Hey, Dark Gothic Lolita here!
So some of you may know or some you might NOT know, but I have adopted this story from SakuraPetal91. !This is her idea and story, but due to her no longer really reading Fairy Tail anymore, she asked me if I could finish it off. A Navia story, how could I turn it down?! So here I am. I am rewriting the whole thing in a more Lolita way, but everything that she has written up onto a certain point will mostly be there. I'm just finding ways to make it longer and all that.
But yeah, I've never adopted a story from anyone lol. Let's see if I do it any justice!
Disclaimers and all that stuff *insert here*
ENJOY!
Heartbroken
Loneliness
"Yo, Luce! Wanna go on a job today?!"
Natsu was so bored. It had been a few days since he had last gone on a job and he wanted to do nothing more than kick a few arses into oblivion and of course, he wanted to do that with the girl he love, Lucy. Hopefully she would say yes because she's so lazy and only usually liked to go on jobs when her rent was due.
"Ah, I'm super sorry Natsu! I've got to meet with someone tonight so I can't go on a job today, maybe tomorrow?"
That was the line lately. If she didn't need to pay her rent, she would turn Natsu down with an excuse. At least when she was being lazy about not wanting to go on a job, it was genuinely because she was lazy and never came up with an excuse for it. Now, she was always dismissing Natsu and she never saw how it was always affecting him.
"Oh yeah, sure! We can always do tomorrow!"
And then tomorrow will never come. "Of course you're busy...busy with the icicle."
Natsu breathed in deep and heaved a sigh, wondering what he had done to his team to piss them all off that they wouldn't even want to hang out with him anymore. He just didn't get it. He could hear Gray and Lucy chattering away and giggling at something, but he wasn't really focusing on what they were saying. They just left him out of stuff and he couldn't quite understand why. Erza was becoming more and more strict with him and he didn't get why either. Hell, he couldn't even talk to Happy anymore because the exceed had gone and moved in with Lucy and even started getting a whole lot closer with Carla.
He rubbed at his face, suddenly feeling tired. He wasn't as bubbly, as cheerful and his fire wasn't as hot anymore. He hated it. Nobody didn't really notice anything when he put on that huge fake smile, no one thought that anything would ever be able to bring Natsu down because hell, he's Natsu Dragneel. Nobody ever understood.
Meanwhile, before Lucy had gone over to Gray, Juvia had approached him first. She felt her heart speed up when she saw him and she found it very difficult to keep her cool around him. Her hands were clutched together as she pushed away her swooning nature in order to ask him the most important question of the day.
"Gray-sama, would you like to-"
"No."
She frowned a little bit before putting another smile on her face. Maybe he was just playing hard to get right now. Yeah, that's it.
"B-but Juvia didn't even get to finish.."
"You didn't have to. I know you were going to ask me out, making my answer be 'no.' Not now, not next week, not next month, not ever."
Juvia bit her lip, her heart in pain. She thought that their friendship had been progressing well, but as of late, Gray was treating her colder than his ice will ever be. He barely let her finish speaking and it was nothing but harsh rejections tumbling from his lips. It took all of Juvia's being not to cry in front of him.
"Juvia wasn't going to ask Gray-sama on a date, just to do a job, but okay. Juvia gets it either way."
Honestly, this time she wasn't even asking to go on a date with him, just a job. Their magic worked really well together and their unison raid was strong. She had thought that working with him would make the job simple and quick, but also get some big bucks out of it. Of course, hanging out with him on the job was an extreme bonus.
She quickly turned away, wondering what she had actually done to deserve the harsh treatment he had been giving her lately. She turned back around and saw that Lucy had joined him at the table and they were yapping away and laughing. Honestly, Juvia had never seen Gray look so happy in her life and that made her turn her head away with a sigh. It was a shame, nobody ever noticed her sigh.
In order to take her mind off of the pain she felt, she tried to look for her best friend. Hopefully he will be around somewhere so that they can go on a job together. She looked in his usual corner and she saw him, a faint smile on her lips. She loved going on jobs with Gajeel, especially after Gray says no. He always shouts out the things he will do to him when he gets his hands on him and even though Juvia says not to, she's happy that he still looks out for her.
"Gajeel-kun! Would you like to go on a job with Juvia?"
The iron dragon slayer gave her an apologetic looks that was only ever used on her. "Sorry ameonna, I promised the shrimp that I would go on a job with her. You can come too if you want."
Juvia forgot all about Gray and gave her best friend a sly smirk. "Oh no, it's fine, Juvia doesn't want to be third wheel."
Gajeel's face went bright red as he exploded. "WHAT?! YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT AMEONNA!"
Juvia waved her hand, laughing at her friend's reaction. He was so easy to read. "Okay, okay. Anyway, Juvia will just go and find someone else. Have fun on your job! Bye Lily!" She waved to the exceed who also waved back to her.
As soon as Juvia walked away from their table, her smile dropped. She realised that she hadn't actually made good friends with that many people in the guild that they would want to go on a job with her. She squared her shoulders and dismissed the thought. They're nakama, hopefully there would be someone who would want to go on a job with her, right?
She went around, table to table and found no one. She grit her teeth and looked away from the board as she went to find a lone table. There will be no tears, she will not cry! Instead, she banged her head on the table and she knew that no one would notice that she would have done so. No one wanted to go on a job with the guild's weirdo and she couldn't blame them. She only had herself to blame really. It was her fault that she was chasing Gray and not getting to know anyone else.
She put her arms around her head as she thought about her life. Lucy was out there winning Gray's heart, her best friend was winning Levy's heart and she had rent to pay before she got kicked out of Fairy Hills. Fairy Hills wasn't lenient like Lucy's landlady, no matter how tough she tried to make herself out to be to Lucy. If you didn't have the money for Fairy Hills, you were out straight away, no discussion.
With her head still on the table, she had to think about her options. It would be better for her if she just went on a solo mission. She was quite scared to do missions by herself. She laughed inwardly at herself. Back in Phantom, she was so strong and she was feared. Here, she was ridiculed and couldn't even go on a job by herself. Pathetic.
She felt someone tap her shoulders, and for a split second, she thought it was Gray coming to apologize to her and maybe go on the job with her after all, but she quickly dismissed that thought and found herself looking into the eyes of Natsu Dragneel.
"Hey Juvia, would you go on a job with me?"
There was Natsu, standing her side, a job request in his hand. Juvia frowned. How had she missed that Natsu was in the guild? If she had seen him, she would have asked him to go on the job with her, because he rarely turns down job offers with people, but then again, his team consists of him, Happy and Lucy. Occasionally Gray and Erza would tag along with Wendy as well, making Team Natsu the strongest team in the guild up to date. Why would Natsu want to go on a job with her? She voiced what was on her mind.
"Why would Natsu want to go on a job with Juvia? Doesn't Natsu usually go with Lucy?"
At the name of Lucy, Natsu's bangs were covering his face as he looked down. He was glaring holes into the ground and Juvia actually wanted to do nothing more than hug her nakama right now. Natsu never looked this upset, this defeated.
"Lucy's...busy with the ice prick. She always is these days..."
He looked up and away from Juvia's eyes as he saw them widen. Juvia suddenly understood what this was all about and gave him an understanding look. Clearly Natsu had feelings for Lucy, and with her constantly hanging out with Gray, it was also having an effect on Natsu. Juvia's gaze softened as she gave him an understanding look, then she grinned.
"Of course Juvia would go on a job with you! When do we go?"
She jumped out of her seat and Natsu turned his head back to her, surprised that she was so cheerful, so upbeat all of a sudden. It made him give her a toothy grin. He hadn't really expected for her to accept his request and it made him feel warm again. He reached out for her wrist on instinct and pulled her over to the door.
"We're going right now! Let's head to the station, I've already got the job cleared by Mira!"
Juvia stumbled over her feet before being able to catch up with him, running at the same speed which must have surprised him. Lucy must have done nothing but complain about all the times he's always grabbed her wrist and just not warned her.
"W-wait, isn't Happy-chan coming?"
"Um, no, he kinda ditched me for Lucy. Said she has more fish than I do and her house is way cleaner than mine." He tried to keep the cheerful face that he had on, despite the fact that he was wilting again. He couldn't let Juvia see that it was upsetting him more than he would ever let on.
Juvia frowned in disappointment. How could Happy, his best friend, his own foster son, just leave him like that? What kind of excuse was that? Juvia couldn't believe it, none of them must have understood how heartbroken Natsu felt, and here he was, putting on a fake grinning face just to make sure that no one would see his pain.
Juvia was so deep in thought that she hadn't realised that they had already gotten to the station. While they had been running, Natsu's hand had slipped from her wrist and to her hand without knowing, so when he stopped, he was ready to pull his hand away before Juvia punched him. Juvia unconsciously kept his hand in hers despite him trying to pull it away.
"Uh, Juvia, we're here now."
She snapped right out of her thoughts and stared at him for a little while, before nodding her head and blushing at her airhead behaviour. Finally, she released his hand, but not without giving it a reassuring squeeze and a reassuring smile as she went to go and buy the tickets.
Natsu stared after her, wondering what it was about, but she must have caught onto what he was saying, how Happy left him for Lucy. His smile slipped, showing his true self, but he felt a little happy that Juvia was coming on this job with him.
They finally got on the train, and their journey was a silent one, due to Juvia knocking Natsu out as that's what she always has to go with Gajeel. Their motion sickness must have been annoying, but as soon as she got him off of the train and used her water magic to make him wake up, he was back his fiery nature. She grinned, watching him be so happy.
"Finally, we're off of that fucking train!"
Juvia giggled. That was something Gajeel always said as soon as they were off of the train too. She liked how lively Natsu always seemed, even if he was lacking the spirit that he usually had. At least this way, it was going to take her mind off of Gray and what had happened earlier that day.
~x~
The job was simple, just more of your everyday 'catch a group of bandits.' Juvia had raised her eyebrow, wondering why Natsu picked such an easy job. Lucy must have gotten into his head this badly that he picked up any random job he could find. She could have done this by herself! Still, she wasn't complaining, it paid quite handsomely and Natsu was good fun the whole time. He must have been trying to keep Lucy out of his mind too.
Finding the hideout had been the most difficult part, but Natsu had caught the scent of a few people around and they deduced that it was a bandit and they headed straight there. The bandits were civilians, so the two of them hadn't even needed their magic against the two of them.
Juvia already knew of how strong Natsu was without his magic, but Natsu had almost been blindsided when he saw Juvia fighting. She was literally like water, flowing. It looked more like she was dancing than actually fighting, and she was so quick and agile too. He remembered Gajeel saying that Juvia was a hand to hand combat specialist back in Phantom Lord and that she was actually stronger than your above average man.
Natsu dodged an incoming dagger that had threatened his face when he remembered that he should be fighting too. It was just a surprise, seeing Juvia fight so seriously because Gray wasn't around. He had heard of Juvia being strong, but he himself had never actually witnessed it. He only saw the times that she had made a fool out of herself.
They had collected their reward after they had tied up the men and put them in prison and Natsu was complimenting Juvia. "Wow Juvia, I never knew that you were so strong! I mean, I've heard that you are, but I've never seen it! You don't even need magic!"
Juvia blushed and looked at the ground, her hair falling around her face. She had never been praised before and to hear it from Natsu, a guy that she thought to be extremely powerful, she was honestly flattered to hear such things.
"You're just saying that, Juvia isn't strong at all."
Natsu threw his arm over her shoulder and brought her closer to him. He peered right into her face, making her stop breathing as she watched him. He was so closer to her, his breath was hot on her face. She could actually feel herself heating up and she wasn't sure if that was because of his magic, or because she had never been this close to a boy before.
"Yes, I am just saying that, because it's true. I saw how you fought all of those guys Juvia and some of them were like the size of Elfman. Don't let anyone ever put you down because you were awesome."
Finally, he pulled away and Juvia was able to breathe again. Natsu gave her a grin and she smiled back at him happily. She had never felt more sure of herself and her magic. She felt warmth in her chest and she clutched her hand to her chest. Yeah, she was strong.
"Okay, so I doubt we're going to be able to get back tonight, so what do you want to do, camp or go to a hotel?"
Juvia had never felt happier listening to Gajeel. The iron dragon slayer had found these magic compartment seals (like a storage seal from Naruto) in a market they were passing by and managed to get Juvia to buy a few too. They were small, but when you pumped them with magic, it opened up what was inside. This way, the duo literally looked like they came as they were so that they didn't have have to pack any bags, just the little seals that they put in their pockets.
Juvia's eyes lit up when she realised that the choice was up to her.
"Well, Juvia has never camped before, so why don't we do that? It sounds like fun!"
She jumped up with a fist pump in the air and Natsu couldn't help but watch her with a soft smile on his face. Lucy never liked it when he said that they should camp, rather, she opted to going to a hotel and basically spending the jewels that they had just earned in there. His smile dropped when he thought about Lucy. He missed her.
Juvia saw his smile vanish and hers started to disappear too. "He must be thinking about Lucy..."
"Natsu?" Juvia called his name out softly and it seemed to snap him out of whatever thought or memory he had of Lucy. He put on a fake smile when he realised that he had been caught out and Juvia tilted her head at him.
"It's okay Natsu, you don't have to smile if you don't want to."
Natsu almost lost his smile, but he shook his head. "What are you talking about?"
Juvia sighed at him. "Juvia can tell that your smile is fake. It doesn't reach your eyes, Natsu."
He looked down at her, right into her eyes and she almost cried at the sad look he gave her. It was his real face, not his mask. She could tell that he hadn't been happy for the longest of time and now it was all beginning to show. He threw her a sad smile instead as he started pulling off the bags from his back.
"You're different you know. Different to everyone in the guild. You're the only one who has been able to tell how upset I've been."
Juvia watched him set up the tent. She would have helped, but she didn't know what to do, so she opted to watch. She was an extremely fast learner anyway, so if she watched his every move, she'll be able to put up the tent next time, no sweat.
"Juvia knows what it's like to keep up appearances, to give fake smiles. Juvia's been doing it everytime Gray-sama shoots her down, of course she'll be able to see if you're wearing a fake smile or not. Besides, Natsu is always smiling, it's easy to tell when you have a genuine one or a fake one.
Natsu looked up at her, a grateful look on his face, before he turned his attention back to the tent.
"Juvia is guessing that you must have loved Lucy quite a bit then."
Natsu sighed and nodded his head, getting one of the pegs. "I loved her more than I ever thought I would and more than she or anyone else would ever know. Anyway, we can see that I'm coping with all of this through fake smiles, what about you? Everyone knows that you love Gray."
Juvia looked away, deciding to stare at the twigs on the ground. "Juvia isn't sure how she's coping really. J-Juvia guesses it's because she's always known that deep down, she is not the girl for Gray-sama. He has always pushed Juvia away and Juvia thought that if she was persistent enough, she could get through to him finally, but look at how many years Juvia has been trying. It's time to give up."
She didn't know that a tear slipped out of her eye until Natsu stood up and used his thumb to wipe the tear away. Juvia laughed a little bit at her silliness and Natsu pulled her in for a hug. That was when she broke down.
"Juvia just wants someone to love her! All her life, people have always ignored Juvia and she hates it! Juvia just wants someone who is always there!"
Natsu felt his heart bleed for her when he remembered the story of her past and how no one ever came near her when they found out it was because of her that there was always rain. He decided that he was always going to be there for Juvia. He didn't know why, but it was like he felt something within him shift a little.
"Hey, it's okay. Look, I'm here! I'm teaching you how to camp right? And any other stuff you need, I'll always be here too. Fuck the ice prick, you've got me."
She pulled away from him and nodded her head with a huge smile, wiping her tears away. She appreciated Natsu's help in trying to make her feel better and so far, it was working. First of all, no tears. She couldn't be caught crying anymore.
"Okay, so now what do we do? We have to eat!" Juvia felt pretty pleased in knowing the answer to her own question before she realised something. They were going to have to hunt. Natsu saw her face and understood straight away, laughing his head off.
"Oh man, did you see your face?! Don't worry, we won't have to hunt. Silly Juvia." He was still laughing now and Juvia pouted. She wasn't joking when she said that she'd never been camping before. She thought it was really hardcore like that!
"Don't worry, I have some food that I can cook." He was still laughing a little bit and it made Juvia smile, happy that she was the one who was able to make Natsu smile and laugh like that. Honestly, it was probably the best accomplishment that she had made in a while. Then she brightened up again.
"Oooh, is Natsu going to make a fire by rubbing two twigs together?"
Natsu gave her a weird look before he broke out into laughter again. This time, his arm fell on Juvia's shoulder as he shook her about while he laughed. He loved how funny she was and it was like she wasn't even trying. Seriously, he could probably end up dying from laughing for real if she made him laugh this much. He could barely breathe!
"Juvia, I can't believe no one pushed you into comedy, you're fucking hilarious."
Once more, she pouted and crossed her arms as she sat close to his side. "What has Juvia said now?"
Natsu looked down at her and shook his head, a small smile on his face. "I'm a fire dragon slayer and you want to make fire using two stick when I can just light up my hand?" To make his point seem clearer, he set his hand alight and even blew a little bit of fire out of his nose like an actual fire dragon. Juvia blushed at her stupidity but decided that she needed to save herself some embarrassment.
"W-well, Juvia has never gone camping before and she wanted the full experience! Maybe one day, Juvia will camp without you and you won't be there with your flaming hand to help, will you? Or none of us might have food to cook and then we'll need to hunt for real. Juvia is just getting in practice."
Natsu chuckled once more and nodded, accepting her little excuse for now as he arranged the twigs. When he moved his arm away, Juvia frowned a little bit, missing the warmth that he had provided her with. He then pulled out another tent as he was getting ready to put that up.
"I'll give you time to do your twig rubbing to make a fire and if it's not done by the time I finish with your tent, I'm lighting it up myself."
Juvia stuck her tongue out once he turned his back, feeling a little childish. She was going to show him. She was going to light this puppy up and she was going to smirk at him.
"I think you're rubbing them so hard together, you're actually sharpening the both of them for when you go hunting."
Juvia jumped and glared at Natsu when she heard the amusement in his voice. He couldn't have finished with her tent already, had he? Oh, there it was, next to his standing tall. She blushed and moved out of the way as Natsu chuckled. He threw a mini fire ball at the pile of sticks and it all lit up.
Juvia sighed in slight happiness. She hadn't actually realised how cold she really was until Natsu had made the campfire. She was grateful for that, but now she was starving as well. She was slacking today. Usually, she would have her picnic seal on her, but she didn't think she brought it with her.
Then she blinked. OF COURSE, HE PICNIC SEAL!
She started checking her many hidden pockets within her jacket and managed to find it. She then saw Natsu pull out packets of steak from his cooler bag where he kept it nice and fresh and he suddenly had a makeshift spit as well. Juvia had to hold back her laughter when she saw how serious his face looked. He looked so funny!
"What's that you got there Juvia?"
Natsu had seen her using those weird things all day, but he never remembered to ask. Now he did. He was curious.
"These are seal compartments. Literally, you can seal anything in here! When you want to release it, pump some magic into it, as well as when you want to seal it as well. Like watch this."
She placed it on the ground between them as she pumped her magic into it. All of a sudden, there were plates and plates of food as Natsu's eyes bulged out of his head. One minute, there was no food there, just a bare empty ground and then all of a sudden, he was surrounded by a buffet. He gulped softly.
"Is this food real?" He didn't know why he was whispering, but it must have been because he was in awe of it all. He definitely had to get his hands on one of those seals. Or maybe a plate of Juvia's cooking instead.
"Yep! Juvia always makes too much food, Juvia, Gajeel and Lily can usually never finish it, but Juvia can't help it, she loves cooking! Besides, Juvia is pretty sure that Natsu will finish everything here." She laughed before pointing at the steaks. Natsu had been in fascination that he forgot about the steaks. At this point he didn't even care, he had good steaming hot food right in front of him.
"How does it still look like you've made it all fresh?"
"The seals keep anything in the condition that you sealed it in. I sealed them all fresh, making them come out fresh too. Dig in." She handed him a set of chopsticks and grabbed herself a plate. Once she started eating, it was as if that was the okay for Natsu to start eating too. He had never had Juvia's food, but once again had heard the hushed whispers of how the girls in Fairy Hill would opt to go to Juvia's and eat and sometimes they all ate together.
He took a bite into the shrimp and his eyes almost popped out of his head. Instead, he let out a low groan making Juvia look up at him and she smirked. Okay, so she wasn't all that confident in her magic even though she was probably the third strongest female in the guild, but she knew damn well that no one in the guild could actually beat her cooking. Hell, Mira even came to hers to eat!
Soon enough, there were no more bowls of food and Natsu was actually way beyond stuffed. He patted his stomach and gave her a toothy grin. "That was amazing. I can't even move now!"
Juvia giggled and sealed everything back so that she could wash up all her bowls when she gets back. Suddenly, she felt tired. The weight of the whole day, her up and down mood had suddenly gotten the best of her and all she wanted to do was sleep. She looked over at Natsu who looked like he wanted the same thing.
"I guess it's good night then! See you in the morning." Natsu yawned and Juvia said her goodnight too. He watched her crawl into her tent to make sure that she got in safely and he headed into his too. He smiled when he thought about his fun job with Juvia. Even though it started off as probably the shittest day ever since Lisanna died, it ended on a very good note and he was grateful for that.
"Sweet dreams, Natsu."
"Sweet dreams, Juvia."
So how was that? Did I do alright with it so far? I've been meaning to publish it, but I wanted to get a bit far ahead in terms of chapters. Obviously I'm taking too long lol, so I thought let me show you guys who have been waiting for the revamp of this story, that I am indeed alive and I haven't forgotten that I have actually adopted this story lol.
Not gonna lie, I didn't actually proof read this, but hopefully it's alright lol.
Please don't forget to rate or hate, flames or floods! I need to know if I'm doing an okay job with the story! Please check out all of SakuraPetal91's work, I do quite enjoy reading her stuff!
Lolita-chan