"She's fine. I'm going to have her stay in bed for the rest of today and lie low for a while to recover."

"Has she been taking the iron pills Gray gave her?" Levy asked quietly beside Lucy in the booth. Erza sat in her usual corner. Gajeel was standing at the table with his arms crossed, looking at the blue haired mechanic with stoic, but gentle eyes as he came back from carrying Juvia up the wooden stairs while Totomaru picked up the fallen glasses and forks from the situation about a half hour earlier.

Gajeel shrugged and rubbed his temple. "I think so, but I don't keep tabs on them as often as I used to. She's been bitching at me to stay out of her business with the meds, somethin' 'bout how I don't need to worry or whatever," he sighed lowly. "Stripper had given her a big supply though, so I figured she'd be good for another few months, at least. She only takes one or two a day as far as I know."

"She's going to be okay, right?" Lucy asked, suddenly regretting it but Gajeel didn't bother to make her feel any more uncomfortable. He was way passed the point of pretending that Juvia's new friend didn't exist.

"Yeah, she's coming back to earth now. Sue and I got her into bed, so she is going to rest."

"Can I see her, Gajeel-kun?" Levy looked up to him, seeing how his jaw clenched and his shoulders became a bit more tight.

Totomaru watched behind him as Gajeel shook his head and exhale sharply. "It's best to just let her sleep for now. Sol is coming by pretty soon, so I think it should be a good time to leave before he gets here."

"Gajeel-kun -!" Levy stood up from her spot on the booth to protest, but Erza's voice cut in to stop the young mechanic.

"We'll head out now. We don't want Sol getting upset seeing us in the bar before a race, right?" Erza said softly, offering a small smile to Gajeel before getting up and gestured the other two to follow. Lucy shyly obeyed and bowed her head in apology before going to the door to wait with the redhead.

Levy was slow and hesitant to get out of her seat, but she slowly slipped off the leather cushion and stood on her two feet and looking down in slight irritation. Her hands gripping her skirt tightly, Levy didn't really bother to say any bidding goodbyes to the other gang members, feeling herself more focused on the other female member of Phantom Lord who was convulsing in her brother's arms when he carried her up the stairs a while prior.

A large, hard yet warm hand rest atop of her head, making her blink back her tears and look up to see her boyfriend giving her a knowing look. Bending down to her small height, he locked eyes with her and offered a half-snarky grin.

"She's going to be okay, shrimp. It's not like the bad ones, remember?" he said quietly, not letting the others present in the room to hear. "I'll have Boze or Totomaru send the message tonight or tomorrow at the tracks. Erza'll be there, right?"

Levy nodded. "You will stay with her for me, please?"

"Squirt won't let me go anywhere without her," he snorted, making Levy give him a wet smile. Seeing her cheer up a bit, the Phantom Lord racer smirked before pressing a quick kiss to her hairline (Gajeel knows that Totomaru would never say anything about him being affectionate, unlike Juvia). "I ain't going nowhere without her, 'kay? Just get on outta here and do whatever you normally do...readin' or something."

Levy quietly exhaled and nodded. "Okay, but I'm gonna be expecting something, or so help me I will get Gray to drive me down here and I'll make a scene." She sent him a sharp glare and pokes his chin piercing, making him grunt with a twitch in his brow.

"Keep that strippin' son of a bitch outta my business," Gajeel hissed darkly before straightening his back and crossing his arms with a angry pout. This made Levy's heart lighten and realized that things were going to be better with Gajeel here for her dearest cousin, and she couldn't stop herself from wrapping her thin arms around her boyfriend and hug him before scurrying to the door, which was propped open by Erza for her to arrive.

Erza let Levy leave before taking one last look to Gajeel and Totomaru, who gave her a simple nod before letting go of the door to close with a loud bang. The S-Class racer looked to the bartender for a second before heading up towards the stairs.

"Call me if something happens, Totomaru," Gajeel said sternly, already going up the steps.

"Sol would be here around noon," Totomaru reminded him, standing with the collected contents on the tray. "I'll do my best to keep him out from upstairs, but I'll have you come down when he arrives so Juvia-sama can rest."

Gajeel went up the creaky steps and to the next floor, where the slim, dark hallway held only four doors. The one at the end was locked tight, due to being Jose's personal office whenever he came to the bar for meetings or personal work; the rest where old closets and storage spaces transformed into makeshift bedrooms, Boze and Sue had the biggest room remaining with the contents of books and kitchen tools while Totomaru got the old broom closet (the ex-college instructor insisted he didn't need space).

Gajeel and Juvia's room was next to Jose's office and right above the freezer underneath the floor of the kitchen, which was why the bedroom was normally cold to him. It was once an old storage space and now struggled to contain a bed and dresser, as well having him sleeping on the floor. It was probably not the best or healthiest place to sleep at night, but Gajeel knew that his sister would never complain about having a roof over her head.

Opening his apartment door, Gajeel stuck his head in to see Sue sitting on the edge of Juvia's small bed, while the pale, pale woman laid underneath all the blankets possible in the room. Once the teen saw her superior present, Sue got up from the bed and exited the bedroom, having the door nearly shut tight behind her back.

"Juvia-sama is responding now," she said quietly. "I removed her uniform incase there is a relapse and gave her all the blankets... she said she was really cold, but she felt hot when I checked her heart rate."

Gajeel nodded. "That's normal for the aftermath. Nothing will happen again, except she'll be very tired and probably slow," he explained while tilting his head. "What exactly happened, Sue?"

"After she helped me with my studying, she stood up and turned really fast with her tray. Toto-sensei asked to bring it back for him to wash, you know? I noticed she looked really pale while she was explaining the chapter to me and sounded like she was slurring." Sue bit her lip before fixing the beanie on her head, and Gajeel remembered how that was somewhat of a security blanket for her. "I should've paid more attention. I'm sorry, Gajeel-sama, it's all my fault because I made her help me."

"It ain't your fault, Sue. Don't go blaming yourself for nothing," Gajeel snorted before lightly touching his knuckle to her chin, making the teenager sigh sadly. Jerking his chin, Gajeel offered her a grin. "Why don'tcha help yourself to the candy stash I got under the counter? Sugar helps you study faster and take in information. I'll handle things in here."

Sue blinked up to him. "You mean the shoebox filled with those candy bars and sugar sticks? But you said you'd shove a screwdriver down anyone's throat if they -!"

"Totomaru's studies were a pain in the ass when I did it, and chocolate always made it better to handle," Gajeel shrugged. "You deserve it tonight, but don't go thinkin' ya can get your greedy hands on it all the time, got it?"

Sue smiled her usual tough-looking grin, and he knew she felt better with the luring of food. "Whatever you say, Gajeel-sama. Can Boze get one when he comes home, too?"

"If he can get his goddamn homework done, then we'll talk."

Sue didn't say anything else as she dashed down the hallway, leaving Gajeel to roll his eyes and turn to his door. Not bothering to knock on his own apartment door, the muscular man carefully opened the door and let himself inside the room, noticing the small lamp on on top of the dresser, where Juvia's uniform was folded neatly on the other edge of it. Coming over to kneel beside the bed, Gajeel was careful to move only a small fraction of the blankets to reveal his little sister's face resting on the pillow.

Her eyes were much more brighter, reflecting the small given light inside the room and sought it as a good sign. She was still sickly pale and dark underneath her blue eyes, her bangs sticking to her forehead and cheeks like she was doused in a bucket of icy water and left to shiver. Juvia was laying on her side with her hands under her chin, curling and uncurling and pricking the tips of her fingers with her thumb, as if trying to find feeling in her nerves.

"Hoggin' all my blankets, aren't you, squirt?" Gajeel snickered softly, seeing how Juvia slowly blinked up to look at him with a tired stare. "Can you understand me?"

"Did Juvia have an accident in front of Levy-chan and her friends..?" her voice came out like a ragged cough, almost ghost-like. Gajeel could tell that she was exhausted after coming out of her seizure and he didn't want to make her head sore from trying to think too much or work her muscles after they were stiff tightly for a good few minutes.

Carefully letting his hand hover over her head, he tried to brush her bangs away from her clammy face. "You just fell to the floor. Nothing more happened."

"Promise?" she peeped and curled a bit more into a ball, her lips pressed against her hands.

"Yeah, I promise ya," Gajeel nodded.

"No hospital?"

"You know me, squirt. Remember what we talked about?" he reminded her carefully, and she nodded. "Good kid. No hospital needed."

Juvia's exhale was long and airy, looking away from him to try and recollect herself mentally and physically. Gajeel could see that and all he had to do was come up with his own plan to make everything right for himself and his stepsister, as he always did ever since he was told he was now going to be a big brother to such a little baby years ago.

"We're gonna take a couple days off from working and have a little vacation. How does that sound? I say we sleep in until lunch and I'll take you to that bookstore you like."

"Juvia feels really tired..." Juvia's eyes watered and raised her head a little to press against his palm, and he frowned at how she was getting worked up. "Levy-chan isn't mad, is she? Juvia can't... Juvia remembers Levy-chan...going to see Nii-chan."

"She was worried, but she knows that you're going to be okay," he told her confidently, his fingers carefully rubbing her scalp and made her whine a little. She closed her eyes and snuggled her cheek against her pillow.

"Mmn..." Juvia breathed, her eyes remaining closed. "We are going to get in trouble."

"Just two days, so you can rest and relax," he tried, but her face scrunched, prying one eye open to stare at him. Sighing, Gajeel dropped his head to the mattress and raised it again to rest on his propped arm. "What are you plannin'?"

"Just tonight, please."

"And tomorrow," Gajeel pressed, but Juvia closed her eyes and shook her head slowly. He growled at that and ruffled her hair but he knew she didn't care about it. "Don't do this to yourself, kid. It's bad for you to do that, you know?"

"Jose will be mad if you don't work, and Juvia doesn't want that," she whispered sadly. Gajeel watched her open her eyes to him and tuck a blanket under her chin. "And we were doing very well, too, working for Hades."

"It's just tonight and tomorrow. Let me take care of Jose and Sol," he told her carefully. "Tonight and tomorrow, you're going to be good as new and ready to kick ass as usual, you little squirt. Totomaru's gonna test your eye vitals tomorrow and we'll work on your hands and legs slowly - you and Sue can do that yoga thing she always talks about."

"Okay," she whispered and Gajeel made sure to tuck the blanket to conceal as much of her skin while leaving her face open for air before standing up. He turned off the lamp and quietly left the room, closing the door to put his sister in the darkness to go to sleep that she desperately needed for her body from the last few days.

Taking a deep breath, Gajeel made his way over to the stairs and mentally prepared himself to deal with what was to come. Hearing the voice of Totomaru and another voice from the lobby of the bar, Gajeel looked down to see the green-dyed hair and the scrawny face of Sol in his stupid red tux sitting on the stool at the counter.

Totomaru placed a wine glass infront of Jose's assistance when he noticed the S-Class racer coming down. "Gajeel-sama, I was just going to call for you," the bartender said slowly, and Gajeel could tell that Sol was trying to stall him from getting his attention - which was very common for the Frenchman to do when Jose has something for them to do.

"'Sup," Gajeel sniffed when Sol grinned dorkly at him. Crossing his arms, the racer came closer to the bar to tower over Sol, which made him respond with a tiny flinch and Totomaru to smile uneasily.

Sol cleared his throat before reaching into his suit pocket, pulling out a folded piece of paper. "Monsieur Jose wants you and Juvia to go out and take down another target," he said calmly, holding out the piece of paper for Gajeel to take. "He is at the clubs on the other side of the city, but he is looking to get out after he get money from -"

"We ain't going out tonight," he cut him off, jerking his chin at the piece of folded paper. "And don't bother callin' tomorrow either, 'cause we ain't gonna pick up."

"Non?" Sol raised a brow. "What is the meaning of this?"

"Jose's best friend forever and his boss is working us overtime, and we're still expected to take on races? It's bullshit," Gajeel snorted and rolled his eyes. Sol frowned at this and rest his elbow with the photo in his hand on the counter. "We're tired as hell. Keepin' it up like this is gonna get us sick, ya idiot."

"Hades requests that the S-Class of Phantom Lord handle all the jobs given out," Sol reminded him simply. "It is not my fault that Monsieur Jose tell you to take care of the races either; you two are the only ones who win anything and Boze and Sue are still just too young to handle anything this serious. They are simply too immature."

"Tell Jose he can suck it," the racer growled out and Sol paled at the use of language. "If he is that desperate to please his old buddy of his and get all that cash in the same god damn day, tell him to go sell one of his ugly-ass suits online."

Sol glanced at Totomaru, who remained quiet the whole time since the conversation started between them. "I shall guess that Juvia is unable to satisfy Jose's assignments again?"

"Watch what comes out of your mouth, Sol!"

"Well? Is it true, or no?" the green haired man tilt his head. "If Jose questions what is keeping you two from going out tonight, it would be better to tell him myself instead of have him come here and cause a scene..."

"I ain't giving him shit if he comes here in his lingerie or Superman-jammies," Gajeel told him. "Gun or not, we all know who's capable of winning a fight."

"Yes, but remember that Jose has friends, Gajeel-sama," Totomaru whispered between them, making the pierced man roll his eyes again.

The man who serves to help and assist Jose for years grinned again, knowing that the situation was back in his favor once again. "It's so true that he has friends. If they ever hear that Jose was taken out by someone with a record like Gajeel, I can imagine the many zeros on the wanted poster with your face on it!"

"Yeah, but you don't have much of a social group," Gajeel reminded him and leaned forward. Sol reacted by leaning back with a frightened look on his face. "So, keep playing Jose's little bitch and I might lose my patience."

"Gajeel-sama," Totomaru whispered, catching his attention as his considered-teacher's eyes glanced up to the ceiling for a second and back down to give him a knowing look. Rusty eyes narrowed in irritation but straightened up to give Sol space.

Looking down to the poor excuse in his sight, Gajeel dropped his voice to a more deeper, threatening tone that would send chills up anyone's spine. "You tell Jose that we're skipping whatever Hades or his boss sends unless it's at a reasonable time and we get paidseparate from him, got it, Frenchy? My sister and I ain't fuckin' cattle to you, and I ain't also afraid to remind anyone who tries to come in here and tell me otherwise."

"You know I am just giving you what Jose orders," Sol simply said, getting up from his seat and straightening his coat while slipping the folded paper back into his coat. "I will relay the message that Juvia is unable to go through with her job, and her brother is staying by her side. Will that ease your temper, Gajeel?"

Nothing more was said in the bar as Sol made his way through the tables and chairs towards the big, metal door. Bidding a silent goodbye to the bartender and racer, the slim man dipped his head before yanking the heavy door open to slip out. Both Totomaru and Gajeel waited a moment before looking away from the entrance and release heavy sighs.

Totomaru pinched the bridge of his nose and shut his eyes. "I'm not too sure what I can do for you now, Gajeel. If Jose is to call at all, I'll try to -"

"Don't bother with it."

Looking up to the hardcore man, Totomaru raised a brow of confusion when Gajeel met his gaze with a hard stare of all business and no games. Gajeel leaned back on the counter with ease, and it made the bartender relax when there was no sign of the racer's usual act of violence and wanting to break something.

"If Jose has a problem with anything, it goes to me," Gajeel said sternly.

"Whatever happened to the little kid who wanted nothing but work on my car with his little sister clinging to his leg?" Totomaru smirked somewhat sadly, placing his hands on his hips while the younger man snorted. "I remember when you would just walk right into my room while I was sleeping, dig in my pants for keys and take off with them and spend hours in the garage with Juvia-sama helping out. How old were you around that time? Ten, more or less?"

"We ain't little kids anymore, Totomaru," Gajeel rolled his eyes.

"I know, but it still amazes me seeing you two grow up so quickly like that and taking care of everyone here like some boss," Totomaru teased lightly and took Sol's drink from the counter to dump it out. Taking out a fresh glass, Totomaru filled the glass with a simple tap beer and handed it to Gajeel, who took the glass and began chugging it.

"It's a habit."

"Yeah, but that habit can come back and bite you in the ass," the bartender told him when he finished the drink softly. "I see you take as much crap from Jose and handle him just fine, but this employer we have now may not be as weak as he is. You haven't even seen Hades' boss yet, have you?"

Gajeel looked to him and took a seat. Leaning further on the counter, Gajeel kept his voice low when he realized that Sue was in the garage, speaking outloud about her notes for memorization. "It's just between you and me, Totomaru," he said quietly, "but I have a bad feeling on who this boss of Hades is, and I don't like it."

Totomaru blinked in response. "What are you talking about, Gajeel?" he asked in a whisper.

Tugging on his beige bandana, Gajeel breathed. "I feel like Acnologia is back, and Jose is working for him. That man we had to take out the other day? It was Zancrow."

"Zancrow?" Totomaru hissed in shock, looking behind him to make sure that Sue was still distracted before looking back with wide eyes. "You took out Zancrow? Gajeel, what in the hell did you -?"

"He had it comin', and I would gladly kill that son of a bitch over and over before I would let him get out of this city for what he's done."

"Zancrow was one of Acnologia's hardest men to even get a good look at, Gajeel. Even your father had a hard time getting to him, do you understand? Your father couldn't get to him," Totomaru gripped Gajeel's shoulders, yet the man didn't budge.

"That's what is bothering me," Gajeel looked down to his glass. "When Juvia got him to crash near the docks, he didn't do anything to retaliate. It was like he was freaked out like a deer in the headlights."

Totomaru rubbed his own chin, contemplating what was being told to him as Gajeel went on. "He begged for mercy when I got out and took his head, man. I had a fuckin' ball bashing his head on the ground before Juvia tried to stop me, but I was pissed to pay attention to the squirt."

Shaking his head, Gajeel gripped his glass to the point it could have shattered, but he heaved a hard breath to calm down his stiff muscles. "You shoulda seen how freaked she was when I pulled out that fuckin' gas tank on him, man. I set him on fire and I didn't listen to Juvia..."

"You know it's not the first time she has seen something like that," the black and white haired man told him. "You know she's seen worse things."

"But she's never seen me do something like that."

Totomaru let a patch of silence stretch out, letting the uncomfortable moment make things so awkward for them. "She doesn't know about Zancrow, does she?" he finally asked Gajeel. "Does she even know about what he tried to do when your dad was around?"

"She was too young to remember any of that. My old man made sure she wasn't around him long enough as a toddler," Gajeel shrugged. "I know she remembers seeing Dad after him and Zancrow would go at it with each other, but I doubt she's ever heard of him."

"And you're assuming that Acnologia is the employer and we're working for him," Totomaru added. "But why would Jose be working for Acnologia and take out one of his own men?"

"I don't know, but I don't want Juvia to be part of anything Hades is shoving up Jose's ass. She already had a seizure, it's only a matter of time until something worse can happen," Gajeel frowned before tapping his glass to the other. "Gimme a refill. It's gonna be a long day."

When Gajeel was younger and Juvia was so much more fragile and smaller, he could remember his own father dealing with Acnologia's own man getting into his business. Zancrow was a hunting kind of man when it came to possible cash and benefitting from others' misery, Gajeel knew. His father told him at one point that the blonde gangster was somewhat of a child trafficker for drugs and weaponry in Acnologia's industry, and how Zancrow had been lurking around when Gajeel was outside with his baby step-sister...

And it was more than once when Gajeel witnessed his own father attack Zancrow when he came too close to his kids, especially Juvia. Most of the time, Gajeel's dad was an ass (even to Gajeel as a kid, he will admit), but he was the most protective man he had ever seen in his life and cared deeply for his family; Gajeel knew that his dad would take a bullet for his two children and didn't care who it was, which was why he didn't show any mercy to Acnologia's partner whenever he looked at Gajeel or Juvia longer than a second.

It was also why Gajeel didn't show any mercy when he saw Zancrow trying to skip out of town. If anything, Gajeel sought the chance of doing his father a favor in taking out the person who made him stay up all night with loaded guns on the coffee table.

"Dad?" Gajeel sighed as he rubbed under his eye, seeing the living room lamp on after coming out of his bedroom to use the bathroom for the fifth time that night. Sticking his head around the corner of the wall, the nine year old looked to see his muscular and pretty frightening-looking father lock his gun from refilling the magazine. Scrunching his face, the kid entered the room to reveal himself to his father.

"What are you doing, Dad?" he asked as he approached the small table, his head tilting at the amount of guns, knives and even his homemade bombs arranged in order. Looking up to his poorly patched face, he could also see how bad the bruising on his skin was developing.

Metalicana blew a strand of his messy, silvering hair out of his eyesight as he reached for his water. "Just hanging around, kid," he mumbled under his breath before taking a sip. "You shouldn't be up this late, or your face is going to fall off."

The kid flinched and narrowed his rusty eyes at his father. "No it's not."

"You're right, your hair will fall out," Metalicana said simply, making Gajeel roll his eyes while he snickered.

"You're a jackass, Dad." Although it was their usual conversations of bad words and bothering each other, Metalicana and Gajeel were very close as father and son and had a wonderful relationship. It was just a bit rougher-looking than most. "What are you doing?"

Rolling his matching eyes, Metalicana set his water down. "You're so nosey in shit, kid."

"Is it that Zancrow guy again? That's the name of the guy who came by and you chased him, right? The one who gave you that ugly thing," Gajeel pointed to his own face, reflecting his dad's wounded face that made his little step-sister freak out at the sight of blood coming out of his nose and mouth. "He said that he wanted to play with us and show Juvia how to use her little lawn mower -"

"That man is bad, Gajeel," Metalicana stopped the ten year old from talking about the day's event of seeing a blond man approaching him and his little sister while they pretended to be gardeners. Juvia's mother had just left with the only car in the driveway when he came from behind the trees, not knowing that the man of the house was still home and keeping an eye on the kids in the front lawn.

Gajeel was going to tell the stranger to leave his baby sister alone, to let her 'mow the lawn the way she wanted to', when Metalicana came running out of the house with a wrench in each hand and started yelling for his son to take his sister in go in the house.

Metalicana grabbed one of his knives from his little table collection and flipped it open. "If you ever see that man again, I want you to take Juvia away from him as fast as you can and do whatever it takes to stay away from him," he told his son seriously, tossing the knife to a flip to grasp it by the blade and hold it out the handle to his son, who took it carefully and looked to it in his hand. "That man is not a friend, not like Igneel. You don't see me chasing Igneel off my lawn when he comes near you or your sister, do you?"

"No," Gajeel shook his head, knowing very well that, whenever Igneel came to visit with his father after a night at the races and he, his stepsister and stepmother would stay up waiting for him, it was always a fun time. It wasn't often for Metalicana to bring friends over, or anyone from the races anywhere near his house, but Igneel was an exception to the Redfox family. "Sometimes you want to fight him in the backyard after you two drink, and Mom tells me it's because you two are idiots."

"Yes, but I would never keep Igneel away from my kids," Metalicana held up a finger of realization to the young boy. "That's the difference."

"Why is that Zancrow guy bad?" Gajeel asked slowly, setting the knife on the table. It wasn't the first time he held a knife before, but the conversation somewhat made him feel a bit uneasy holding it.

"He likes to hurt kids and women, and he tried getting close to you and your baby sister to take you away from me today," he said darkly, and Gajeel has never seen his father give off such a dark aura about anyone before. "He works for Acnologia."

"The guy who's on the news all the time?" Gajeel flinched when his father nodded.

"That guy. But no one is going to take you or your sister away, got it? And, when you get older and become strong like me, you can scare that Zancrow away from our lawn when I'm too old and in a wheelchair. Just don't trip over something and fall on your face."

"Jackass!" Gajeel hissed at his dad, who smirked at his fiery personality.

"Gajeel, you care for your family, right? Even if Juvia and your mom aren't really your family?" Metalicana asked his son, who blinked at the sudden question. "Because I married your mom and Juvia is not related to us and gets sick easily. Does that bother you?"

"Why would that bother me?" he narrowed his eyes to him.

"Because kid," his father breathed before leaning back on the couch, "someday, I may not be able to protect your little sister anymore and I want to know if you can take care of her for me when the time comes..."

Gajeel was always the protective brother ever since he first held Juvia when she was just a baby. He was always the first to come to her crib when she cried at night, or when she had a bad dream of some sort; when her medical issue became a emotional struggle for her, being unable to go to school or play and run, he would ignore his classmates' invitation to play football to stay inside and play dolls if she wanted. He scared off anyone with a harsh stare or a threat when his sister was uncomfortable by the attention and even made her meals before she was capable of making her own food...

When his dad stopped coming home when he was fourteen and Juvia was seven, Gajeel understood what Metalicana meant by taking care of his family. The feeling to take out the enemy who sought after his father, his sister and even himself for their own personal benefits flowed into his blood when he became the caretaker of his sister. Gajeel can recall all of the times his father came home from a race or a job with burn marks or bruises, and he knew when they came from Zancrow or someone from Acnologia's gang.

Seeing Zancrow cower and cry in fear when cornered put Gajeel in the state of mind that he was now getting the chance to come face-to-face that obviously had to do with what happened with his own father. He had the chance and power to take revenge on the person who made his father fear for his own kids lives and stay up at night to guard the house; the man who Gajeel would look out his and his little sister's bedroom window back in his old home before making sure Juvia was comfortable and going to bed.

Gajeel didn't need to torture Zancrow and prolong the man's suffering, but he did it anyway. He did it for his father who looked after his two kids. He did it for the woman who accepted Gajeel as her own son and gave him the motherly love he went without the first six or seven years of his life. He did it for the sister he promised to protect with everything he could. Juvia may have not known the meaning behind her brother's violence and taking the job more of a mission to absolutely destroy Zancrow, but she'd didn't question him on the ride home or while she was making her cousin and friends some treats.