Chapter 28: Sheila
"There you are. The water-maker in the flesh," Gajeel drawled, a jagged smile cutting across his face as he took a heavy, deliberate step forward into the hall.
Juvia swiftly held up a trembling hand, grimacing as another rough wave of coughing rattled her chest. "Look… you win, okay? I yield. I won't go after that Ebonveil guy anymore."
The declaration caught Gajeel entirely off guard. The sharp crimson slitted pupils in his eyes narrowed, and his boots grounded to a sudden halt on the splintered wood.
"Huh?" His jagged smile melted into a dark, visibly disappointed scowl. "Why the hell would you back down now? Don't tell me you're getting cold feet all of a sudden."
'He truly does do it entirely for the love of the game,' Juvia realized, watching his bitter reaction.
For Gajeel, the pounding excitement of a brutal exchange was a total addiction—the only time he felt genuinely alive.
Knowing she couldn't hide from his instinct, she opened her mouth to speak the absolute truth.
"My magical capacity is deeply tethered to my immediate environment," Juvia explained, her voice raw. "Under standard conditions, my internal reservoir is entirely finite. But in wet, highly humid, or rainy territory, my available reserve becomes practically limitless."
She gestured weakly to the dry, dust-choked air of the subterranean hall. "My Skywater Magic relies completely on processing ambient moisture. My overall power output is bound to my surroundings. Out here, I cannot sustain a protracted battle against you."
"I see… so that's the limit of your power, huh," Gajeel muttered. The disappointment faded from his face, replaced by a look of respect as he processed the boundaries of her magic.
The wild smirk slowly returned to his lips. "Well, I still enjoyed the hell out of our exchange. I'm just glad you came out to play, Juvia my friend."
Juvia knew better than to attempt a lie or a hollow excuse.
Gajeel valued raw, unfiltered truth above all else; he utterly despised social pretension and firmly believed that intense, violent emotions like hatred and anger were inherently more honest than forced smiles or polite manners.
By laying bare her tactical limitations, she had spoken the exact language he respected.
"The only thing I ask of you is this: can you at least tell me who he is?" Juvia pleaded, her voice dropping to a desperate whisper. "I'm begging you, Gajeel."
'If I can just identify who belongs to the Ebonveil Clan… then maybe they can provide the leverage I need to track down the rest of them.' she thought bitterly.
Before Gajeel could even formulate an answer, a cold, razor-sharp female voice cut through the ambient noise of the hall.
"What is the meaning of this disruption?"
Both Gajeel and Juvia snapped their heads toward the source. Floating steadily in the air a short distance away, balancing seamlessly atop a jagged piece of the destroyed corridor door, was an imposing woman.
She favored a meticulously tailored, sharp black-and-white business suit. The jacket was closely fitted to her frame, accentuating her tall, elegant proportions while maintaining a severe, professional authority.
Beneath the jacket sat a crisp white dress shirt, accompanied by a perfectly knotted black necktie.
Her hands were encased in fine black leather gloves, accented by subtle silver detailing along the knuckles and wrists—gloves she rarely, if ever, removed.
She stood balanced on the floating debris in polished black high heels, a single hand tucked casually into her trouser pocket while a smoldering cigarette rested between her fingers.
The crowd of Phantom Lord members stepped back in collective shock, frantic whispers breaking out across the tables.
"Whoa… look, It's Sheila."
"Sheila? The medical healer from the clinic?"
"Why is she here…?"
'She's utilizing Floating Magic.' Gajeel noted internally, his slitted eyes tracking the effortless way she commanded the ambient Ethernano currents without an elemental attribute.
"S-Sheila?" Juvia gasped, her eyes widening as she recognized her protector.
"Juvia." Sheila cast a brief, evaluating glance down at the bruised girl. With a fluid tilt of her body, she caused the piece of broken door to drift downward, descending smoothly until her high heels clicked sharply against the splintered floor directly in front of the pit.
In a single, swift motion, Sheila bent down and scooped Juvia up, securing the battered girl protectively within the firm embrace of her left arm.
With her right hand, she pulled the cigarette from her lips, exhaling a dense cloud of gray smoke.
Using the glowing tip of the cigarette like a pointed weapon, she aimed it directly at Gajeel's face.
"Allow me to make the hierarchy perfectly clear to you, boy," Sheila said, her dull, lusterless silver eyes locking onto the Dragon Slayer with an icy, terrifying stillness. "I am the sworn legal guardian of this child. Now, speak quickly—what business do you have threatening my kid?"
Almost immediately, the guild members around them began whispering to each other. A few of them looked completely shocked by Sheila's words. Simply put, absolutely none of them could imagine the cold, aloof clinic doctor adopting anyone.
'Great. Now I'm just gonna die of embarrassment,' Juvia thought, her entire face turning bright red at Sheila's loud declaration.
'Her guardian, huh?' Gajeel's ears twitched. 'And her name is Sheila…' Thanks to his sharp Dragon Slayer hearing, he easily picked up the muttered gossip from the surrounding crowd.
Still, he had one basic question on his mind.
"What do you mean by guardian?" Gajeel asked, tilting his head.
"Oh. Uhh…" Sheila suddenly shifted, looking surprisingly awkward. "A guardian is someone legally responsible for a child who has no one else. I'm responsible for her safety, her upbringing... everything."
"Ohh, I get it. Like a parent, right?"
"Well, no, not actually!" Sheila nervously stammered, her usual cool demeanor cracking. "I'm just taking care of her. It's not like I'm trying to replace her family or anything."
"Oh. My bad then," Gajeel said, shrugging.
Sheila cleared her throat, quickly forcing herself to calm down. "Now tell me, what exactly happened here?"
"Let me explain. Me and Juvia got into a fight back in the corridor," Gajeel started, pointing a thumb over his shoulder. "After a while, our clash got so big that it caused… well, that." He pointed right at the splintered ruins of the heavy door.
"I see." Sheila gave a slow nod. "So you got into a brawl." She looked down at Juvia and gently set the girl back on her feet.
Juvia stepped back slightly, her shoulders slumping. "Yeah, I did." She kept her eyes glued to the floor, unable to look Sheila in the face. "Are you mad at me…?"
Instead of a harsh reply, Juvia felt a warm, gentle hand rest on top of her head.
"Of course not," Sheila said softly. "I'm the one who brought you to this guild, so I know exactly how this place works."
She gestured vaguely toward the crowded tables around them. "Here in Phantom Lord, weakness is seen as a total failure. If you aren't a Mage, you're treated like trash. That's just the way it is. So I don't blame you for throwing down. But I do want to know who started it."
A heavy silence settled over the three of them. Normally, Gajeel would have piped up, but for some reason he couldn't quite explain, he just wanted to watch the scene play out.
After a long minute, a quiet voice finally broke the quiet.
"I-I did," Juvia muttered. "I'm the one who started it. But I had two reasons."
She swallowed hard and began to explain herself. "I've seen Gajeel fight a lot of times in the guild hall, even if he never notices me. Plus, the Master always talks about him, over and over, saying how much he expects from him. It was just kind of annoying…"
"So you were curious about him?" Sheila asked. Juvia gave a small, sheepish nod.
'Well, I can't really blame her,' Sheila thought to herself. 'In a place like this, words don't mean a thing. Nobody cares about what you have to say—they only care about how strong you are.'
Sheila knew the inner workings of Phantom Lord better than anyone; she had been stuck in this guild for years.
As for Juvia's second reason? Well, as the only person who actually knew about the girl's past, it wasn't hard for Sheila to guess what it was.
"I know you're just a kid, but you have to understand something," Sheila said, her hand still gently patting Juvia's hair. "You need to avoid fighting for selfish reasons."
"I'm not saying you can't stand up for your beliefs. But fighting just for yourself is a quick way to end up completely lonely."
Sheila knelt down to eye level, the cigarette still resting between her lips. She tapped two leather-gloved fingers gently against Juvia's chest. "Instead, fight for unselfish reasons. Fight to protect yourself, to protect someone else, or just to do what's right. Because throwing punches without a real purpose is just insanity. Do you get what I'm saying, Juvia?"
"Yeah. I understand," Juvia nodded softly. She turned around to face the young Dragon Slayer.
"I'm sorry, Gajeel," Juvia said, bowing her head deeply. "I shouldn't have started that fight. And I'm sorry for saying those mean things to you."
Gajeel looked away, scratching the back of his neck to avoid eye contact with the both of them. "Nah. It's cool. To be honest, I was a bit ticked off about something else earlier. So when I ran into you, it just seemed like a good way to blow off some steam. Still though, I ain't apologizing. That's just what makes me… me."
He glanced back toward them, his slitted eyes resting mainly on Juvia. "Still though, it was fun playing with you, so thanks. I had a real blast."
In response, Juvia lifted her head, offering a small but genuine nod to his words. "Yeah."
'What is this? This strange feeling is welling up in my chest,' Gajeel thought inwardly, no longer able to ignore the tightening in his ribs.
'Why does watching these two talk to each other make me feel so weird?'
It was hard for Gajeel to pinpoint exactly what he was experiencing. It felt a bit like disgust, mixed with a heavy dose of frustration. But what he couldn't wrap his head around was why he felt this way.
Suddenly, the fierce, stony face of Metalicana appeared in his mind.
'This feeling… there's only one word for it.'
"Weakness," Gajeel muttered under his breath, clenching his fist over his chest. "That's what this must be. How annoying."
"What's going on here?" A dominant, heavy male voice cut through the murmurs of the hall.
Almost instantly, multiple gasps and shocked whispers followed suit. The crowd of mages parted like a wave, scrambling to step aside as a man made his way to the front.
He wore a dark charcoal haori-style jacket with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, the fabric showing visible burn marks from past battles.
Underneath was a dark red, sleeveless undershirt, paired with black trousers and dark leather boots.
Resting tightly against his hip was a slightly curved black katana in a dark scabbard, featuring bronze fittings and a crimson wrapping around the hilt.
"Woah! Look, it's Damian," a Phantom Lord member whispered urgently.
"Who the hell is Damian?" another newcomer asked, squinting.
"Seriously? You're telling me you've never heard of him?"
Damian finally made his way to the front of the circle, stopping a fair distance away from Gajeel, Juvia, and Sheila.
His carefree expression from the dinner table was entirely gone, replaced by a cold, serious glare.
"I asked a question," Damian said, his voice echoing off the wooden floors. "And I expect an answer."
Behind him, the whispers among the rank-and-file only grew louder.
"He's one of the strongest members in the entire guild."
"He's one of the absolute best there is. He's an S-Class wizard."