Respect

"The offer will stay open for you ladies anytime. We'd love to have you join." Makarov tutted. He nagged like family.

"Thank you!" Levy's enthusiasm had him smiling.

"We appreciate everything you and your guild have done for us." Lucy added on. She hasn't seen much of the guild but everyone she's met has been so warm. A guild that treats them like this before becoming official members would be a comfortable place to be. How secure it all felt. Held together with trust and camaraderie.

"Anytime," Makarov chuckled while ushering them out, "Alright off you go, both of your escorts are getting antsy. I'm worried about my door staying intact." The two women were quick to finish their goodbyes and head for the door. They watched the men unnoticed for all two seconds: Natsu prowled in a lose circle and snuck a glance to the door while Gajeel chewed on a hunk of hematite, eyes fixed steadily on the metal handle; both radiated impatience.

"About time," Gajeel's grumble had Natsu beelining for Lucy with a boyish smile on his face.

"Done? You wanna look around more of the guild?" Natsu asked, slinging a lazy arm around her shoulders. "How was the meeting?"

"You talk too much Salamander," Gajeel rumbled while finishing the mineral he'd been munching on.

"The meeting was nice," Levy filled in, ignoring Gajeels outburst. "We were formally invited to join Fairy Tale and have a merger between the crystal shop and the guild. While it would definitely ease the burden of money its still something Lucy and I have to discuss in length, so we turned it down."

"Its an invitation with no expiration date according to Makarov," Lucy chimed in nonchalantly when Natsu's face dropped, her hand gently patting his chest before falling back to her side. "Levy did you have anything planned for the rest of the day or did you and Gajeel want to hang around the guild with us?"

"As much as I'd love to hang around I want to get started on the lead Jet and Droy gave me today before the meeting. Something I've been looking for a long time, so I'm excited to get going. I think I'm going to take the next two weeks off Lulu, next week to do all the research I need to do on the area and possible dangers; the week after I think will be when I go hunting for it." Levy answered, rattling off like she was making a to-do list in her head. "If you need help with the shop don't hesitate to call me, especially while I'm in town and not traveling. I'm happy to help in anyway you need."

"Of course, what stone are you going for?"

"It's a secret," Levy responded coyly. Waving before veering right, towards the wide set entrance. Lucy watched Gajeel trail after Levy's smaller figure in slight confusion, allowing Natsu to tug her along.

"Okay then," Lucy sighed. "Where are we going, Natsu?"

"I was thinking you'd probably find the guilds museum interesting, and I wasn't sure if you'd like the library but I don't mind taking you there either…and then I wanted to have you try Mira's cooking! She makes the best fire wings."

"Fire wings?"

"Hot enough to make me feel like I have a fire in my stomach. All the best parts of working with fire with none of the blow back. Just a warm fuzzy feeling all over." Natsu mused, drooling lightly.

"Ew! Don't drool on me!" Lucy hissed, while jerking away from him. Her hip bumping into a small table near the door. "Sorry!"

"Don't worry 'bout it." Was slurred back, "Wait a minute, Lucy? Long time no see, still pretty as usual."

"Oh Cana, hi." Lucy fumbled over her greeting; she flushed when Natsu threw his arm back over her shoulder and smiled cheerfully at Cana.

"Natsu too," Cana mumbled while straightening the Tarot deck in her hands, the jolt to the table having disrupted the brunettes shuffling, "What are you kids up too?"

"We aren't kids Cana. You aren't much older than me!"

"Still a kid then,"

"I'm twenty-six!"

"You dropped this," Lucy interrupted the childlike bickering, "one of your cards." Cana was quick to take it back, staring at the card with a puzzled expression for a split second before it transforms into a shit eating grin. With a quick flick of her fingers, she flips the card to face them, "The lovers. I smell money coming my way. HEY MIRA WANNA MAKE A BET?"

"What..?" Natsu gawked after Cana's lurching figure.

"I don't want to know, but I have a bad feeling." Lucy grumbled, tugging on Natsu's dangling fingers. "What were you saying about a museum? What do you keep in there?"

"Some bones, training tapes, skin samples, and maybe Gramps won't mind if I show you the chemical samples in the lab." Natsu mused, moving her along with him towards the entrance, "The museum is three blocks up the street. Its so large we had to move it into a warehouse." They maneuvered around tables and chairs, over the occasional drunk and out the doors, into the chilly spring dawn, "They're working on moving the library to the space above the museum. The right wing isn't large enough anymore." His obvious excitement to show her things made her feel cared for. It wasn't often they spent time in a place other than her shop. They lapsed into a comfortable silence punctuated with Lucy fawning over Plue held in her arms. The city buildings gave way to water two blocks later, the beach boarding the city essentially empty; the apartment buildings that encroached on the sand cast warm rectangles of light.

"Natsu?" a voice called from over the sand, "I thought your house was in the other direction."

"I'm showing Lucy the museum," Natsu called back, knowing Grays voice immediately. The blonde at his side was craning her neck around looking for the source.

"Lucy?" Echoed a melodic voice, low and threaded with dislike. It made her hair prickle, a physical manifestation of her unease. Brown eyes locked with turbulent blue and the air grew heavier with humidity. "Juvia has questions for the spirit caster."

"Spirit caster?" Lucy puzzled, unsure of what the strange women was talking about, "I think you have the wrong Lucy."

"Are you not the one who gave Gray-sama, the aquamarine to present to Juvia?" Lucy stood confused, eyes skimming the woman feet away laying in the waves of the ocean even in this cold. Movement to her left caught the blonde's attention and the dark-haired mage she remembers from her shop comes into view, Gray, right. How did she manage to forget that? His deity seemed to view her proximity to him as a threat.

"Wait," Lucy mumbled, coming to a complete stop, Natsu trailing a head a few steps before slowing. "Did….did you break the geode Gray?"

"Juvia does not want Juvia's rival speaking to Gray-sama," The temperamental woman practically hissed. A splash to her left, brought attention to a tail, the moonlight glinting off metallic looking scales.

"Please tell me you didn't break the Geode, did I forget to mention not to do that?"

"Why wasn't I supposed to do that?" Gray questioned.

"Because this would happen! Breaking the stone released the magical energy stored into it and if combined under the right circumstance could be used as a summoning stone. I can't believe I forgot to give you the warning about geodes. They really are summoning grenades as Levy refers to them, even if creating the correct conditions is near impossible it can still happen." Lucy called out, exasperation coating her tone. "I'm an idiot for letting myself get distracted-"

"Juvia said Juvia does not like you talking to Gray-sama!" Juvia punctuated her statement with a large jet of water rocketing from the ocean and slapping Lucy dead in the face, the blonde screaming at the shock of cold water quickly drenching her coat.

"Juvia!"

"Careful guppy," a voice sounded faintly around the squabbling group, the quality sounding like it was muffled by water; the vibrations were jarring, traveling almost painful across everyone's nerves. A coppery smell and a bright splash of red on the sidewalk in front of Lucy had onyx eyes flashing to the blondes bleeding cheek, a slender cut curving towards her ear bleeding freely. The blood dripped steadily and mixed with an ever-growing trickle of water coming from a small pouch on her skirt the pink haired man didn't notice earlier. "You've made this child bleed. I don't tolerate those who make her bleed."

"Aquarius," Lucy stuttered around chattering teeth. The wind had her biting her tongue and cursing quietly.

"You wish to pick fights guppy? Well then how about a match with me." The same voice grew stronger, Natsu eyeing the faint glow around Lucy and the overgrowing puddle warily. This wasn't ever covered in his training with Fairy Tail. Lucy tried to speak around her chattering mouth but was interrupted by a shaking Plue and then to Natsu's horror a slender arm reached up from the mixture accumulating around Lucy's heeled boots.

"What in the actual –" Natsu started but cut off on a shocked gurgle as a woman a few inches taller than himself pulled herself from the puddle and stood in front of Lucy, menace rolling off her in waves; her skin reflecting the moonlight with a pearlescent luster, giving off a refinement equated with porcelain and gleaming just as coldly. She still seemed fluid though, as if her skin was a vessel for an obscene amount of water.

"Aquarius it's n-not t-t-t-that," Lucy attempted to chatter out, pleading in her tone.

"I believe I was speaking to the guppy, not you." The woman continued, never turning away from the woman Natsu pegged as Juvia.

"Juvia is not a guppy, Juvia is a Goddess! Goddess of the red sea!"

"A mermaid and one with such a…charming way of speaking," said with such indifference Juvia bristled, "A guppy who doesn't know her place. Maybe a reminder is in order?"

"Who do you –"

"No, who do YOU think you are, fish." The woman known as Aquarius bristled, her skin sagging and bulging in her anger, rippling, and looking ready to burst but still shining. "You do not recognize water when you see it? You might need water to survive and enthrall humans with your little tricks and displays but me, I am made of water, we are one. You are but a small fish in a very big ocean, unable to spot a bigger predator when you see one. A dangerous shortcoming for a Goddess." The last spit out with uninterest. Faster than Natsu could track, water shot from the puddle at Lucy's feet toward Juvia, causing plumes of water to explode around the mermaid's tail. Red algae bloomed around a screaming Juvia, the waves glittering like the night sky over head. It took a moment for Natsu to realize they were scales. "Guppies should not pick fights with sharks. This child is under my protection, do not make me face you with her blood on your hands again fish. You will not get such a gentle warning next time."

"Luce you're still bleeding…" Natsu wasn't sure about stepping into the middle of the confrontation, but he could at least attempt to help Lucy.

"She will continue to bleed as long as I'm…present in your world." Aquarius sighed, turning to brush her fingertips against Lucy's cut. Her face darkening in anger again before smoothing over, "May I see you in less aggravating circumstances, Lucy." The affectionate tone threw Natsu after the display of violence, and in a blast of mist the woman and the puddle at Lucy's feet disappeared; her cut coming to a sluggish halt.

"What the fuck," Gray and Natsu said at once.

"JUVIA'S TAIL, JUVIA'S BEAUTIFUL TAIL. JUVIA HATES UNDINES. UNDINES ALWAYS THINK THEY ARE BETTER THAN JUVIA!" The injured mermaid shrieked at the top of her lungs, scrabbling for her loose scales in the waves.

"I-i-I'm g-g-g-going h-home," Lucy stuttered around her chattering teeth while turning away from the chaos, her eyes glassy as she trudged back the way she'd come earlier, "t-t-this is e-exactly why I s-s-stay i-in the s-shop."

A sneeze and a wailing mermaid were not how Natsu saw the night ending.