Chapter 18.5 Soundtrack:
1. Outer Wilds - The River
2. Outer Wilds - The River's End
3. Outer Wilds - The Sound of Silence
"Gajeel… this is a lot of money."
"Uh-huh, I was able ta' sniff that out."
"Like, my word, how did he get this much? A-and, and, he just gave it to you?"
"Keep yer voice down, but yeah, he was all 'Salamander' bout' it too."
Juvia had to blink hard several times to ensure the number she was reading on the check Gajeel held was indeed real.
That many zeros had her jaw dropping against the arm of Gajeel's shoulder her head was nestled against.
When she had plopped down next to Gajeel as he lounged under the guild hall's back porch, she hadn't expected to get a check for 14 million jewel all but thrust in her face.
It wasn't a lottery amount, but Gajeel and Levy would not have to worry about money for a long time.
Only Natsu would just hand this sort of thing out so casually then up and leave.
Her attention was drawn to the sloshing and splashing of water as Romeo chased a squealing Asuka around in the guild pool, which reminded Juvia of the discretion Gajeel probably wanted this handled with.
The rest of the guild was enjoying a surprisingly warm late-fall day at and around the pool, winding down from the general clamor Gray's fight with Erza and Mirajane had caused.
Juvia pressed her cheek into Gajeel's hard shoulder, her arms curled around one of his.
"Would I be correct to guess you do not wish for Levy to find out about this?" she whispered as looked back down at the check still in Gajeel's free hand, admiring Natsu's almost decent handwriting.
Right beside her, Gajeel shuffled in his porch chair, still not entirely sure why after all these years Juvia felt the need to drape herself all over him.
The exact second she joined him at one of the glass patio tables, Juvia had more or less taken away one of his arms and made it so he couldn't turn to his right without tucking her head under his chin.
He didn't get women and their constant need to hang themselves all over each other, squawking and grabbing and squeezing their way through small talk like feral seagulls.
If Gajeel liked a guy, he'd let them know by going a little easy on them during a brawl, maybe avoid the face and kidneys if he really fancied them.
But, Gajeel was stuck with it, Levy and Wendy and Juvia, all teaming up to be clinging to him every second of the day.
No amount of grumbling and crowing stopped them, even worse they all had the gall to gush when they caught one another curled up to him.
They had worn him down so much now Gajeel was pretty sure he actually liked it.
God, he was turning into Salamander.
Something in his chest, something deep inside, places not well explored, places not covered in iron, they ached at the thought of Natsu.
Gajeel was quick to bury it so that it never showed on his face.
"Yeah, not a word, got it?" Gajeel replied as he quickly made himself aware of Levy's location, comfortably sunbathing with Droy by the only dry part of the poolside that remained.
"I ain't decided yet if I wanna tell Ryos, so I'm tellin' you and Lily, n' that's it, speakin' of... " Gajeel let out a shrill whistle that had Pantherlily rising from his spot perched atop the unused diving board, floating over to them with a kiwi smoothie clutched in his paws.
He was almost swallowed by a sudden wave of water that had been sent into the air from Romeo tossing a yelping Asuka across the pool, by her request of course.
Juvia raised a hand only to flick it down just as quick, forcing the pool water to plop down harmlessly from where it came, saving Patherlily from a unpleastently soaked fate.
"Lily, peep this, and keep it to yerself."
Pantherlily perked his little brows at Gajeel as he glid over the table to curl up in Juvia's lap, nuzzling the back of his head into her belly appreciatively.
Detaching his lips from the straw to his smoothie reluctantly, Pantherlily read the check for himself, "What's going on ove-"
Pantherlily's tail went stiff as a board as his brain registered how much money lay before him, left to dumbly draw out the rest of his question endlessly.
Juvia untangled one of her arms from Gajeel's and gently scratched the raven fur between Pantherlily's round ears, snapping him from his stupor.
"H-how did he even learn how to write a check?" Pantherlily whispered as he slowly resumed slurping his smoothie.
"Yeah, yeah, now ya both are in the loop," Gajeel said as he brought a leg up to rest his ankle on his knee, "shrimp, or squirt for that matter, never hear a word of this, capiche?"
Gajeel's head dipped as he sighed and anxiously bounced his heel against the pavement, "In fact, this don't leave the table."
Still running pale fingers through his fur, Juvia shared a disconcerted look with Pantherlily before they both nodded in acknowledgement.
Gajeel had been more high strung in these past months than he had been in his entire life combined.
Beyond everything regarding Levy's pregnancy, Gajeel was either gradually going from Wendy's big brother to her father or picking rather nasty fights with Gray.
Gajeel and Gray had been at each other's throats non-stop since the guild reunited, and Gray name-dropping Wendy during his shouting match with Natsu certainly didn't help.
Juvia still didn't know the original reason why, Gajeel was still somewhat standoffish, sure, but not even his never see eye to eye relationship with Erza got as bad as it currently was with Gray.
If everything with Natsu and the fallout had left her emotionally exhausted for the following days, Juvia couldn't imagine where Gajeel's head was at.
Not only was he becoming a Dad, not only was he looking after a downtrodden Wendy who he was now closer with than ever, but Natsu and Gajeel, they were brothers too.
When questioned why she had been clingier to Gajeel than usual in the following days after the war, Wendy had explained to the guild the truth of her and the rest of the dragon slayer's origins.
From 400 years in the past, Gajeel, Natsu, Wendy, and the twins from Sabertooth, had all known each other as children. Yet another bombshell dropped on a shell shocked Fairy Tail.
She had always wondered why exactly Gajeel had instantly taken to Wendy, and that more than explained it, as well as why he and Natsu went from enemies to quarreling brothers at seemingly the drop of a hat.
Much like Gray, Gajeel hadn't spoken a word about Natsu.
The dragon slayers hadn't uttered a peep about their fight with Acnologia, and everyone was content not to ask questions.
"Hey, ameonna," Gajeel's voice, with its iron sharp rasp and deep rumble, could be soft when it needed to be, "Look, I ain't happy about this, but it'd be stupid not to do something with it."
Juvia had to blink away glittered sun rays that the pool bounced right into her eyes, "Hm? Oh, well of course, while I don't believe it wise to hide this from Levy, I'm glad you're not letting your pride let this gift go to waste."
"Are we not going to question where the money came from?" Pantherlily piped up, finishing the last of his smoothie and wiping his whiskers clean.
"I know, I know, and I'll figure out a way ta' tell shrimp, but I'll worry about that after she pops out my brat." Gajeel brushed aside her concerns.
"Guess we are." Pantherlily's mumble was dull as his tail wrapped around Juvia's thin wrist to guide her fingers lower down the side of his head.
"Gajeel, don't use that phrasing around… anyone," Juvia chided with a grimace before tilting her head, letting her azure curls bunch up on one of her shoulders.
"I appreciate the trust, but why tell me at all? You should be aware I would not be particularly happy to help you keep things from the mother of your child."
Surprisingly enough, that left Gajeel searching for a response, the same crimson she'd see on late afternoon skies visible on the tips of his ears, "I-i, uh…-"
"Hey Juvia!" a voice came to his rescue, and Gajeel quickly stuffed the check in his breast pocket.
Nab approached, sunblock turning his nose white, "Master wants to see you in his office, it's not urgent or anything but he says it's important." he informed as he draped a damp towel over his shoulders.
Juvia smiled in understanding, "Okay, thank you Nab."
As Nab waddled off, Gajeel couldn't help the frown that formed when Juvia once again untangled herself from his arm and moved to get up, Pantherlily leaping from her lap to the glass patio table.
Now his arm felt cold, so did his chest.
"So is the trouble you and Natsu got into during your jobs coming back to bite you?" Pantherlily said, uncharacteristically wry.
Before Juvia could shoot back, Gajeel blocked her from rising any further with a forearm across her midsection, "Whatever the geezer wants, it can wait."
"Nab said it's important, and it's not respectful to keep Master Makarov waiting." Juvia pouted at him.
"Yeah, but so is this," Gajeel didn't relent, childishly insisting, "I finally got you without ice queen, and Lev is distracted-"
Juvia tried harder to stand, but she more or less bounced off Gajeel's arm, "Gajeel, what has gotten into you? You would never keep Master waiting."
It didn't make sense, to her at least. If Gajeel wanted to keep this as quiet as possible, why not just keep it to himself?
Phantom Lord had been ages ago to them, Gajeel had far outgrown his distrust of her being around guild masters by herself.
Once again she spotted color on his ears, and his forest of onyx hair bristled as something Juvia could only akin to bashfulness expressed itself on Gajeel's hard features.
"I'm not saying whatever Master wants to walk to me about is more important than thi-"
Gajeel cut her off with a growl, the sound grainy with embarrassment, "It ain't that, kay'!?"
Both Pantherlily and Juvia's crinkled confused stares had him sitting up in his seat.
"Ameonna, i-it ain't just that, about this, the money," Gajeel mumbled softly as he finally retracted his arms and rested them across his own thighs, "I've been busy with shit, n' so have you, and the moment I get ya alone something comes up."
Gajeel stared hard at his boots, as if they'd reveal some guidance that'd let him talk honestly without sounding like a dopey idiot.
It'd be smart to not tell anyone about this money, but he just wanted to include her.
Let her know he trusted her.
Maybe eventually muster up the courage to tell her thanks for looking after his brother, maybe ask her for help picking out an engagement ring, maybe apologize he hadn't been able to convince Levy to let her be the baby's god-mother.
Ever since she had gotten back from her jobs with Natsu, she had been as stoic as can be. No tears, no frowns, no clouds.
Bunny girl wasn't around for her to talk to, and he seriously doubted Juvia would consider troubling with Levy with anything at the current moment.
Juvia had told him that Mirajane's younger sister, that girl Salamander was super close with, was a good source of wisdom. But she wasn't here either.
Earnest talk came easier with Levy and Wendy, but the sappy stuff? With Juvia?
It felt too little, too late.
He couldn't erase the shitty friend he had been.
"W-we got other stuff to talk about, ya know? That kid, Romeo, I'm training him, and Wendy would be running herself to the ground if it wasn't for me, and…" Gajeel avoided eye contact with her like it was poison, because he'd look at her soft gaze and get the urge to punch that ice prick's teeth in for daring to leave her.
"Salamander too, wanted to know how he's doin', all that stuff." he sighed, and let the iron crumble as he admitted, "I guess I just wanted to, I don't fuckin' know, talk?"
Slender fingers gently flicked his nose, "Hey, watch your language dummy, Asuka's nearby."
Juvia's tone was lilted with unflinching warmth, warmth he didn't deserve. Once more, her arms moved as vines, wrapping around his tree trunk bicep.
The weight of Juvia's head atop the ridge of his shoulder felt right.
Like Wendy curled in his lap and burrowed in his chest, or Levy pressing herself into him as he spooned her from behind.
"I'll tell you what, I will inform Master to make it quick, so that when I get back we can spend the rest of the day talking." Juvia announced, fighting a battle not meant to be won against a giddy smile, smushing her cheek into the steel muscle of his shoulder.
Yeah, Gajeel was still a bit stiff, unable to bend in ways others could, but Juvia just didn't care. He had still grown so much.
She knew how Gajeel's head worked better than anyone.
Juvia didn't have to sit through his stumbling long to figure out the entire reason he had told her this was because he simply wanted to include her.
An excuse to have something special between them.
And well, Pantherlily would probably find out on his own anyway.
She felt her eyes throb and heart prickle, but she smiled at him all the same, "Is that acceptable, or do you wish to come with and hold my hand?"
"Aight, aight, get off!" Gajeel groused as he shook his arm in a half-hearted attempt to flick her off.
She had dropped a great deal of her old habits since becoming a Fairy Tail mage, a lot of them thanks to Gajeel, but she'd never shake this one, clinging to his arm.
Wendy loved to hold Natsu's hand or sit curled up in his lap, Gray and Lucy often walked with their shoulders brushing, and it was a rare sight to not see Mirajane hiding under Elfman's massive arm as she enjoyed her own lunch break.
Everyone had their own forms of affection with their friends and family, and she had hers.
Juvia had been doing this with Gajeel since he had taken all the brunt of Fairy Tail's lingering distrust and animosity when they had first joined. She had no plans on stopping.
Juvia merely responded to his wriggling with a devilishly quick peck to his cheek before rising and hurrying off to avoid the aftermath, "I'll be right back!"
Gajeel rubbed his palm against that same cheek as he watched Juvia pad off, who exchanged sweet passing pleasantries with Reedus on her way to the main hall.
There were no clouds over her, just sunlight.
Gajeel had decided he would do unspeakable things to make it stay that way.
Sighing, Gajeel's eyes skimmed the guild yard. Thankfully Levy was still occupied.
If Levy saw that the teasing would never stop. Not like he could tell her to stuff it, she was carrying his kid, and soon enough he'd put a ring on her finger.
"That was just precious."
Ice slinked into Gajeel's gaze as it snapped to Pantherlily, who still stood atop the table with a cheeky grin bristling his whiskers, "Do you wanna get shaved?"
Pantherlily couldn't retort when the pattering of small feet approached, "Uncle Gajeel!"
That squeak had Gajeel tensing as he looked down and to his left to see a soaked Asuka bouncing on her heels before him.
Lips peeling into a wince, Gajeel quickly avoided eye contact, or else be bludgeoned with an onslaught of doe eyed stares.
He knew what was coming.
"Can I play with Lily please?" Asuka huffed out as she adjusted the Happy themed floaties around her arms, "Happy and Carla aren't around to play, n' big brother Romeo got tired from throwing me!"
Both Pantherlily and Gajeel flickered a cursory look up to see the older boy floating and bobbing face down like a corpse in the pool.
…
He'd be okay. His heart was still beating.
"Ain't happening, Pantherlily is a warrior, not a doll for you to play with." Gajeel began the first step of this song and dance.
Asuka followed this routine to a T, anxiously pulling at the ribbons adorning her onesie swimsuit while speckles of pool water skimmed down her face to curl over her button nose.
"Pretty please?" her cheeks puffed in a pout.
Gajeel folded his arms over the squeezing in his chest, she was laying it on thick today.
"Yeah, no. Go ahead, get Titania involved, ain't gonna make a difference."
Pantherlily butted in with his usual placating gestures, reasoning, "Gajeel, must we do this every time? I really don't mind at all."
Gajeel leaned back in his chair, hands laced behind his quilt of onyx hair, "It ain't happening Lily."
It would be happening.
This brat always found something, some gap in his armor, some breach between his scales, with that puppy dog stare he was 40% sure she got from Wendy.
It didn't help that those newly found sweet memories of his squirt as a little girl flashed before him in times like these, as if his mind, instincts, whatever, were reminding him to play nice.
Asuka's little voice quivered and sweetened, and Gajeel just about buckled there and then as she paddled over to hug his shin, resting her chin on his knee, "I'll take super duper good care of him, I promise!"
Those soft beady little eyes were black holes, sucking his will and resistance in to tear it apart in ways Gajeel could never defend.
"Look scamp, where am I on your favorite uncle list?" Gajeel's pierced brows eased, flattening his forehead and wiping his features clear of firmness.
Asuka was quiet for a brief, brief moment, "6th."
She had just made that up but it gave Gajeel an out.
This time Asuka wouldn't get to resort to teary eyes and puppy whimpers to get what she wanted.
"Bump me up a spot, and you get Lily for ten minutes." Gajeel disguised his raising of the white flag with a deal.
"Deal!" Asuka instantly chirped as she unlatched herself from his now damp leg and turned to the glass table, holding her arms out for Pantherlily to jump into.
Catching him and nuzzling him, she was quick to scamper off, squealing, "Thank you Uncle Gajeel!"
Gajeel grunted to himself as he settled back into his chair, forcing himself to come to terms with the fact he had just sentenced his badass exceed to ten minutes of tea parties.
Romeo was still face down in the pool, doing a phenomenal impression of a piece of driftwood. This was most still Romeo had been since that training session with him.
"Hey kid, you good?"
A few bubbles spluttered up to the water's surface next to Romeo's head.
"Aight, just checkin'."
Juvia didn't even have time to express her delight at the fact Master Makarov was up and out of his wheel-chair when she had yet another piece of paper thrust at her.
This time, it was a rather official looking piece of parchment.
"Go on child, take it." Makarov encouraged as he stood atop the guild stage before her so he could speak with her eye to eye.
Laxus and Gildarts stood towering to her left and right, and Juvia was left secretly wishing she did bring Gajeel along for this. The all but empty main hall behind her wasn't comforting either.
The slight nervousness never arrived on the serene curves of her delicate features, but Gildarts next to her picked up on the hesitation irrespective of her stoicism.
"C'mon, you ain't in trouble." Gildarts rumbled reassuringly, and Makarov wagged the rolled parchment in his hand, the bush on his face shifting as he gave a slight smile.
Juvia took it, careful with the faded edges and stiff material, "What is this, if you don't mind me asking?"
She had no idea what thoughts swam behind Makarov's time chiseled face, the crows feet framing his kind eyes giving her nothing to go off of.
As she ran a ginger thumb over the seal that kept the parchment wrapped up, Makarov answered with a rasp, "It was supposed to be a right to my wrongs."
The cryptic answer drew Juvia's eyes away from what was in her hands, the tone her master, her parent, took like he was forcing bitter chalk down his old throat.
"On Tenrou, I made a mistake. A mistake I repeated yet again before the Grand Magic Games." Makarov began, his voice glossed with a type of solemn Juvia had rarely heard from her guildmaster.
Guilt stirred beneath his words and the mood of the conversation it commanded.
"That," he nodded down at her hands, daintily clearing his throat to murmur, "was an attempt to rectify it."
"Open it." Laxus gruffed, to which Juvia obliged, peeling off the seal and unraveling the crinkling parchment.
Juvia barely got past the top sentence before she choked on her own spit.
"An immediate promotion. No trial required." Laxus palmed down the blonde hair around his scalp as he explained, "Gramps had to call in a favor with the council to jump through that many hoops."
Juvia didn't bother reading the rest of it, bewilderment nestled in her questioning stare, "I-i don't understand."
"This was for Natsu." Makarov stated, his toil worn hands tight at his sides.
Natsu?
She had forgotten, once upon a time one of Natsu's biggest goals was becoming one of these.
Saying it now, with the new gentle and sweet image she had of Natsu in her head, it sounded strange.
That image used to be tiger orange fire blaring around his knuckles, now it was the faded amber scars on his skin and warmth in his hollow voice.
But this?
Natsu was chained to self-given whims far more colossal than this, Juvia suspected.
"But this gesture was fruitless from the start, it didn't make up for my misdeed on Tenrou, and it did not account for the simple fact he has long since grown beyond the rank."
"He didn't accept it," Gildarts bluntly summarized Makarov's point, "I probably should have told Makarov that Natsu was done with all that junk before we got back from Tenrou, saved him the trouble."
"If he was done with it, then why would he challenge Mast-"
"He's Natsu." Gildarts clipped Juvia's question short with a simple answer as he shared a dry laugh with himself.
Juvia felt that tautness wedged beneath her gut get all the more painful as she bounced her eyes from Makarov to Gildarts.
She hadn't even thought about it, how were they dealing with everything regarding Natsu?
Everything was just so muddy, even after she had spent all that time with him.
Juvia's first instinctive thought was that they had no idea, or rather fooled themselves into thinking so.
Those bitter words she had tossed towards Gray came back, but were dulled by the rationale of just how much everyone had been through since Fairy Tail disbanded.
A few days worth of mulling after her jobs with Natsu had Juvia understanding just how on the money Gray had been.
Fairy Tail needed Natsu, needed him to be… him. Everything was just so much easier that way.
Righteous fury wasn't hers to have, she had no right to the indignation she felt on Natsu's behalf.
She wasn't Lisanna, she wasn't Wendy, she hadn't even really noticed Natsu's absence until that day she convinced him to take a few quests with her.
Someone should be angry. Accountability should be upheld.
But Juvia knew she shouldn't be the one to do it.
Juvia lingered on Gildarts, he and Natsu got on each other's nerves so often, in ways only comparable to him and Gray at times. Yet Natsu still chose to look up to him.
She guessed that was how she knew their relationship was strong.
If they didn't care, they wouldn't be so passionate about each other while their dynamic switched nearly every second they were together.
She didn't know much, which was exactly why she didn't get to cling to that exasperation.
Juiva could only make that lingering anger that had seeped from the break in her heart throw up its hands in defeat and drift meaninglessly.
So much had happened, and the aftermath of Gray's fight with Erza and Mirajane was only now just fading.
"So, this has been sitting around then?" Juvia sought clarification, watching Gildarts shrug in response, his metal fingers clinking as he targeted a scratch on his stubble heavy chin.
Even after Gray proved this rank wasn't the end all be all, it was still coveted by a good majority of the guild.
Being one meant you were always on Sorcerer's Weekly, you were the first to be served come lunch rush, you were allowed on the second floor with better paying jobs and couches to lounge on.
That and so much more.
"Basically." Laxus confirmed as he sunk into a chair behind him and propped his feet up on the stage edge, the wood thudding and creaking beneath his weight.
"That was until the fight," Makarov resumed, staring dull daggers at Laxus and Gildarts when they both sucked in breaths and let out awed whistles as they revisited what the guild had yet to let go a week later.
Gray winning had been a surprise to nearly everyone.
Juvia felt she had no room to snarl at that sentiment for her darling's honor either, Fairy Tail was a competitive place with established dynamics that had lasted years.
That hadn't been on Juvia's mind at the time, more keeping Natsu from ruining her darling Gray's handsome face.
"None of you expected Gray to win." she blurted, unable to hold the frown in her tone.
All three men had the decency to flinch as the power in the room flipped in Juvia's favor.
"No offense." Laxus grumbled, head dipping when Juvia's neck torqued his way. Gildarts on the other side of her squirmed with similar timor.
Even Makarov rubbed his bald head shyly under her stiff stare.
"So what changed? Why am I receiving this and not my darling?" Juvia abandoned the unpleasant road that avenue of conversation could take and softened her voice.
"Because Gray isn't the one Natsu demanded I promote." Makarov replied.
Juvia had nothing. Her open mouth told Makarov that.
Natsu had done this?
That twinge of regret that had been teased by the guild master's demeanor from before flared to the point Juvia could feel it waft from him.
"That paper, the promotion, it could never fix what I did," Makarov slowly lowered himself until he sat cross-legged before her, his crooked fingers digging into his knees, "nor does it make up for my obliviousness to him."
"For all his flaws, he chose to love and protect this guild, this family. Giving me all he had on Tenrou was his decision. Smashing him against the cliff was mine."
Juvia quickly found how right she was to abandon the idea of being angry on Natsu's behalf.
Seeing her guild master like this, more shriveled with guilt than age could ever make him, had her understand just why Natsu had wanted to hide.
Seems that everybody who had any clue about Natsu had some reflecting to do.
"Nevertheless, long after all the commotion of that day, Natsu came to my office and demanded I use the promotion meant for him, on you."
That confirmed it.
Juvia rubbed her bloodless face with a hand, a quick breath jutting from her lungs as the reality of it sunk in.
"I-i don't deser-"
"Too late. That thing is effective immediately now that Gramps signed it." Laxus stopped her coming rant at the roots. "Besides, ain't like we don't agree with Natsu on this."
The sight of both Makarov and Gildarts' heads bobbing in agreement had her stumbling back to lean against a table.
Natsu wasn't supposed to be the one giving anymore. It was Fairy Tail's turn.
She must have looked half mad as she ripped her cap from her head and blinked her way down the rest of the parchment's lines upon lines of text.
"I-i'm not strong enough."
The reluctance Juvia cast out were feeble, fragments of her time with Natsu spinning before her eyes, making reading the document near impossible.
To learn of his pain, to learn the best thing she could do to help was nothing, it made a full night's sleep a pipe dream.
Day in and day out, continuing on with her usual stoicism without a single tear droplet in sight, it had been one of the most difficult things she had ever had to do.
The only reason the tears and storms hadn't returned, hadn't come dribbling down her cheeks and barreling over the horizon was constant reassurance from her beloved.
'You helped him. I promise you', Gray would murmur.
After that, when her eyelids would flutter shut, she'd find at least some rest among the wreckage of thoughts in her head.
"The quests you two took were double S tier jobs, and you did them in around a week. Natsu says you did more than your fair share of the work, I think the strength part of this is covered." Laxus reasoned to her, eyeing her with a look gentler than most would ever see on him.
"Gray told us you and him trained together before the war, and that your more than strong enough for this." Gildarts added.
The jobs never mattered. Juvia never thought about them.
Even hearing the reality of it now, she could only give a small sniffle and shrug.
"T-there are so many other people who deserve it more Master, I-i don't think I'm the one that can be considered worthy of…of this." Juvia tried again, all but digging that wet aching from her eyes as she neared the bottom of the parchment.
This was the real deal. Natsu had really done this.
"My beloved, a-and Gajeel, they are so much stronger than I am."
"That was never what this was supposed to be about, child." Makarov chided as his sunken eyes now gleamed with affection, studying her as if breaking down every reason he had for going along with Natsu's demand.
"It shouldn't be about all the glory and privileges and fear, what it was supposed to be at it's core was the responsibility to set an example for you fellow guild mates," Gildarts said, "and well…"
"This one's a deadbeat," Makarov looked to Gildarts, then to Laxus, "that one's a brat who is largely responsible for the rank falling the way it has."
The puff of breath that was squeezed from Makarov's nostrils frayed the wire ends of his alabaster beard, his eyes downcast, "Erza, oh that child, I have been too lax with her, letting her believe I have given her the authority to do the things she does."
"And Mirajane stopped making that chicken spaghetti casserole I like." everyone's head snapped to Gildarts after his chime in.
"Don't pretend like that stuff ain't the best goddamn casserole you've had in your life." he defended.
"Mirajane has found a far more important path being our guild's mother hen, I will not take her off that path just to fix something she no longer has any interest in." Makarov clarified.
"Juvia child, it isn't the guild unworthy of the rank, it is the rank unworthy of the guild. Those who are the most worthy already see that." Makarov steered the discussion back on course. "And for all his faults, Natsu saw this before anyone else."
"Look, I'll get to the point, we kinda need you, help make this thing more than just about ordering people around." Laxus' feet slipped off the stage as he sat up in his chair, resting his forearms on his knees, "You got a good head on your shoulders, better than any of ours even with the 'flooding Magnolia because you saw a lost puppy' shtick."
Laxus narrowly ducked a thrown booze mug from Gildarts.
"Don't talk that way about a lady brat, did Blue Pegasus teach ya nuthin'?"
Laxus flipped him the bird.
Juvia felt that giddiness from early came sprinting back. Praise? From Laxus?
Heck, both Gildarts and Makarov, two of the wisest people she had ever come across, believed she was worthy of this gift.
This time, when tears bundled and glistened in the corners of her aching eyes, they did so happily.
"In every way one can be considered, you are strong Juvia." Makarov rumbled as he beckoned the hiccuping Juvia closer, "You've grown into a shining example of everything I wish a Fairy Tail mage to be."
The parchment crinkled underneath Juvia's curling shaking fingers, having to all but shy away from Makarov's beaming face.
Having a guild master that loved her? Juvia would never get over how wonderful that felt.
Crying as much as she had done since she had joined Fairy Tail would have left Juvia a battered mess back with Phantom Lord.
It was the same thing she steadied herself with back when confronting Natsu.
The tears and the rain wouldn't make Fairy Tail, her family, go away.
"Natsu knew we needed someone to help make this title more than just about power, and I say this with every fiber of my being," Makarov's hand was steadiest it had been since before the war as it came to squeeze hers, "Natsu chose wisely."
Juvia didn't bother with words, they had scampered out her open mouth to scatter to the furthest corners of the guildhall.
Through her quiet blubbering, Juvia finally got around to finishing the document, wiping the curtains of moist bliss from her lashes.
The official lettering ended, and below that, familiar handwriting had created a bunched paragraph nestled between the one atop it and the flaky edge of the parchment.
It was the same handwriting from the check.
Natsu's.
'This doesn't mean much to me anymore, I don't think it means much to you either. I think you could make it mean something again though. Cuz I think you're that great, and ice pants will never know how lucky he is to have someone that great.'
Juvia had to hurry, because no amount of wiping would stop the wailing oceans of tears that were barreling their way out her eyes now.
Soon she knew she wouldn't be able to see, either that or she turned the parchment into soggy mush.
'I ain't what anyone wanted me to be I don't think. But you, you'll be, heck you are, everything a Fairy Tail mage should be. I know you wanna worry, you got the tummy ache that people with good hearts get that Yukino told me about once. But I want you to be happy, cuz knowing your happy makes me feel better.'
Juvia thrust the damp parchment into Makarov's hands before she ruined it with the dribble that poured off her chin, "F-finish it Master, I-i can't read, I c-cannot see."
Eyes soft, Makarov took it from the approachingly hysterical Juvia and nodded, reading what remained of Natsu's note, "Everything I did during the war was to get us all home, to make sure everybody got their fair crack at making their own future."
His voice grew as brittle as lichen, Makarov's words wavering just as Juvia's legs did while days of smothered emotions buckled in her knees.
A kick from Laxus had a chair skidding over to her, which Juvia all but collapsed onto, shoulders spasming as jerky mewls accompanied her glistening cheeks.
She understood.
What this gift was supposed to do.
Natsu had predicted the feeling of helplessness, so he had given her something to do.
Something to make better.
"So please, quit fussing over me, and go build yours. Since because of you, I think I'll be okay... Love, Natsu." Makarov dragged himself to finish.
She was sobbing now.
Juvia didn't care how ugly or loud it was, she knew it would all come back, and she welcomed it.
How long had it been since she truly cried, truly let sobs bounce around her shoulders and rack her frame for all it was worth?
The way she felt lighter and lighter with each hoarse sob let Juvia know it had been too long.
Natsu and his unknowable pain, and the weight of knowing that, they fattened the tears that fell with the force of bowling balls off the dainty curve of her chin and onto the floor below.
He was always doing this. Natsu just had that gift, that gift of giving hope.
He was gonna be okay. Everything would be okay.
This was Natsu she was talking about after all.
Makarov let out a weary breath, setting the document aside to share a look with the puffy eyed Gildarts.
The guild master bucked his head towards Juvia, and Gildarts seemed to get the idea.
A cool metal hand squeezed her quaking shoulder, and Juvia stopped staring at the holes her tears were drilling in the wooden floors to see Gildarts grinning down at her.
"Well Juvia, welcome back to S-class!" he announced.
Juvia cried out a happy laugh, her tears now having a mountain to climb if they wanted to fall down her smiling face.
The crash of shattering wood rang in the air as the double doors to the guild yard were kicked open, revealing an all but feral Gajeel, emerald and violet magic flickering around his frame.
Those dragon slayer senses had finally alerted him to Juvia's cries, and flipped a switch inside him that had Black Steel Gajeel coming out for a romp.
His pupil-less glare darted from Juvia's tears to the men surrounding her before rumbling the guild hall with a ferocious dragon's growl, "Why the fuck is ameonna crying!?"
Gildarts and Makarov looked from the enraged Gajeel, to the still sniffling Juvia, then to each other. They shared a small nod.
The two pointed to Laxus, "He did it."
Thick swathes of shrapnel speckled shadows paced impatiently around the now silver scaled Gajeel, whose glare snapped to Laxus.
"Salamander and Ice Queen respected you S-class a-holes so much they went n' created a lil' pact not to knock you around when they eventually got stronger." Gajeel hissed, flexing magic practically identical to what Gray had displayed a week ago.
Gajeel slowly shook his head with a sinister grin, "That, tingle-fingers, is a courtesy I don't share."
Laxus stared at all that with a blank face, not bothering to move from his seat. No point really, he was already under the bus.
Instead, Laxus looked to those who had betrayed him, eyeing Makarov and Gildarts coldly.
"I can't wait to dump you two in nursing home-"
He was promptly cut off by an iron pole to the face.