"Ow," Natsu hissed, clutching his shin. Everything hurt, really, but his shin was sliced open and bleeding badly.

He'd stormed straight through to where he could smell Lucy- where his brother was pretending to beat her into oblivion. Natsu knew it was fake (though there were some real hits), and that she was okay, but even the sight of it just-

Set him off.

Roaring, Natsu burst into flames, his punch throwing Gajeel backwards. The older teen landed in a crouch, grinning at Natsu.

"Hello, baby brother," He growled, so only they could hear, as they spared- going all out.

"Jerk! The last thing we heard was Erik in trouble! Are you okay? How did you get here? Is Wendy okay? Gods, is Erik even alive? You don't smell okay, you reek of anxiety-" Natsu snarled and snapped at him, throwing blow after blow.

"I'm fine, pyro. We all are. Erik had a run in with some slave traders- again- but we handled it. And I'm anxious because the sooner you guys can kick Jose's ass the sooner I can leave this place. Juvia's up on the roof fighting- Gray?" Gajeel growled back at him, iron blade slashing.

"Ice Mage. Juvia- Levy's little sister?" Natsu bared his fangs. He punched Gajeel when the teen didn't respond. "What's wrong?"

"I did that. To her, to your friends, your guild hall. That was me," Gajeel pulled his punches, just taking hits for about a minute.

"You didn't want to. It doesn't count," Natsu ground out, bashing Gajeel's head into the ground. "Don't be stupid. We all know you and Juvia did as much as you could from the inside. And Levy and the others are fine,"

"Yeah…" Gajeel snapped his teeth at Natsu, punching the salmon haired teen in the stomach and sending him flying. "More importantly- Blondie here your mate?"

"FIRE DRAGON: ROAR!" Natsu sent Gajeel through the outer wall, and the metal mage cackled as he fell through the sky.

Back to the present, Gajeel flipped himself up and stalked toward his younger brother. Kneeling, he moved Natsu's hands so as to get a good look at the wound.

"How's Laxus?" Gajeel grunted in their native language- Draconic. "And the hatchlings?"

"Laxus is out on a mission right now- Probably why this battle took longer than necessary. And Mira sent Sting and Rogue to get a healer- We didn't want them to smell you," Natsu said. "Mira's Laxus's mate, well, technically wife since they got married a few months back. They've been together since practically the day we arrived at Fairy Tail- But they've been mated for like, six years years,"

"Fairy Tail's good to you all?" Gajeel grumbled, wrapping the wound gently. Natsu positively beamed, nodding his head.

"Yeah! Everybody's nice, and it's super fun! Erza's scary but that's just Erza," He shrugged. Gajeel nodded, about to respond when a body crashed to the ground a few feet away from them.

"Fuck, that hurt!" Juvia sat up, rubbing the back of her head. She faux-glared up at the roof. "You're such an asshole!"

"Am not!" Was the echoed response from above. Laughing, Juvia crawled over to her best friend and his brother.

"I've been falling for a full minute" She told them, easily slipping into Draconic. "Is this your brother, Gajeel? The one who's the 'hellspawn of a lighter and a can of hairspray'?"

"Gajeel!"

"Juvia!"

The girl giggled at the two boys before shaking her head. "Come on, Gajeel-kun. We need to get the hatchling back to the nest," Juvia teased, getting to her feet. Gajeel simply picked up the fire mage and got him onto his back, making Natsu protest before sagging forward tiredly.

"...Missed you, `Jeel-nii," Natsu mumbled sleepily before shutting his eyes and falling asleep.

"Mmm. Missed you too, kid," Gajeel grumbled as he and Juvia walked out of their old guild hall.

"Marks gone," Juvia told him, referring to the Phantom Lord insignia that vanished from their bodies. Gajeel grinned at his best friend, who smiled back. The two knocked their fists together.

They were free.

"Natsu! What did you do to him?" A brunette teen in a blue bikini top yelled at them as they found the Fairy Tail guild members. She raised her right arm back, prepared to fight, when a blur of movement stopped her.

"Back off!" Sting growled dangerously, he and Rogue standing in front of the other dragon slayers. Juvia made a bubble of water around them as a white haired woman came to a stop in front of them.

"Cana, enough. No more fighting. Everyone! These are Juvia and Gajeel- our friends from the inside!" Mirajane announced.

"The girl's fine! But that guy wrecked out\r guild hall, and hurt dozens of our members!" Someone yelled from the back.

Gajeel had gestured to who he knew as Gray, passing Natsu onto the Ice Mage's back. He looked at Juvia and she dropped her sphere, Monmo shooting into her arms immediately. Juvia smiled brightly, snuggling the cat to her.

"Drop it. They don't want me here- and they shouldn't. It's okay," Gajeel growled at the two youngest. "Just take care of the pyro until he's back on his feet- Kid's gotten good," He smirked.

"You sparred? Awesome!" Sting grinned. Rogue frowned, hugging Frosch to his chest tightly.

"No. It's already been long enough- don't leave," He whined. The black haired boy glanced at Juvia when she put a hand on his head.

"Don't worry. I'm his best friend- There's not anywhere on Earthland metalhead can go where I won't find him. He's tried before, it didn't work," Juvia showed her fangs.

"Yeah, yeah," Gajeel grumbled, before turning and walking away from the guild. The dragon slayers noticed how he tensed up the farther he got away- most likely due to being able to sense Sting and Rogue's sadness.

"I should go as well," Juvia stated, "It's still too fresh for me to join your guild. But don't worry- I'll be nearby. If you ever need to get in touch with that emotionally inept spork, I'm a roar away," The three dragon slayers still there laughed when a roar came from somewhere in the town.

Juvia turned to the white haired woman. "Tell my sister to follow her nose. Monmo and I won't be far," She nodded politely, taking off before anyone could stop her, Monmo at her heels.