Author's Note: Oof, I genuinely wanted to finish posting this before the end of the year, but I rarely have enough energy to do anything other than lie half-dead on the couch these days. Hopefully I'll get these updates up faster when life cools down a bit.

Thanks for all your comments! They're always appreciated.

Branded by HawkofNavarre

Chapter 13

Advance

Juvia never knew that her relationship would mean so much to somebody else. There she was, just sitting there being sad over her boyfriend's treatment of her when he was out there treating several others so much worse. That she could care for somebody who would treat others that way was unnerving to her. Had Bora always been like this and she'd been blinded by her "love" or was he just that good of an actor? She did not want to be blind, especially to something like this.

That was why she didn't regret her conversation with Gray. His answers had shown her not only that he wasn't a bad person, but also that she was allowed to expect more out of a relationship. However, there were others that cared much less about her personal revelation. Namely, Gajeel.

"He's Fairy Tail! How could you meet with him again?" the dragon slayer demanded from her sofa, the ends of his hair dripping onto the fabric. Juvia's eyes were directed lower to where his ankle and boot were lying against the fabric of her furniture. They were pretty muddy from the outside, but it was just like Gajeel to never have the courtesy to dry off or remove his dirty clothes before he trekked into her apartment. Water was easily cleaned up, but dirt was not.

"I just needed the truth," she said a little defensively. Juvia had known Gajeel wasn't going to be happy with her, but she couldn't get to the point without telling him the truth. "Besides, are you really going to judge Juvia after what you did to those Fairy Tail members?"

He sniffled loudly and crossed his arms. "They had it coming, snoopin' around our business like that."

Sometimes Juvia found it a tad ironic that Gajeel thought she was overdramatic when he did things like beat people up and then basically staple them to trees. She was rather disappointed that he would even go to such extremes just because they were members of their rival guild, but that was just the way he was: fiercely loyal and ready to destroy anything that threatened the things he cared about.

"This is why Juvia asked Gajeel-kun to come over. They weren't looking into the Heartfilia family without a reason. I know that now, and I know that because I went to meet with Gray-san," Juvia said as she lifted her hand from her spot on the other couch and drew all the water Gajeel had left on her sofa into her body. As suspected, there was a streak of brown across the fabric of her cushions where Gajeel's boot had brushed against it. She sighed. That was going to take a while to get out.

Gajeel snapped his fingers. "Hey, pay attention. You're not allowed to tune out when we're having this conversation. We have some stupid fairies on our case and you went to go see one? This better be good."

"Gajeel-kun is being mean..." she muttered, curling up into the corner of her seat. "Juvia has discovered that Fairy Tail is also looking for Heartfilia-san's daughter. For what reason, Juvia doesn't know, but the fact is, their guild was not interfering in our affairs; we just happened to share the same objective."

He snorted as he put his feet up on her coffee table. Yet another thing to clean...

"How can you be sure he told you the truth?" he asked. "He lied to you convincingly for a couple of weeks. I doubt he'd have any problem doing it again."

She could understand his skepticism, but it was getting a little bothersome that he didn't believe her intuition. This wasn't some issue in her love life that she was always getting wrong; it was professional! Juvia was not impulsive and irrational when it came to work, though she knew she could be those things when romance was involved. Gajeel should know she could separate the two.

"Gray-san had no reason to lie. I asked for the name of the person Fairy Tail has been looking for and he told me." Juvia paused, shooting her guild mate a meaningful look. It was time to tell him the truth she'd been hiding since their trip to Hargeon. "Lucy. He befriended me because Bora-sa—B-Bora...is the one who has her."

Gajeel stared at her, his expression dumbfounded. His boots slid off the table with a thud. "...What? Did you just say your boyfriend has her?"

She looked everywhere but at him and nodded.

"Your boyfriend has her?" he tried again.

"Yes," Juvia answered. "I realized in Hargeon—"

"In Hargeon?"

Juvia was cowering a little until the revelation that she had no reason to do so. The whole reason she'd reached this path was because she hadn't valued her feelings enough. Not today. She had valid reasons for not telling Gajeel and her guild. Although it was her guild, Juvia didn't want them to use her like Gray had; she wanted to confront Bora on her own terms and not because she had a mission to complete.

"Yes, in Hargeon," she said firmly, "and Juvia is now ready to use that information."

"You didn't tell me about this, and then you went to talk to a guy who's part of a guild that's gunning for us." He sat in silence for a moment, looking like he was debating whether or not he was going to be mad at her. "I don't understand how the wheels in your head turn."

Juvia pouted, thinking about how much courage it had taken her to even tell him about this. "Fairy Tail is our rival only because Master has said so. They're only after us now because someone overdid it," she replied, her tone sarcastic.

That appeared to subdue him some as he began to grumble to himself. Juvia did not approve of what he'd done to those members of Fairy Tail and she was not afraid to let him know so. Loyal to a fault, Gajeel would not let anything get in the way of him protecting his guild. It was not a good look sometimes. From what she'd heard, Gajeel had launched a sneak attack on them after discovering that they were poking around for information on the Heartfilias. They hadn't stood a chance. She could understand wanting to protect one's family, but overkill was overkill. There was no need to beat them senseless and hang them from a tree.

"The guild comes first, Juvia," Gajeel said with a sulky glare.

"You hurt real people, Gajeel-kun," she retorted, her disapproval of his actions unwavering, "people who haven't done anything wrong. Jose-sama might be happy about what you did, but you didn't help anything by attacking them. They were only trying to help Heartfilia-san's daughter."

He stiffened at her reasoning and Juvia saw the humanity in him coming to the surface. "They would've jeopardized our guild's biggest mission."

Juvia understood that he truly thought Fairy Tail's interest in the same person would hurt Phantom Lord, and that was why he was able to do some of the things he did. Unfortunately, that was all because of the precedent of what was good for their guild set by their Master. Gajeel's blind loyalty sometimes caused him to forget his morality.

"At least take responsibility for it," Juvia said. She refused to feel bad for taking the time to process her emotions and putting their mission on the backburner while she did so, especially when Gajeel was going off and doing horrible stuff like that. "The increase in Fairy Tail's involvement is your fault too."

Gajeel's mouth was clamped shut, but his posture had grown less rigid as he slouched into the couch.

Satisfied that Gajeel had realized he'd been a complete asshole, Juvia backtracked to what they'd been talking about in the first place. "I will call Bora and set up a meeting. This time, Juvia will not take no for an answer."

"I'll... I'll get the guild in order," he replied in an uncharacteristically weak voice. Gajeel stood up to go, but stopped in front of the door. "You knew this was gonna piss me off and you still wanted me to come here? Why not just go straight to Master and alter the story?"

Juvia peeked at the communication lacrima sitting on her table and dragged it closer. She could see Gajeel looking at her over his shoulder in the surface's reflection. His face never really looked anything less than stern, but his dark eyes had softened into those of a friend's. It was nice to know that he wasn't going to stay mad at her for long.

Her gaze lowered to the edge of the table where her fingers brushed against the bend of the wood. "Lies and deceit... I am tired of being on the receiving end of those things from others and myself. Gajeel-kun has always told me the truth, so it's only right that Juvia does the same in return."

"After the fact," Gajeel pointed out, but if there were any anger he was holding in, she couldn't hear it. Instead, he let out a long sigh as he turned back toward the door. "Do what you need to do. I'll talk to Master."

She felt a lot less confident after he'd gone. Being a part of Phantom Lord had always given her a place where she was accepted, but doing something like delaying her delivery of intel was not going to make Jose very happy. Gajeel's values also stemmed directly from where his loyalties lay, so speaking her mind around him on a subject that he actually cared about? Well, she was no stranger to judgement, but Juvia felt lonelier than ever.

When the rain had isolated her for so long, that had been something she was the most terrified of. It was kind of funny how long it'd taken her to realize that trying to change herself to get someone to accept her was never going to stick. All the broken relationships before Bora should have shown her that. To try and be enough so that someone would love her in spite of the rain was fruitless. The rain was a part of her, one that she was finally beginning to accept.

Swallowing, Juvia dialed the number of her boyfriend's contact lacrima. She fiddled with her fingers as the crystal gleamed in front of her. She could do this. Even if she still cared for him, he was committing an unjustifiable act. The girls aboard his ship were probably much stronger than her. If she could draw upon even just a fraction of their strength...

"Who is this?"

Juvia was startled by the voice, her heart nearly jumping out of her chest. In the crystal, she could see the face of an unruly man, a scar streaking across the bridge of his nose. He was obviously very bulky from the thickness of his neck and his expression was stern. In fact, he was a little scary-looking. Her first point of contact with Bora was already wearing down on her nerves.

"Um, this is Juvia, Bora-sama's girlfriend. Bora-sama asked Juvia to call about the man with the pink hair...?"

The response was immediate and the one she desired. The man on the other side nodded before disappearing from the screen, obviously having gone to get Bora. Juvia played with the ends of her hair. This was what she'd been waiting for since her trip to Hargeon with Gajeel. In her mind, a thousand scenarios had formed, all which played out differently. She didn't know what was going to happen, but she knew what she wantedto happen.

His face appeared in the crystal before she heard his voice, the dark blue hair and sharp jaw line she'd always admired reminding her of a few things she'd seen in him back then. However, Juvia's eyes were drawn to the tattoo over his right eyebrow. Things had been shifting before that, but that tattoo certainly had more impact on her view of her boyfriend than anything else.

"Juvia, you found him? The guy with the pink hair? Where is he?" Bora demanded without so much as a greeting.

She stared at the image before her. Handsome though he might be, his looks seemed to fade with every word that came out of his mouth. "Yes."

"Well, tell me where he is!"

What a foul man. Whatever hope Juvia had been clinging to disintegrated with only a few sentences. There had been decency in him when they'd first met, but maybe it had all been an act—one designed to make her fall for him, and it had worked like a charm. After so many failed relationships, how could she still be so naive? All she did was fall for one jerk after another.

Well, at least the other ones hadn't been kidnapping criminals.

"No." The word came out of her mouth much more easily than she ever thought it would. A mere month ago, the thought of refusing Bora's requests would send her into a spiral of guilt. Since then, she had defied him because she wanted to see him, a decision that had sent the truth unraveling before her. Juvia would be deterred no longer.

"No?" he echoed in disbelief.

"No," she said again.

Bora was practically growling at the crystal. "What do you mean 'no'?"

"Juvia means no," she replied, her posture straightening. "It has been months since Juvia last saw Bora-sama in person. If you want to know the location of the man with the pink hair, then you will come see me. You, not anyone else."

"Juvia, this is my business we're talking about!" Bora tried, his voice unconvincingly sweet with undertones of panic and annoyance.

"The business that has taken up every second of Bora-sama's free time and has left nothing for me. I deserve to have some time too."

She was uncompromising so her "boyfriend" moved onto his last strategy. "Of course you do," he said, "and I haven't been giving that to you. I'm so sorry. You'll have my time, I promise. But this...it's just really important to protect my business. So please, the location?"

"No." It was so easy to see through his lies now. Frankly, it was rather embarrassing that she had fallen for them at all. He left her breadcrumbs and she had always been foolish enough to follow them. How could it have ever possibly been love?

"Damn it, Juvia! I need to know where that man is!" he shouted, clearly at his wit's end.

"Then come see me and I will tell you," was her simple response.

Bora was glaring into the lacrima from very close proximity, looking disheveled and breathing hard. His teeth were gnashing together as he considered her proposal. Finally, he hissed and crossed his arms, backing away from the crystal until he was a reasonable distance away again. "...Fine. I can be at any major port in your area in five days."

"Good. Bora-sama will meet Juvia in Hargeon in five days time at four. I will disclose the location of the man with the pink hair there to Bora-sama and only Bora-sama," she said with finality, "so do not send anyone else."

"I get it, I'll be there," he replied irritably. However, Bora couldn't just leave it there. "I don't know what happened to you, but I don't like this new attitude of yours. You've changed. You're not the girl I love anymore."

His words hurt her, and that made Juvia angry. To care about any of the false words he'd applied to her was to admit that she still had feelings for him. And she did, but could they even be considered real? The man living in her heart was someone she had created through the few good moments she'd had with Bora. She'd fallen in love with him because he hadn't left her, but the reality was that he had left her—for months! Not just physically either. Emotionally, Juvia wasn't even sure he'd ever cared for her at all.

Her hand hovered over the button to end the call, her voice low enough that he wouldn't hear. "I never was."

The day had been quiet since Natsu arrived at the guild headquarters. He'd gotten awfully good at pacing over the last few days, wearing a hole out on the floor from trying to do things the right way. While he was able to hold himself back from being as reckless as was characteristic of him, it did nothing for his impatience.

Gray's relationship with Juvia hadn't resulted in any leads. In fact, the whole thing only gave him more to worry about. Phantom Lord had the same primary objective as them, but they didn't know enough or care enough about Lucy to do right by her. If they found her first, they would bring her back to the one other place she couldn't return to. The one good thing that had come of this was that Gray seemed to be working harder than ever to try and locate Lucy. They had virtually no direction to go on, and yet he picked up right where Levy left off in terms of looking into the Heartfilia family. Whatever had happened with Juvia had really spurred him on. Natsu had no idea what, but obviously it had affected him significantly. While the guy was dedicated on missions, even he never really applied himself like he was doing right now.

And still they turned up nothing. It was frustrating beyond belief. They knew that Lucy had left home by herself, but nobody at the nearest train stations seemed to recognize her. They didn't even know if she'd left home using a train. According to Gray, Juvia now seemed to be aware of Lucy's whereabouts, and with her being Bora's girlfriend, there was no doubt she would use that for the benefit of her guild's mission.

Natsu looked away from the job board, his eyes already unfocused on the flyers that were posted on it. All he wanted was a good distraction, but nothing seemed to be good enough. Sighing, he tried again. Something where his recklessness would actually be helpful would be the ideal mission. Unfortunately, the board was mostly filled with deliveries, security detail, and missing items for which there were rewards upon return. The only mildly exciting ones were tracking down the culprits of major robberies, though they were generally easily dealt with when robbers weren't exactly the strong types.

Seeing nothing better, he grabbed the one with the biggest reward. "Armoured vehicle robbery," it read. "Transport of illegal weapons intercepted on Saturday night by masked robbers. Evidence collected at the address below. Arrest of robbers and recovery of weapons required for full reward. Partial reward will be given for partial completion."

"Let's go with this one," he said with finality as he handed the paper down to Happy.

"We're really going to do a mission?" Happy asked, his brow crinkling as he accepted the flyer with both paws. "We're not going to look for Lucy?"

He knew that Lucy hadn't been at the location they had been given at the bar, but also appeared unaware of how Natsu's actions had altered what had ultimately transpired that day. Although Happy might figure it out for himself one day, at this point, it felt a bit awkward to bring up. A massive screw up like that wasn't something Natsu wanted to draw attention to. Even with his best friend.

Natsu settled for a vague answer. "Gray's working on new leads and I agreed I'd let him do it on his own. I have to keep my word. But we can't just wait around while that's happening, so we need to do something else in the meantime."

"Aye."

"Natsu-san!"

Yukino's sudden entrance had him forgetting all about the job board. She looked flustered as she swept past a few of the other guild members to get to him.

"Yukino, you okay?" he asked, a little confused as to why she seemed so worried. "Did you get a message back from Lucy?"

She shook her head. "No, and something's wrong. Aquarius is calling to me. Urgently. I started looking for you as soon as I felt it."

Lucy... Natsu had no way of knowing if she was okay, but now he was itching to go out and find her again. If one of her spirits was calling, he didn't believe that whatever could be happening on her end was a good thing. And here he was, unable to do a thing. Still, he had to know.

"Let's go," he said, and they headed outside to the nearest body of water.

The two of them didn't even make it to a lake. Instead, they stopped at a large fountain in town that wasn't necessarily ideal, but would do the job in the event of an emergency. The small audience they were inevitably going to have doing this out in the middle of town was worth the time they would save.

Yukino didn't even blink at his choice of location as she stood in front of the fountain, gathering her magic. She turned the key and the gate opened, Aquarius rising out of the water with considerably less grandeur than Natsu was used to seeing from the celestial spirits. There was no flourish of her hair nor spectacle with her pot; she simply lunged forward to grasp at the ledge of the fountain, water splashing up at her sudden movement.

"Where is Lucy? You said you would find her, so where is she?" the spirit demanded, her eyes wild with rage.

Natsu swallowed. "I…" ...fucked up. It was on the tip of his tongue, but getting past his shame to vocalize that wasn't something he could do so quickly.

Aquarius clutched the pot close to her chest. "She's calling to me and I can't get to her. I can't stand it. Why is she calling me when she threw us in the damn ocean?"

There was a deafening silence as Natsu staring into the water. They could all feel the heaviness that lingered in the air.

"...You haven't found her, have you?"

Her tone wasn't angry or accusatory; it was soft, despairing, and hopeless. It was all the things Natsu had felt when he realized that if it weren't for his actions, things could've been so different. But that was in the past. There was no going back to fix mistakes that had cost Lucy dearly.

"No, we...haven't," he replied, "but I'm not going to stop trying. It's stupid, I know—I don't even know what I can do right now. I just know that I can't give up on her. I can't until I know there's nothing I can do anymore."

"What a foolish sentiment," Aquarius agreed, nodding. She closed her eyes for a long moment before leveling her gaze at him. "Hold on to that. And hold on to me, because when my key is back in her hands, she's going to get it from me." The spirit quieted, her jaw clenched. "Stupid girl. The next time she calls me, she'd better make sure I can answer."

With that, Aquarius disappeared into the fountain and the murmurs around them quickly dispersed. Citizens of Magnolia took no mind of Fairy Tail's antics, though this was far more serious than a few bar brawls or damaged buildings. Yukino tucked the key away into her pocket with great care as she looked up at Natsu, brow furrowed.

"Natsu-san... What do we do? If Lucy-san is in so much distress that she's calling for her spirit..." She trailed off as she fiddled with her fingers.

She was far away and hurting and they had no means of finding out where. He knew the right answer despite how painful it was to say out loud.

"Nothing at all."