The three mages were sitting in the hall, anxiously waiting for their faithful medicinal advisor to work her magic and come out as soon as she could, hopefully with some good news.
"This is taking way too long."
Gray was the first one to speak. He was the only one standing in the room. He was leaning against the wall by the window, arms crossed over his chest, tapping his foot against the floor.
"Porlyusica should be out any minute now", - said Lucy, while holding Happy on her lap. As soon as she spoke those words, from the other side of the table Natsu stood up:
"She's coming."
Everyone got up and faced the door. There was no need to question Natsu's words, as the dragon slayer would always be the first one to know if someone was approaching. Sure enough, the wooden door opened, painfully slow for Gray's liking, and the Healer stepped out, her eyebrows deeply drawn together, and a discontenting frown shadowing over her lips.
"Oh, relax, all three of you. She is fine."
With that the thick atmosphere in the room finally broke, as the mages sighed in relief.
"Annoying brats. Always worrying for no good reason, distracting me from my work", - Porlyusica was closing the heavy door, which made the dangling metal parts clutter against each other.
That made the woman cringe. Though her patient was in no life-threatening condition, she still needed her rest, as what Porlyusica was obliged to do, in order to restore the young blunettes health, would require her to be in the best of states. If she were to truly fully recover.
Happy broke free from Lucy's tight embrace (apparently, Lucy could be a bit careless with her strength, when she was distracted) and flew over to Natsu.
Everyone was waiting for the woman to elaborate on what exactly had happened behind that hellish door.
Porlyusica pulled up a chair and sat down, her frown now fading, but nevertheless, concern still visible on her face.
"I gave her a cleansing sedative before the procedure".
The words cut deep through Gray's chest. He was suddenly very aware of the fact that though nothing terrible had happened, (as Porlyusica put it, when they gave her a detailed explanation of the battle), Juvia was still hurt, and not in a way that simple aid from Wendy could cure, as every time the small brave girl tried to help, she'd end up hurting herself. Natsu, on the other hand relaxed completely. The amount of drugs he had consumed in his days of reckless fighting (which, as you can imagine, continue to this very day) did not even compare to a mere cleansing sedative. Natsu would later explain to Lucy that a cleansing sedative allowed the patient's magic to be recognized and distinguished from any form of outside magic. They were particularly irreplaceable when it came to curing poisons.
"She was exhausted, so I had to, for her own safety", - the medic added.
As if being pulled by an invisible string, all three simultaneously nodded and turned their eyes back to the Healer.
When Gray carried an unconscious Juvia into the older woman's house, her body was still convulsing in aftershocks, stinging Gray as well. Needless to say, the moronic prick that dared shoot the water mage with a lightning arrow was now lying senseless in a pool of biting ice.
The specifics of his magic allowed him to prevail in long-distance shooting, and as fate had had it – Juvia was his first target. A successful one, at that. Being the incredible mages they were, of course, spotting a head on attack like that was a task of fairly low difficulty, so with cat-like reflexes, Juvia turned her body into water, allowing the arrow to fly right through her. The arrow pierced her body like there was nothing standing in its way, and flashes of dark yellow filled her entire form. Without further ado, Juvia fell to the ground.
After several attempts at aiding the bluenette, Carla finally stepped in and demanded Wendy stopped trying, because the exceed couldn't bear to watch her little sky dragon slayer keep getting electrocuted. The dangerous conditions have quickly subsided though, and as soon as Gray was able to pick Juvia up, the team was on their way to the East Forest, minus Erza, Wendy and Carla, who headed to the guild to inform the Master of what had happened.
"Like I said, she is fine. She will wake up soon and be as good as new. I have extracted the foreign magic particles; there is now no trace of lightning of any sort in any part of her system. My magic never fails, so don't you, pestering brats, dare insult me with those disgusting puppy eyes."
Porlyusica was getting more comfortable in her seat, and seeing the older woman act so "relaxed" reassured Juvia's friends that she was indeed no longer in any danger.
"However", - she added, - "There are side affects to the solution I used. I cannot say for certain whether they will be permanent or not. It varies. The mixture I gave her was a strong doze for a woman her size and weight, but that was the only way I could ensure that the lightning current would not end up-," – Porlyusica figured that "burning her insides" was not a very ethical way of putting it, so instead she said, - "further aggravating her condition".
Lucy was not convinced that Juvia was in as good of a state as Porlyusica had ensured them, so, ignoring courtesy, she interrupted the older woman.
"Side effects? What kind of side effects?"
The woman was not amused by the blonde's worry, but answered her anyway, with a slight growl in the back of her throat.
"At worst, they should only last a couple of hours. "
"What if they don't?", - Gray immediately asked and earned a death-glare from the Healer.
"Do not interrupt me, Boy."
Gray was getting more impatient. He didn't give two flicks about how annoying his presence was to this woman, especially since she wasn't getting on his nerves any less. He just wanted to see his friend healthy and back on her feet, so he could take her back home.
"They could take her back home"-, Gray corrected his thought.
"As I was saying", - the older woman shifted in her seat, - "They should only last a couple of hours, but if they aren't gone by the end of the day, consider the change to be permanent."
"What kind of changes?", - asked Lucy.
"Like a fish tail?", asked Happy, cheerfully while resting on Natsu's head, -"Oi, Natsu? What if Juvia becomes a mermaid? Can we keep her?!"
"A mermaid, huh. Sounds like something strong!"
"SHUT UP! Stinking humans, get out both of you!"
"I'm a cat", - Happy tried to retort, keeping his voice quiet.
"OUT!"
After literally swooping away both Natsu and his blue friend behind the front door with her broom, Porlyusica returned to her seat, now fully intended to get on and end this conversation as quickly as possible.
"Now, as I was saying", - she continued nonchalantly, which to Gray only screamed "bipolar".
"Just what exactly did Gramps see in her?"
"By changes I meant her personality. She might start reacting differently to certain matters; she may also say stuff she wouldn't normally say; in rare cases people also develop new habits, or drop their old ones."
"That doesn't really sound good", - Lucy noted, now beginning to feel even more concerned. "Will she remember who she is?"
That was a good question, Gray thought. The last thing he wanted to do was to have Juvia go through therapy to serve her amnesia. In Gray's opinion, she went through enough. He just wanted to get out of this place already. He was tired and hungry, and he really needed a shower. But most importantly, he wanted Juvia resting safely in her own bed back at Fairy Hills. Gray was thankful to the older woman and he was respectful, but he didn't like her one bit. The way she was talking about Juvia as if she was some common patient was beginning to seriously bother, and even anger him. And the fact that this woman was talking about Juvia basically giving a 180 and turning into a completely different person, as if she was talking about the weather changing, did very little to help him manage that anger. He was getting confused as her tone and voice didn't match the severity of the potential outcome.
"Yes, of course, the potion has no effect on memories whatsoever. It does mess with ones emotions though, and reactions. So whatever shall happen, given it will, you will simply have to endure it. If things start getting out of control, just lock her in a room and wait till tomorrow."
Yeah, Gray definitely didn't like this woman.
"That's inhuman…" – Lucy shrank in her seat, - "What happens if she doesn't change back in… was it 2-3 hours?"
"I already said, it varies, but if she's not back to her usual self by-", - Porlyusica look at the big wooden clock behind her, - "6 p.m., consider the change to be permanent."
Gray was about to take a step forward, his hands already in fists and a threatening scowl appearing on his face, when he heard stirring coming from behind the giant wooden door.
It sounded like someone was waking up, and blood poured over Gray's heart when he heard the sound of her voice.
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AN: After writing single one-shots, I am here to welcome you to my first multi-chaptered story! ^_^
Thank you everyone who has read and reviewed my first two entries on this website! I have to say that though "When Pieces become Parts" IS and WILL STAY a one-shot, I will be making a sequel. You, wonderful readers, have given me just the right encouragement with your amazing reviews to make me believe that I can actually do it...\(T_T)/ Thank You so much! \(T_T)/
I hope you will enjoy this story not any less than the previous ones ^_^