Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima.
Keep On Living
She never thought that a day like this would come.
One moment you were celebrating with your friends for your victory and the next moment, everyone's hurt, bodies have bathed in blood, people were fighting for their lives. The place was in shambles, everything was in ruins. Silence engulfed the whole vicinity, with only the cracking of woods burned can be heard.
What happened? They said they lost to fate.
The dragons, they are here. Ready to devour every human being that got in their way. They were here to conquer the land they claimed long ago. They were here to spread chaos, to kill them, whether one by one or in groups.
Juvia couldn't believe it. They were dragons, the mythical creatures she once doubted when she was a child. They were here to eradicate them from the world. She was scared of them until she met Gajeel. He told her wonderful stories about them, about Metalicana. Although these creatures were creepy as fuck, some of them took care of young children and even taught them dragon slaying magic.
Natsu, Gajeel and Wendy were living witnesses who could testify their other side.
While some of them tolerated human beings, who are considered their food, most of them were living up to their descriptions – monstrous, dangerous, intimidating. They were merciless, ready to kill for survival. Ready to annihilate them all.
So as Juvia was desperately struggling to search for her nakama with a broken leg, she wondered, why in this time?
Why now, when they have only returned after those seven empty years?
Why now, when everybody was slowly acknowledging their guild once again?
Why now, when she was making progress with Gray?
She may be a little selfish with that thought but she can't help it. It took a while to earn his trust. It took a long time for him to look at her the way he did when battling with Lyon and Shelia. So why was this happening now?
Unfair. Fate is unfair.
After that unison raid, her hopes where even more alive than they were ever been. She could feel his adrenaline in her veins, the beating of his heart in hers.
Just like what she felt when their senses were linked.
Her body felt so warm, so protected, that she couldn't believe her magic was water and his was ice. For a while her senses, although with an intense amount of magic flowing through her body, she felt… calm and serene.
As she fell on the ground, too exhausted, too drained of her magic to continue looking for everybody, she began to feel dizzy. She has lost a lot of blood since the incident and Juvia needed to rest to regain her strength. She felt her eyes slowly closing but she resisted it. She resisted falling asleep.
What if she would never wake up again? The dark and ruined city of Crocus was the last thing she would see. It wasn't a nice view to look at. She would like to see the sun rising in a place where there is hope. Just like the first time she saw the sun when Gray took away the rain. Just like the hope Gray gave her that day.
She wanted to see her friends, her family.
Damn, she wanted to see Gray.
Where were they?
Juvia needed to hear the rowdy noise Fairy Tail was known for, not this… this… deafening silence. She needed to hear their voices and make sure they were breathing, they were alive. She needed to see them now.
Now!
Her physical body was preventing her from searching for them, helping them in every way she could, of comforting them that everything will be alright and when it's over they could all move on.
She huffed. Could she really tell them that when everything was in chaos? Can she still comfort them without the assurance that there will be tomorrow for everyone?
Of course. They are Fairy Tail. No matter what shit they have gone through, they always made it out. Alive.
Juvia rested her head on what seemed like the remains of a pillar and her mind started to drift off to seven years ago. It was a blurry memory, she didn't know if that really happened but she remembered Gray telling Ultear that he would walk on the path of living with his nakama.
She smiled at the thought of it. Walking with the path of my nakama, that sounded nice.
Then she remembered what she said to Meredy when she was about to kill herself, along with Gray, along with her.
"Juvia lives for the ones that she loves! You've got to as well. If you have love in your life, then you must keep on living!"
And damn right, she will.
She will regain her power back so when they reunite, she can do all what she can do to fight hell and cool it off.
And as she closed her eyes, she could see the hope of a brighter tomorrow.
Run. Run. Run.
Look for everyone else.
Stay together as much as possible.
Gray was in deep panic. In a matter of moments, everything went black. All he could hear were explosions and the screams of people.
He got terrified. The scenario he was in reminded him of what had happened years ago. His village was attacked, the place was nothing but a mess and his parents were killed.
His heart ached whenever he remembered that time.
And he was scared that the same thing would happen again.
He can't let that happen, not now. Not when he had built strong bonds with his new family.
Not when he was starting to figure out what feelings he might have for Juvia.
Fuck this. Such wrong timing. Everytime he got close, something's going to happen. Was his life that jinxed?
And as Gray ran through the fallen city, his mind was focused on one thing.
Find his family. Find Juvia.
Because even the toughest of ice mages needed some warmth to keep them alive.
Dragons? With combined magic power with everybody, they will see the future together, side by side each other.
But now, he needed to find his partners, his team, his guild. Gray's strength came from the bonds he has made with them. That's his motivation to keep running, to keep on searching, to keep on fighting.
He came to a halt when he saw something blue and feminine. His blood rushed through his body and he quickly got closer to her.
This was the starting point.
She moaned in pain when she was woken up by someone, hands on her face, gently caressing the bruises on her cheeks.
"Juvia, wake up."
That voice. Juvia knew it all too well to ignore. Without opening her eyes, she reached out her left hand to where his right hand was placed, just like what they did at the last day of the games.
"Gray-sama, is everyone alright?" she asked with her voice weak.
Gray stayed quiet for a while before answering, "You're the first one I found."
They stayed like that for a few more minutes, taking in the calmness each one gave to the other, amidst their current predicament. Gray and Juvia gave comfort to each other. To share strength and to share emotions.
"Shall we go find them?" It was barely a whisper but the young man heard it nonetheless.
He carried Juvia on his back, just like the time when Acnologia attacked and she can't run due to a broken leg. It was happening all over again. He just hoped this would not have the same outcome or even worse than before.
"We'll find them together."
Juvia smiled and emanating a positive aura, despite all the things that has happened. "Let's watch the sun rise again."
Gray gave him the smile he gave her the day before. "Damn right, we will."
They walked off, searching for the others to see better days they hoped were coming.
End.
So I visited tumblr this morning and I'm surprised about Juvia speculated to die. Whoah. I don't want her to die at a time like this. No. Just no. Please, Future Lucy, rescue my baby!
Anyway, thanks for reading this. I wrote this in one seating, so if you find grammatical errors, please point them out and I'll fix them. And sorry for the crappy title.
Also, thank you for those who have read Give Me Love! New chapter will be posted by the end of the week. :))
