"I hate you..."

The words played over and over again in Gajeel's mind, haunting him. It had been two days. Two. Whole. Days. And he has yet to find a way to fix this mess. He wanted nothing more than to pang all of his guilt and fault onto Gray for what happened, but knew better than to do so. It was his fault. He had brought it up, and he had ran his mouth off without thinking first. Again.

Gajeel was use to people hating him, and he had never really cared, but this was different. She was different. To him anyway. She was probably the first one to ever accept him for who he was before meeting Fairy Tail. She was his best friend.

And now she hates him.

He groaned for what was most likely the billionth time before slamming his head onto his bed's headboard. He was sitting on his bed and hasn't moved from it since the day before, trying to come up with some sort of plan.

Only to come up with nothing.

He again slammed his head back, hearing another crack, but not caring. Grinding his teeth in frustration, he closed his eyes shut and pulled at his long hair by the roots. After having a manly hissy-fit, he leaned back, letting his limp arms fall to his sides motionlessly before heaving a big sigh.

He glanced out the window and frowned. Though the storm had passed and the rain had stopped the night before, dark clouds have covered the city, threatening to unleash their water on the people below, depending on Juvia's mood.

Since they were still there, she was still upset...

It made him feel a little better to know that it wasn't storming, or even raining. That at least told him that she wasn't terribly upset anymore, but the clouds are still there, and that worried him deeply. More than anything else, he hoped that she was alright...

Bam! Ah, there was the sudden kick to the head he had been missing out on for the past two days. Gajeel rubbed his cheek before staring down at his cat and blinking. "Lily?"

"If you're so worried, then do something about it!" Gajeel moved his position by crossing his legs while putting his hands in his lap, letting his head fall. Like a child accepting his punishment. "I've been thinkin' and thinkin', but every scenario I come up with ends in..." He gulped, remembering the three words the Water Mage had said to him last.

Lily sighed, his voice heavy with disbelief. "I've left you alone for two days, and when I get back, I come home to a pouting child and broken furniture. Really, you need to stop banging your head on the headboard when you're upset..." Gajeel looked up with a pout.

"I'm not a child!" Pantherlily merely raised an amused brow. "Yet you continue to pout."

When met with silence, Lily momentarily smirked at Gajeel's childlike actions before crossing his arms seriously, the smirk whipped off his face. "Well, you can stop pouting now, because now there is a plan for you to follow."

Gajeel's interest was instantly piqued. "A plan?" Lily nodded. "That's right. The guild has received a special request that wants you and Juvia specifically." The Iron Dragon Slayer blinked, growing paler by the minute. "A...A mission? Just the two of us?"

His cat rolled his eyes, sarcasm heavy as he spoke. "No, you, Juvia and Natsu..Yes just the two of you!" Gajeel continued to pout, crossing his arms. "Ya don't have ta be so mean about it..."

Lily's eye twitched. Gajeel has always had a childish side to him, but somehow without the Water Mage in his life, that part of him has been exploited greatly. Again refusing to bang his head into the wall, Lily prayed that the Master's plan would work. Because if it didn't, Pantherlily knew that the headboard wasn't going to be the only thing in this room to be beaten to death.

The Exceed sighed with a hint of frustration. "At any rate, I'll go and convince Juvia to go on this mission. You will go and speak to the Master. He wants to talk with you." Gajeel gulped. "R-Right..I'll go and see 'im."

After nodding in approval, Lily started to walk towards the window. When he reached it, he spread his wings before glancing back at his childlike partner. "Oh, and Gajeel?"

The man, who had just stood to leave, looked up at his cat with silent curiosity. Lily gave the same sweetly evil smile as the barmaid. "Don't go and say anything stupid." And with that, he flew out the window, leaving a shocked and nervous Gajeel behind.

Evil...His cat was evil.

So after standing there for a few more moments, Gajeel gathered what little courage he had left and headed out of his home towards the guild, preparing himself on the way there.

Now he was standing in front of the Master's office, trying to gather his thoughts and somehow calm his nerves. Taking in a breath, he opened the door to see Makarov's chair turned. After shutting the door behind him, the Master turned his chair around to reveal his serious expression. "Gajeel.., I'm glad you could make it." The other man only nodded in response, walking up to the desk as he continued.

"I hope these past few days have helped you clear your head." Gajeel nodded slowly, somehow finding his calm demeanor very frightening. Wasn't he going to yell and scream about how wrong he had been? You know, in that father like way of his.

Makarov sighed at the boy's tense stance. "Don't worry Gajeel, I'm not going to yell at you." The Dragon Slayer blinked, his muscles relaxing. "You aren't..?"

"Well I could, since this whole predicament was started by you." He noticed Gajeel wince at the comment as he finished with a small smile. "However, I think that you've been punished enough." The young man before him glanced to the side, understanding what he meant before glancing back at his Master. "So...Thank she'll come..?"

The old man glanced up at him. "Yes, but I have no idea how she'll handle seeing you. She could snap after seeing you, or she might break down again, it all depends on how she has decided to handle the situation. She should be here soon, I'm hoping you've done the same." Gajeel avoided his gaze. "Well...I know what not ta do..."

Makarov rolled his eyes, seeing that coming from a mile away. Not many would have guessed, but Pantherlily wasn't the only one who could read the man's thoughts. "Well, that's a good start. My only word of advice is to say what you want to say, but maybe this time you could try and be a bit more gentle about it." Gajeel looked up to meet his kind gaze and had to look away, nodding.

That was when the door opened. The two looked and saw that Juvia Lockser had walked in. Well, half way in. She had stopped mid-step when she saw Gajeel to stare at him for a moment before refocusing on the Master. Her face was stoic and unreadable, like in her Phantom days. Gajeel also noticed that she was paler than before and he could barely see the rings under her eyes. He swallowed, but didn't look away from her as she walked straight past him to stand in front of the Master.

"Juvia was told that the Master had an urgent mission for her." He nodded slowly, worried by the lack of life in her tone. "That's right, you and Gajeel will go here." He handed her the request paper and watched her reaction carefully. She merely stared down at the piece of paper for a moment. "Very well."

This was not good. Makarov has never seen the girl like this before, but judging by the look on Gajeel's face, this side of her wasn't unknown. She had explained to him how she was in Phantom Lord when she had talked to him about joining the guild. But seeing her this way in person...Now he truly understood why Gajeel was so worried about her. She had one of the strongest will's he has ever seen, and her pride as a Fairy Tail Wizard goes even beyond that, however, her feelings are fragile, and now that her strong will has been broken, it was going to take a lot to bring her back. He sighed. All he could do now was put his faith in Gajeel and then Gray.

Juvia turned her unrevealing, yet cold gaze to Gajeel. "Juvia and Gajeel should leave now. Juvia would like to get this done as fast as she can." That stoic look, that dull, but cruel voice, and though her outfit didn't change, her hair had returned to being straight with curled ends, not wavy and loose like a few days ago. Gajeel felt like he had went back in time. And he didn't like it. He had to do something, but he had to wait for the right time. So with that plan in mind, he nodded. "Right..."

As the door shut behind them, Makarov took a deep breath. "I sure hope this plan works..."

"So do I." After blinking, the Master whipped his head around to see Mavis sitting on the edge of his desk, dangling her legs. "F-First? Have you been watching the whole time?"

She tilted her head back to look at him, nodding. "Yes, and I'm a bit worried." He glanced up at her. "Oh?" She nodded.

"I may be able to reveal the outcome of battles, but I can't predict people's feelings." The older, yet younger, Master looked down in thought. "I see. Then all we can do is watch and hope for the best." She sighed and pouted. "Yeah, I know..."

Back in the guild's hall, Gajeel was silently following Juvia towards the doors. Not once had she looked back at him, or even spoke to him after leaving the presence of the their Master. A part of him was relieved that she had accepted going with him on this mission, but on the other hand, he could sense that she was being reluctant about it as well. She was still clearly upset with him.

"Juvia!" Gajeel watched the Water Mage stop in mid-step before looking back and seeing Gray not far behind them. He swallowed before continuing. "Juvia, w-when you get back.., I'd like to talk.., with you." Gajeel noted how nervous and awkward he was. So this is what an Ice Mage losing his cool looked like.

He switched his gaze to Juvia, who stood there a moment before turning around slowly with the same stoic face as before. Then after what seemed like locking eyes with Gray, her frown lifted slightly, but only slightly, still laced with sadness. "Alright." And with that she turned on her heel to walk out the doors. Gajeel followed, only glancing back once at the Ice Mage, who was running a hand through his hair, before leaving the guild hall altogether.

He didn't speak a word on the train, which they were taking to the nearest port, and neither did she. His nerves were so worked up that he couldn't even tell if he was nauseous because of the train, or because of the situation. Either way, he was sick to his stomach. Usually the only dreaded thought running in his head over and over again would be, I have ta get on a boat... but that was now replaced with, I have ta talk to her... Frankly, he would rather get on the boat and deal with his motion sickness than face her right now.

He glanced over at her for what seemed like the millionth time. She didn't seem to notice though, or she was ignoring him again, as she merely stared out the window. What could she be thinking about? Was she mad? Disappointed even? What could he say to make things go back to the way they were?

He glared up at the ceiling, inwardly cursing at himself. What was wrong with him? All he needed to do was talk to her. How hard could that be? His gaze fell back on to her unrevealing face.

"So..." He was about to continue, but she had cut him off, not even looking at him as she did so. "Juvia is trying to look out the window Gajeel-san, so please don't disturb her."

His jaw dropped. He was being outranked by the window?! Was she that upset with him? Well, the fact that she used his name with the '-san' at the end could have told him that too. She always called him 'Gajeel-kun', even when they first met, and 'Gajeel' when she was angry with him, but never 'Gajeel-san'. Maybe he was in for it more than he first thought. How deep was this hole that he's dug himself in? Shouldn't he feel like he's climbing by now instead of digging deeper into hopelessness?

After taking effort in closing his mouth, he bit his lip and started pulling at the roots of his hair. But she did nothing. Before she would have flinched and asked a million annoyingly nice questions to figure out what was wrong with him. She's always been persistent.

Right now she's being persistent...

She is persistently acting like he either didn't exist or didn't matter.

After again pulling at his hair, the train stopped, thus proving that he wasn't actually nauseous because of the train... Just great. She stood and didn't even look at him as they got off. Now Gajeel was an awkward guy, he would admit that, but this atmosphere between them was becoming unbearable.

He was about to try and start a conversation again, but she beat him to it, surprisingly. "There's the boat Juvia and Gajeel need to take." He was sort of glad she said both of their names, since she was looking at the request while saying it. He glared at the boat, trying to act normal, as a thought came to him. "So what kinda mission are we goin' on anyways? I never got ta look at the request..."

But instead of responding with words, like he had hoped, she merely handed him the request before walking over to talk to the boat's manager. After watching her for a moment in honest disappointment, he looked down at the paper. The ocean water around the island has started to strongly taste like metal? That is kind of weird. Shouldn't it taste like salt? No wonder the two of them were especially picked for this mission.

He looked up and saw that Juvia was climbing into the boat, only giving him a quick glance before starting the engine. He blinked, momentarily wondering when she learned to drive a boat before realizing she was really planning to leave him behind if he didn't get in that second.

He huffed as he got in, slamming down in his seat as he yelled at her. "What's the big idea?! You almost left me behind!" Again, instead of using words, she zoomed out onto the water towards the island, making Gajeel hang on for dear life and lose his breakfast at the same time. She clearly did so on purpose, or so he thought.

Evil...First his cat, and now his best friend. He knew that she was stubborn, but for her to be this mad at him? He really didn't know what to do...One of the points he liked about her was that she was so forgiving of people. Like that Merely girl for instance, and she threatened to kill Gray! Of course, she was an enemy at the time.. He was her friend, and he still said what he said...

Of course she was upset with him.

By the time these thoughts went in and out during his motion sickness, the boat slowly came to a stop, running up against the island's shore. Gajeel leaned over the edge for a few long moments making inhuman sounds before even attempting to try and stand. He barely noticed that she waited her him to stand before getting out of the boat, her feet landing in the water smoothly.

The Iron Dragon Slayer, however, almost fell on his face trying to get out, sickness still causing him to lag. Though after he hit dry, steady land, he recovered pretty quickly, shaking his head before looking around. The island was smaller than he expected, but was still a nice size for a small village. Speaking of small village... He glanced down at the paper still in his hand. It said their client was in one, on the other end of the island.

She looked at him then, but only in question, probably wondering where to go from here. He glanced forward, suddenly not able to look at her in the eye. "We...Ah, gotta go to the other side of the island... To meet the client...and stuff." He swallowed. Wow. She finally looks at you, and you look away, saying that. Poetic.

She only nodded and started walking onto the sandy beach. Gajeel following close behind until a very familiar sound was heard as they walked onto the beach. Gajeel quickly turned around, hoping that he didn't hear what he thought he just heard.

However, to the Dragon Slayer's dismay, the sight before him was definitely what he thought it was. His mouth only dropped to the sand as the all too familiar purple lettering came into view, floating in the air. Juvia was also staring up at the words as they formed, and seeing that Gajeel wasn't in any condition to read them, she did so out loud.

"Gajeel Redfox and Juvia Lockser, are hereby not allowed to step off of this island until they have made amends. -The Master."

A thick silence fell over the two as they silently reread the words above them. Juvia glared over at Gajeel, who flinched at the sight. "Gajeel planned this, didn't he?" He started to sweat, shaking his head. "I swear I had nothin' ta do with this!"

She seemed to believe him as she looked back at the words with an unreadable expression. Silence fell again as he looked down at the request in his hand, squinting his eyes at it with a long frown. "Now that I get a good look at this...It looks like the bookworm's work..."

She looked over his shoulder curiously, examining the work. "It does look like Levy-chan..." He sighed. At least she had calmed down a bit. But as the silence returned, it also brought back the awkwardness.

He finally sat down in the sand. There was no point in doing a made up mission. He wasn't stupid. The guild was obviously worried about them and wanted them to make up. But did they really have to go this far to help him? Oh who was he kidding, this was Fairy Tail he was thinking about! They go overboard on everything!

Juvia must have felt strange for standing, since she sat down next to him, only about a foot away, he noted, before glancing at her. She had pulled her knees up and wrapped her arms around them, placing her chin on them and looking ahead with unfocused eyes.

He knew that this was his chance but he hadn't the slightest idea on what to say. Should he try just normal conversation first? Or go with the direct approach?

"Say what you want to say, but this time try and be a little more gentle about it."

The Master's words rang in his head over and over again before he realized what he had to say. Something the man didn't say often, and even those that knew him personally thought the words never came out of his proud mouth.

"I'm sorry..."

It was barely mumbled, but Juvia's head shot up to look at him after he spoke. His voice was oddly soft and honest. She wondered for a second if she had misheard, but after seeing the guilty look on his face, she continued to listen.

"I'm not good with words, you can just ask the Shrimp, but Master told me ta say what was on my mind so here goes nothin'." He ran a hand through his hair. "I didn't mean ta make ya so upset, I was just worried that the Stripper would end up hurtin' ya.., but, I ended up doin' that instead. Heh, some best friend I am..."

As he spoke she was outwardly becoming more emotional. In truth, the only reason she was acting so cold was because she didn't want him to see how emotionally unstable she was feeling. She thought that if she put on a tough exterior, she wouldn't look so pathetic. She wasn't really mad at what he had said, but rather was trying to figure out if his words were true or not. But the mere thought of them possibly being true made her extremely sad. That's why she had reacted the way she did. Her mind had shut down. She hated the possibility that his words were true, not Gajeel himself. But she said what she said anyways, without making it clear.

Now he was apologizing.

She should be the one to apologize, but he continued.

"So, even if I, ah, don't get why ya do what ya do when it comes to the Stripper, I shouldn't have said what I did, and I get it if you hate my guts-" But he was cut off by Juvia, who had tackled him in a hug around the shoulders, almost knocking him over, and crying as she spoke.

"She doesn't! Juvia doesn't! She was j-just upset at the truth, not Gajeel-kun!" He blinked, utterly confused by that statement. Then she started to sob and Gajeel didn't know what to do as she went on. "J-Juvia was sad that Gajeel-kun could be r-right and took it out on him, she's sorry! It's her fault! D-Don't be sorry, it was Juvia's fault!" She started to cry harder and he could only sit there awkwardly patting her head, leaning on his other hand to keep them both from falling. But you know, he couldn't help but grin in relief.

"Come on, quit yer cryin."

"B-But Juvia can't!" He sighed, though amused, then looked up to notice the purple words slowly fade away. He smirked at where they once were. He would have to thank the Master later for this. Then his smirk turned into a deep, annoyed frown.

He hated eavesdroppers. He glanced down at the hysterical Water-woman and decided he would give them a piece of his mind later.

A little ways away, behind some bushes.

Lucy and Happy were hugging while crying. Erza's lip was quivering as she watched the scene with watery eyes. And Natsu couldn't stop grinning, extremely happy to see his Nakama getting along again. He just hoped that Ice Brain did his part when they got back.

When Juvia had finally calmed down, Gajeel couldn't seem to take much more of the fools crying behind them as he glared in their direction. "Will ya just come out already!? You're freaking annoying!" Juvia blinked as she watched Natsu proudly emerge from the bushes, the others following behind him.

She blinked in confusion. "W-What are you doing here..?"

Natsu laughed. "We're by-visors and super-standers!" Gajeel raised a brow, staring at him blankly. "Huh..?"

Lucy, who had become sober again, facepalmed. "Natsu...You mean 'Bystanders' and 'Supervisors'..." He only nodded, as if he was still correct. "That's what I said Luce!"

"Yeah.., Whatever..." She was so use to this by now that she just didn't care anymore.

"She likeeees him~"

"Cram it cat!"

As the three went at it, Erza went over to Juvia and helped her stand up, Gajeel had already done so to go yell at Natsu. Juvia had accepted her extended hand and both smiled to one another.

Not long after that, they all made their way back to the guild hall. The boat ride was spent with Erza driving and Lucy and Juvia failing to comfort the Dragon Slayers, who had learned the hard way that Erza should not be legally allowed to drive a boat...This however, made them reach land rather quickly, and as soon as they did, one would have thought that Titania was dragging two dead bodies over her shoulders rather than her friends. They didn't recover until the group had reached the guild hall.

"Wow, yer so weak that ya let Erza carry ya around on her shoulder, Iron Breath?"

"She carried you two ya know, Flame Brain..." He was much too tired to full out argue with him right now. Mentally and physically... After entering, the guild members flooded the group with worry. It took a little while, but the small group was able to assure their Nakama that everything was all good now.

Erza found Gajeel and told him to go meet the Master. He nodded and was heading that way when he saw, from the corner of his eye, the Stripper walk up to Juvia nervously starting to talk with her. Juvia glanced over at him and he gave her a small smile of encouragement with a nod before walking towards the Master's office. He trusted that Juvia could handle the situation on her own. He knew now that she could.

He reached out and opened the door before walking inside. As before, the chair was turned. He walked up to the desk as the old man turned around with a big grin on his wrinkled face. "Well, I'm glad you're back. It didn't take as long as I thought it would." Gajeel's eye twitched.

"So I get way you sent us to that stupid island, but did ya have ta send the twerps there to spy on us?" The older man laughed at his defeated tone. Gajeel was very worn out and this fact seemed to amuse Makarov.

"Oh yes my boy! If I didn't send them, they wouldn't have been able to tell me everything that happened in detail!" He started to laugh again and Gajeel just sighed, rubbing his neck. "Ya know, I don't really care anymore..."

The Master raised a knowing brow. "We both knew that isn't true, Gajeel." The Iron Dragon Slayer only glanced away, a bit embarrassed as he continued. "At any rate, I just wanted to tell you that I'm proud of you."

Gajeel shot his shocked gaze up to the older smiling man, staring for a good minute before slowly nodding. The Master nodded back. "That was all, you might want to go talk to Pantherlily, he's been very worried." Gajeel nodded again before turning to leave. He opened the door, but stopped, not looking back as he spoke.

"Thank you." Then he was gone. This only made the Master sniff. His children were growing up so fast!

"There's no need to cry..." Makarov quickly turned his watery gaze to the First Master, who was this time, standing next to his chair. "Y-You're crying too, First..." She pouted, her lip quivering. "N-Nah-uh!"

Gajeel found Lily sitting on the bar drinking kiwi juice. He walked up and sat in the chair next to him. "GeeHee."

The familiar laugh caught his cat's attention as he looked over at him with a small smile. "Welcome back." Gajeel smirked. "Thanks." He finished his juice and set the cup down on the bar counter.

"I'm surprised you're back this early. I didn't expect to see you until next week." Gajeel's head fell at the honesty of his cat. "It's good ta know you have good faith in me..." Lily laughed.

"Of course I do." Gajeel grunted in annoyance as Lily continued. "I'm your cat after all."

The Iron Dragon Slayer rarely got emotional, but most of those rare times were because of Pantherlily. This was one of those times. Gajeel looked up at his cat with tears running down his face, tackling him in a hug, much like after they returned to Earthland. Lily only sighed.

Gajeel was just a big softy...