turned into the final corridor at the bottom of those stairs, he could see the rain falling.

Indoors.

In all the years- or, well, over-a-year- that he'd known her, he'd only ever seen her bring the rain in with her a handful of times, if that. And in every one of those it meant one of two things: either she was making exceptional effort to keep the skies clear for everyone else for a specific purpose (and Gajeel could see no reason why raining over Headquarters would be an issue), or she was very, very down in the dumps.

"Drip, drop," the rain woman was sighing to herself, voice lilting almost like broken fragments of a song. "Drop... Drip, drop."

Gajeel rolled his eyes heavily and silenced a groan, though he still went through the motion. He slowly moved to rub his temples afterward, dragging his hand down his face, but then he discarded the irritation and strided into the room to find her sitting on a wall with eyes closed, seemingly only semi-conscious.

"Sup babe," he growled with a smirk.

She didn't even look at him, though she did at least partially open her eyes. "Please, don't."

His grin faltered for only a moment. "Hey now, don't be like that."

Nothing.

"Look, I've been thinkin'.."

Why did Juvia suspect she didn't want to hear this.

"You guys did a pretty good job what with capturin' that girl. So I reckon I ain't too mad about it no more."

... He. Wasn't mad at her. Oh what absolute joy.

Gajeel awaited a response, but still he got none. His smile took more effort to keep up, but he did so, and took a seat next to her. "Hey, whatsa matter, Blue?"

Still not a hint of movement, though the rain did pick up a bit. At last she answered simply, "Drip, drip, drop."

The dragon did frown now. "Aw c'mon. Yer not still upset about that, are ya, doll?"

At that last word, her eyes finally snapped to him, turning cold. "Juvia is not a doll," came the icy words. "And she will not be toyed with any longer."

...Toyed with? Gajeel wasn't sure whether to be appalled or angry, and as such remained somewhere in limbo. "What're..."

"Juvia understands," she said, calmer. "Gajeel need not pretend to care for Juvia any longer."

He still didn't know what this feeling was, but whatever it was, it intensified. "What? Hey, no, B- Juvia." It felt weird to call someone by name. Weirder still was the slight waver in his voice. What could that be coming from? "It's not like that, okay?"

She sighed. How desperate must he be to continue this charade? ...Or how gullible must he think her? Juvia shook her head. "Gajeel made it very clear what it was like."

He scowled. "You don't seriously-" He faltered, realizing that yes, she would. There would be no explaining to her that angry words were insincere when the sentiment behind them was one she'd heard all her life. A brief series of fumbled words half-started and stopped, along with an "I just-" and "You-" sprinkled somewhere throughout them. "What about-.."

Although she knew she shouldn't, Juvia found herself taking pity on him. "Juvia.. is still a Phantom Lord wizard," she said. "She will still gladly work together, if Gajeel ever wants to do so." He still wasn't sure what to say. "Just..." She paused and sighed, then forced a weak smile at her comrade. "Please be honest with Juvia from now on and tell her if the rain is bothering you, all right?"

It wasn't. It hadn't ever- Or- He guessed it did bother him a little at first, but that was before he got to know her. It was different. The rain no longer dampened his mood; it brightened it. The sound, the smell. It was.. comforting. He wanted to say as much, but the words wouldn't seem to form.

"Juvia.." she began, more hesitantly, "would like to think.. it wasn't all a lie... What we... had?"

Gajeel found himself sneering. Wasn't one damn word of it a lie, he mentally snapped. Then he recalled that wasn't entirely true, which made him curse himself as well.

"She..." What was she doing? Opening herself up to him again, and so soon? "Would like it if..." She supposed no one else had ever put forth quite the effort he had. That had to count for something, didn't it? "We could be friends? Just... if Gajeel can tolerate Juvia that much.."

Tolerate? That was it. His final nerve snapped. "Tch!" He stood, fuming. "Wha'd'you know about friends anyway." Friends didn't think this way of friends. Friends didn't let a single mistake ruin everything, no questions asked.

"Ah- Ju-...?" Words caught in her throat. She knew he was right, and that she shouldn't have expected any different, but she supposed... she'd just hoped...

"You bring this on yerself, ya know."

Her gaze shifted to the floor. The rain hid her tears. "...Juvia knows," she sighed. "If she could just control her curse-"

"Curse ain't got nothin' to do with it," he barked over his shoulder. "It's you."

Distraught eyes flashed back to him, mouth agape. "Wha-what do you..?"

"Yer so damn caught up in yer little pity party that you won't let anyone care about ya. That ain't no way ta live." He had all of the room to talk. Literally all of it.

Juvia found herself leaping to her feet, a hand clutched to her heart. "That isn't true!"

He turned to face her, leering down and towering above. As intimately as she knew the dragon, Juvia still found herself cowering slightly. "It is and you know it." Red eyes judged her very soul. "You go on an' on about findin' some perfect fairy tale romance." The irony was lost to them. "But you wouldn't know love if it was standin' right in front of ya."

How could he say that? "How could..." How could he say that!? "You..." Even with the rain, there was no missing the tears pouring now.

The look he gave her in turn was something between pained and disgusted; this was not what he'd wanted. Admittedly, though, he probably could have done a better job thinking this through. "Geez, ya don' hafta cry about it. If ya want people ta stop thinkin' yer so gloomy, why not smile more?"

Her eyes narrowed; her pulse quickened; breathing became more difficult. If he had... any. idea. "Gajeel-" She choked, then shoved his chest, managing to push herself as much as him: "Gajeel is heartless!" Juvia crossed her arms and held herself tightly as she stormed off.

The iron dragon had stumbled back about a step, but more from the words than the force. He stood there now wavering between rage and panic. He wanted to call out and stop her. Hell, he wanted to physically force her to come back here. He also wanted to lash out- to watch her aquatic body explode and splash all over the walls, to tell her he didn't fucking need her anyway.

As it was, he never got a chance to decide, for Jose's voice suddenly filled headquarters. Juvia stopped to listen as well.

"EVERYONE, PREPARE FOR BATTLE STATIONS." His voice seemed... off. Strained, somehow. There was a pause, presumably from someone in another room responding, for Jose then answered back. "The brat escaped is what happened!"

"What, how!?" Gajeel barked.

"All you need to know is that the Fairy Dragon is making off with her as we speak."

Gajeel's mood instantly shifted. "I missed Salamander!?"

"Should we pursue?" asked Juvia.

"NO. We're DONE playing nice! It's time to teach those fairy pests that WE make this game, and they're playing by OUR RULES. We'll show them a WORLD OF PAIN LIKE THEY'VE NEVER KNOWN."

Juvia seemed uneasy, but she would not defy the master. Gajeel broke into a wicked grin. "That's more like it." He could use the distraction anyway.

Someone else seemed to say something. "Don't even bother. Just bring the land WITH us~!" The words were practically sung in maniacal delight, and a small cackle followed that sent a chill up Juvia's spine. "It's time we show the TRUE might of PHANTOM LORD!"

The building began to rumble.

-

A/N: This chapter was originally going to be longer, but I got busy and figured I should get something up. Next time: Gruvia is born.