Prologue: She who braves the deep sea
Juvia Lockser hated humans.
It was a thought that imbedded itself into her being. She buried her nails deep into her skin, her anger boiling deep from the roots of her hair to the tip of her swishing blue tail. The young mermaid saw hell at an early age, her eyes dead to the world as she gazed at the bloody corpses that used to be her parents. The waters around her twisted in fury, the waves lapping at the shoreline from the distance.
No mercy, Juvia.
She uncurled and curled her tiny hands into fists, clenching her jaw as she stared at the mangled remains of her loved ones. The harpoon from above had long since left, but her fury remained in her body, eating at her from the inside, stagnant waves in its wake. After what seemed like eternity, the little mermaid fell to the ocean floor, alongside her mother and her father. Their blood stained skin and hair alike, but she did not care. Her tears floated with the tide, and she placed her head on her mother's shoulder as she always did, praying for the gentle hand to come and caress her shiny hair.
There was no steady touch.
She stayed there for a long time. The dark, murky waters soon turned a fine shade of blue, reflecting the sky. Rays of glimmering sunlight made their way past the waves, sparkling and shimmering as they refracted through the waters. It was a beautiful sight, but the little mermaid felt no happiness as she continued to gaze upwards, lying between the bodies of her parents.
The world was beautiful, but also very, very cruel.
"Juvia, come back here ya stubborn girl!" Gajeel shouted as he swam past the coves, his agile, gray tail swishing from behind him, a few bubbles in its midst. "I said come back!"
"No," was the girl's dull reply, sending herself past a few fishes in a sudden burst of speed.
The little mermaid from long ago blossomed into a young flower, a gorgeous beauty to behold. Her blue hair scattered and spread in the water like waves, framing her serene face. Her skin was pale and her gills blue. There was a pattern of swirls she had inherited from her mother growing from the edge of her waist to the middle of her stomach, decorating her body. Her eyes, however, were a different story. Although they were as deep as the ocean—something that resembled a beautiful void—her eyes were dead and dull. Her face was always contorted into emotionless expressions, her mouth set in a grim line and her gaze a stern one. Her tail was a beautiful sapphire, the colour green emerging once in a while.
"Where are ya heading anyway?" Gajeel called from behind her, finally catching up. It was only when he was beside her that she realized she had lost her velocity, and she gazed at him blankly as he looked down at her, their tails twitching ever so slightly.
"Have you not heard? Master Jose is looking for us. He has a new mission for Gajeel-kun and Juvia," she told the man.
"Revenge," Gajeel's smirked, displaying her fanged mouth for the world to see. "Finally."
Gajeel was of shark-folk, a race buried underneath the depths of humanity and were almost forgotten through time. His skin almost resembled metal, and Juvia marveled at the way his tail glinted whenever the sun's rays happened to pass upon it. His gills were coloured silver, and a scar ran from the edge of his waist to his chest, a living reminder of the torture he had received from humans.
"Yes," Juvia said, nodding. "Something we have all been waiting for."
It was nearly noon when the two beings arrived at the headquarters of Phantom Lord, a murky place deep within the sea. No fishes resided in that area, where sharks ran rampant and other unknown (yet horrid) organisms swam about. The dangers of the depths of the darkness were well-known to mermaids and fishfolk alive, but Juvia and Gajeel paid no mind as they swam to the insides of the cavern.
Master Jose grinned as he saw the two enter, relishing in the joy of companionship. "Ah, two of my S-class mages," he proclaimed, waving his finned arms around as if the notion could help him attain respect. "Come, sit with us. We have business to discuss."
Juvia stared at the crowd blankly, noting her companions and nodding when Monsieur Sol flashed her a gentleman-ly smile. She placed her hands on her tail when she sat, allowing it to swish as it played with the pressured water from underneath her.
"Lucy Heartfilia," Master Jose said, a snarky grin playing on his face as he flashed pictures of a blonde girl through a clam. "Her father is the king of a kingdom from our neighboring sea, and he wishes nothing more than to return her to the sea. Silly girl asked a sea witch to exchange her tail for a pair of good-for-nothing legs."
"Tsk," Gajeel commented, rolling his eyes. Pathetic.
Juvia raised an eyebrow at this, opening her mouth to speak. "Do you expect us to infiltrate land and find her? How would you expect us to do that?"
"Why, I will be granting all of you legs! It will be a piece of cake to drag her back here to the sea," an evil sneer crossed the master's features. "Bloody carnages are preferred, but keep the girl unharmed. Her father wouldn't want his little princess beaten and battered. Feel free to destroy some humans while you're there though."
"Gihi," Gajeel sneered, a grin spreading across his features. He was going to play.
"Here," the master handed each of them a vial, filled with some sort of bubbly tonic that made Juvia sick when she inhaled it. "Don't drink it," the sharkman warned. "Pour it on your tails once all of you reach land. You can keep your original powers, so don't be such wussies. And remember—" the sneer on Master Jose's face disappeared, to be replaced by a serious look that actually surprised Juvia a bit. "A single drop of seawater on those disgusting legs, and you transform back into fishfolk, tail and gills and all—and you'll find yourself writhing on land in no time."
All of them nodded, and Juvia followed Gajeel as he immediately threw himself upwards, the need for blood trailing in his stead. Within mere minutes, the dark, pressured water soon turned into depths of blue, and the sun was in view.
Juvia pushed her hair back as she breathed in the outside air, breathing in the familiar smell of salt. She held the vial in one hand, gazing at the purple tonic that bubbled and hissed when she lifted it in the air, exposing it to the light.
"We'll transform tonight," Gajeel told her, watching the sun turn into a deep, orange colour, spreading the reddish and yellowish hues in the sky. "That enough time for you to prepare?" He asked.
Juvia nodded mutely, before diving back into the deep abyss she called her home.
The moon was high in the sky when the two fishfolk emerged from the deep seas, their ominous figures looming in the darkness. Juvia buried her nails in the sand, dragging her body towards the shore and hissing when the sand brushed against her gills. She pulled her tail in front of her, taking herself away from the salt water.
Biting her lip and clenching her jaw, the little mermaid popped the vial open, nodding to her companion as he did the same. The acid like substance hissed as it hit the open air, and Juvia poured the entire thing from below her waist to the tips of her beautiful blue fins.
The pain was agonizing.
The heat seared into her scales and she nearly screamed, biting her lip in pain and burying her fingernails deep in the sand, trying not to succumb to her need to shout. She was inhaling deeply, panting as sweat budded on her forehead. Her eyes glinted with adrenaline, and she watched as her wonderful blue tail split in two before her very eyes, the tear echoing in her ears. The cold night air mingled with the heat radiating from what used to be her tail, and the contrast sent her rolling on the sand in sheer agony, crying out as she did so. Soon, the pain subsided, and she was greeted with a pair of human legs—an asset her greatest enemy possessed.
Gajeel barely flinched beside her, and she winced as he easily stood up with a lot more ease than she. Juvia picked herself up from the sand, but failed to do so as she tripped, her knees giving out under her. She looked up at Gajeel, surprised at the sudden change in his skin tone. What had once been somewhat metallic had looked close to tan, and handsome studs lined his eyebrows. "Gajeel-kun," she murmured, lifting her hand up to meet with hers, and he took it, dragging her upward and supporting the rest of her body weight with his other hand. "Thank you," she whispered, looking down at the disgusting pair beneath her. Seaweed covered the area between her waist and between her legs, and she briefly wondered why this was included in her transformation. With a shrug, she allowed Gajeel to guide her to a place he decided was suited for camp, wriggling in her step.
"What's the plan?" She asked, trying to balance herself on two feet when Gajeel let go of her. The amount of concentration needed to keep herself steady was, sadly, not enough, and she found herself plummeting on the sandy floor for the third time that night.
"We find Lucy Heartfilia," Gajeel replied, taking out a clam that flashed the picture of the blonde heiress. "She's somewhere in this kingdom, and we have to find her."
"Juvia believes that this will not be easy," the former mermaid replied sighing as she slumped on the sand, her eyes trailing to the vast sea.
Gajeel pounded his fist into his palm, his anger and lust for revenge evident on his features. He glared at nothingness, his eyes burning with rage and determination, his mouth spread into a dark grin. The picture of true evil.
"Doesn't matter. I'll kill them," Gajeel proclaimed into the dead of the night. "I'll kill all of those pathetic humans."
She awoke to the sun's gentle rays.
Her companion had long since gone, the empty space leering from beside her. He had left in the dead of the night, in a fit of fury and need for blood. The former mermaid gazed at the sea stretching out in front of her, the waters sparkling and beautiful.
A fisherman's boat emerged from the sea, and a haul of fresh fish was thrown on the sand with little care. The fishes inside wiggled and struggled to free themselves, lapping at the wiry nets and bouncing over the grains of sand. The grinning fishermen hauled the animals into the shore, showing no mercy as the poor beings gasped for air.
Juvia stood up, her hair falling from her shoulders to land on her back, a glare set in her eyes. Clothed in nothing, she rose.
"You people," she spoke, and the fishermen looked at her, their eyes nearly bugging out of their sockets as they saw her slender legs. "Disgust me," she continued, oblivious to the stares sent her way.
"Well, what do we have here?" The first of the three men stated, running a hand through his unruly red locks, as if the action could make him handsome. "A pretty lady washed up ashore. And alone, at that."
"Return those fish to the sea," she told him, paying no heed to the comment she had received. "Or else."
"Come on now lady," a second of those men said, moving forward and smirking as he reached for Juvia's hand. "Come with us instead!"
"Wait now," another protested, placing his hands on the shoulders of his two comrades. "She's not wearing anything. . . You don't think she's a mermaid, do you? There have been rumours about them exchanging tails for feet, and considering—"
The first guy pushed him away, shrugging his shoulder in an attempt to get his friend's hand off him. With great indifference, he strode toward Juvia in big, heavy steps, a perfectly placed smirk on his face. "Even better then. We can get a lot of money off of her.
No mercy, Juvia.
The little mermaid readied her fingertips, feeling energy emanate from the edges. She grinned at her power, marveling at the way water formed on her palm, the drops floating in mid-air, controlled by no one but her. The rush of the moment was spreading through her body, and she couldn't feel the pain in her legs anymore.
Before she could unleash her fury, however, a clothed being stepped in front of her, and she could see nothing but the strange contrast between his hair colour and the clothes he was wearing. "You there," the being stated, his tone not to be questioned. "What do you think you're doing?"
Juvia's water melted the moment they hit the sand, and she watched as all three men recoiled at the sight of the new arrival. Tilting her head forward, the blue-haired woman tried to catch a glimpse of who looked like her rescuer, but was unable to do so for the man stepped forward, his arms crossed above his chest.
"I asked you a question," she heard him stay sternly. She flinched at his voice then, backing away from the human who had stepped between her and revenge.
His deep voice reminded her of the shouts she had heard from that night. The harpoon. The ship. The people.
The three fishermen glanced at the man who had rudely intervened, the first with the most disdain in his eyes. "We were just going to have a little fun," he snarled, then turning away, he cocked his head upwards. "Let's go, it looks like this bastard here's trying to play goody-goody."
With those words said, Juvia found herself alone with the mysterious stranger, staring at the white coat he was wearing. Within seconds, he turned to face her, and her breath stopped in her throat when she caught sight of what he really looked like.
He had a scar above his left brow, and his eyes were fixed in a glare. His mouth was in a straight line, the expression on his face reminding her of her own. From his neck, a weird, stringed-like object hung, and Juvia was tempted to touch it.
"Who are you?" The man asked her, and the lady raised an eyebrow at the remark.
"Juvia," she replied, her voice its usual monotone. She stared at him emotionlessly, taking in his appearance and thinking of possible ways for her to end his life.
"Juvia. . .?" He seemed to trail off, and she realized he was looking for a last name.
"Just Juvia," she replied swiftly, as if practiced.
They stood in silence then, and she could see the sun rise out of the corner of her eye. Birds of every sort filled the air, and the air smelt of the sea. She was highly tempted to break the handsome man's gaze and stare at the beauty of nature that stretched out in front of her, something she had learned to acknowledge back when she was at sea.
"And you?" She asked the man.
"Gray," he replied. His cold stare was imbedding itself into her being, but she didn't mind. "Gray Fullbuster."
"Very well then, Gray Fullbuster," she repeated his name with ease, the letters rolling off her tongue. "I am going to kill you now."