Hello everyone. As a part of a contest (nearly a year ago now I realize, I'm so sorry!) I offered my services as a fanfic writer as a prize on DeviantArt. The winner asked me to write a Gruvia fic with no specific theme and here (finally) is my attempt at one. Not going to lie, Gruvia is not one of the pairings in Fairy Tail that I actively ship, although it is the pairing that I like the most for Gray and Juvia. Originally it was supposed to be a one-shot, but my plot monsters took over and of course it has now turned into what I am thinking is a three part series. Here is part one! Enjoy!
As always, I do not own Fairy Tail or the characters, they belong to Hiro Mashima and I thank him for their use in my own creative expressions *bows*
Gray sped down the path to the guild at a fast walk, trying hard not to make it look like he was running. He was already five minutes late for meeting with the team to go on their latest job and he knew there would be no escaping a punishment from Erza now but he was not about to show up sweaty and breathing hard either. Gray had an image he had to uphold, being as cool and hard as the ice he created was a part of that image. Plus he couldn't let the fire freak see he was worried about Erza, Natsu would have broken land speed record to get to the guild on time and probably taken out half of the surrounding trees in the process. Finally he pushed through the front doors of the new guild hall, looking around for the rest of his team. Lucy, Natsu and Wendy were standing by the bar, Charle and Happy were a little ways off from them talking to Lily but Erza was nowhere to be seen. Gray sighed a breath of relief but he was also curious, it wasn't like Erza to be late for her own meeting, so why was she not there yet and why were the Exceed Squad in attendance?
"Gray, you're late," Lucy complained as he joined them at the bar. "Good thing Erza isn't here or we would never hear the end of it."
"I'm sorry," he replied sourly at her tone. "My alarm clock stopped working and I slept in. Where is Erza anyway? She isn't usually late."
"She got called away on urgent Guild business by Master Makarov," Wendy replied in her usually cheery voice. "She sent Lily in her place, and somebody else."
Gray's eyebrows rose in surprise and he crossed his arms over a bare chest. "Who?"
"Well obviously we don't know or they would be here already," Natsu answered with a snicker.
Gray turned his scowled to him, "It was just a question flame brain, what about the mission?"
"The job is at the Magnolia Zoo," Lucy explained quickly to avoid one of the famous Fairy Tail Guild Hall brawls. "Someone has been using magic on the animals and making them attack the visitors and while they create a diversion, the Mages are stealing valuables from the crowd in the confusion. The zoo keepers say they have lost over half their business the last two weeks because of this and they are desperate for it to be stopped before an animal seriously hurts someone and the zoo gets shut down permanently."
"How do they want us to help?" Natsu asked curiously. "Do we get to fight the animals? I call the elephants!"
"No, Natsu," Lucy replied with a frown. "I think they want us to stop them by finding out how they are controlling the animals and prevent them from doing it again, maybe we can even catch them in the act. Wendy, would be able to heal them if there is any permanent damage to their controlled minds?" She asked, turning the younger girl.
Wendy shrugged, "I won't know until I try, it depends how they are doing it."
Gray nodded in agreement, "I wish whoever it was would show up already so we could head over there and get started."
"Juvia is here," he heard a voice call from behind him. Gray barely managed not to flinch and jump in surprise, it shouldn't have affected him as much as it did since he was getting used to her popping up out of nowhere.
"Erza asked Juvia to accompany all of you on the mission in her place," Juvia joined their circle with a big smile on her face. "Juvia is sorry she is late for the meeting and is holding everyone up."
"That's ok," Gray replied quickly, still trying to stop his heart from beating out of his chest. "We were just getting the background information from Lucy and she will fill you in on the way, we should probably get going."
"Good idea," Natsu agreed happily turning towards the door. "I want to see some elephants! Come on Happy!" "Aye Sir!" The blue Exceed spread his wings and fluttered over Natsu's right shoulder.
"Lily," Wendy called as they walked out of the Guild Hall. "Where is Gajeel? I would have thought you would have been out on a job with him instead of coming to help us."
"Well, Erza asked me to do her a favor and Gajeel is a little… indisposed right now so I wasn't busy anyway," the black Exceed replied in his low timbered voice, sounding strangely out of place when he was in his chibi form.
"Indisposed? What does that mean?" The girl asked curiously.
"Gajeel has a cold," Lucy answered before Lily could explain. "I overheard you and Mira this morning when you told her he wouldn't be able to work for a few days because he is sick. But don't worry; I think she sent Levy over with some soup so that he gets better quickly."
"Gajeel is going to kill me…" Lily mumbled looking at the ground.
"Common guys, we should focus. Lucy, tell Juvia what you just told the rest of us so that we can start making a plan," Gray tried to get them back on track before everyone got too distracted from the task at hand. He wanted to finish this job as quickly and as painless as possible.
"Who put you in charge?" Natsu challenged, sounding annoyed. "Just because Erza isn't here doesn't mean you get to take over Gray."
"I'm not trying to take over," Gray replied, equally irritated. "I just think we need to have some direction, that's all."
"I have direction!" Natsu responded heatedly. "I know exactly where I am going! Umm… it's this way to the zoo right?" He asked pointing to south. "Never mind! I can smell the elephants," he sniffed the air and took off at a fast pace.
"Hey Natsu, wait for us!" Lucy called to him before turning to Juvia, "Ok, here is the story…" Lucy described the zoo's problems again to Juvia as they followed along. Gray sighed and followed a few steps behind them, he had a feeling that it was going to be a long day.
When they got to Magnolia Zoo the large front gate was still locked and Natsu pounded on the wooden door until the head zookeeper finally let them in. Kendra was a small middle aged woman with light brown hair and kind blue eyes that filled with relief when they explained who they were and why they were there.
"Thank you so much for coming, I'm glad that our request was answered right away." She led them through the front part of the zoo and into one of the buildings usually reserved for the staff. "So far only two animals have been affected, the tiger and one of the bears, both of them tried to break out of their enclosures but thankfully none of the guests got injured. After each incident a few people reported their wallets missing from their pockets but none of them remember quite when it could have happened, it's like there is a ghost walking around and picking pockets…"
"What happened to the animals?" Lucy asked curiously. "Did they end up going back to normal?"
"It seemed to wear off after a couple of hours but we still have them in seclusion just in case there is a lasting effect we haven't seen yet. Would you like to see them?"
"Yes please," Wendy answered. "If they are sick I might be able to sense something with the Sky Dragon's healing magic." Kendra led them further into the building until they came to a hallway with heavy metal doors. "The bear is in here and the tiger across the hall," she pointed to one of the first doors on the left. "Which would you like to see?"
"Which one was first? I want to see that one."
"The bear, follow me." Kendra took a large key ring off her belt and started to search for the right key. "When we get in there stay as far back as you can from the cage, just in case." Most of the room was a large cage with a brown colored bear napping on some hay inside. It raised one droopy eye at them as they entered but seemed uninterested and rolled over to go back to sleep. Wendy raised her hands through the bars and concentrated on the bear. "I don't usually stand this far away, but it still might work from here."
"Just be careful Wendy," Gray warned, eyeing the sleeping bear. Wendy shook her head and lowered her hands, "I can't feel anything from here, I don't think whatever happened to him is going to affect him anymore though." They left the bear and went to the tiger, but once again Wendy felt nothing.
"Whatever magic it is, it seems that it completely wears off after a while," Wendy told Kendra was they went back into the main part of the zoo.
"That is great news!" The zookeeper exclaimed with a smile. "But it would be even better if we didn't have any other animals get effected in the first place."
"Leave it to us! We will found out what is behind this in no time… now where are the elephants?" Natsu took off to find the elephant enclosure, Lucy following to keep him from getting into too much trouble.
"Well, maybe we should all split up?" Wendy asked turning to remaining members of the team.
"That might be a good idea," Gray agreed. "How many different exhibits are there, Kendra?"
"Well the main animals are out in the big enclosures where the elephants are, but the monkey house, reptile room, aquarium are all in different buildings. So far there haven't been any problems in any area except the main enclosures…"
"That makes it more likely that one of the buildings will be targeted next. Lucy and Natsu will hang around the main area so we should split up and take the buildings…" Gray continued to take charge now that Natsu wasn't around to challenge him.
"Wendy and I will go to the monkeys," Charle volunteered and Lily nodded in agreement. "Happy and I will go to the reptile room," he added.
"Reptile room?" Happy repeated with a slight quaver in his voice, "Are there big snakes?"
"Don't worry, they are all in cages," Kendra answered with a smile.
"Juvia and Gray will go to the aquarium," Juvia grabbed Gray's arm and started steering him towards the big domed building.
"Hey wait," Gray tried to resist slightly but knew that he would never escape Juvia's grip now. "We should make a better plan."
"The zoo is opening in about ten minutes," Kendra called after them. "If you see anything suspicious please let me know."
Gray sighed and resigned himself to be dragged toward the aquarium. An afternoon of looking at fish might not be that bad and with any luck they would solve this mystery quickly before Juvia turned too clingy or embarrassing.
There is part one, I will try really hard to get part two up as soon as possible. Any feedback is always awesome!