Alright people. I'd like to say this out loud. THIS IS MY FIRST FANFICTION EVER. I am proud of it, because it is one of the longest stories I've ever written. My hope is that this story is actually good and I will make a bunch of people happy with me.
This is pretty much about Juvia's life before she met Gray and joined Fairy Tail. The point in time changes a lot, since she starts the fic as a very young child and ends it at about 16, but it will all remain in chronological order, I promise. This will also contain a lot of Gajeel and Juvia friendship, since I absolutely adore the potential dynamic there. (I mean, she calls him Gajeel-kun, just think of all the possibilities!) Anyway, I'm beginning to ramble, so without further stalling:
Disclaimer:Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima. And we shall worship him for that.
To One Day See the Sun
Needless to say, Juvia Loxar did not remember her parents. All she actually knew about them was that they had left her at an orphanage when she was barely three years old. They had abandoned her, their own daughter, but she didn't exactly blame them. Thinking back, Juvia was actually surprised that they'd even kept her that long. Three years of solid rain could get to anyone.
Juvia really liked the rain. She liked the way it made the earth smell. She liked jumping in puddles, and the way it sparkled off of the street lamps. At five and a half years old, she didn't really have a wide vocabulary, but to her, the rain was just likable in general. All the time Juvia heard people complain about the rain, but she didn't really understand why. The rain was great. It was pretty. She didn't know back then how much she would one day grow to detest the rain.
Pulling off her little boots, Juvia made her way to the second and top floor of the orphanage, where she shared a room with five other children. It was a long room with a wood floor and grey walls. The beds were organized three on each side of the room. None of the other children were there at the moment, so she made her way over to her mattress near the dew-coated window. She sat on the thin sheets and picked up the picture book that had been lying on her pillow. It was her favorite, and it showed on the worn binding and the water marks from when she had come in to read the book after she had been outside. The colorful story was about a little kid who had all kinds of fun in the rain. After a while she turned to the last page.
And then the sun came out for Kaoru to play some more!
Juvia traced her pale fingers along the page, lingering on the yellow-gold circle in the top corner. She sighed. Juvia loved the rain, she really did, but, looking out the window to the grey sky, she thought maybe the sun would be nice too. She had heard such wonderful things about the sun from the older children, and it looked so beautiful on the paper. Well, one day she would see the sun, she was sure. After all, the rain couldn't follow her forever.
Suddenly, someone called upstairs. Juvia recognized it instantly as the woman who ran the orphanage. "Juvia, could you come down here please?"
"Yes Elizabeth-san?" Juvia asked when she got downstairs. Elizabeth was a stern, but surprisingly kind old woman who had raised Juvia and the other orphans for as long as Juvia could remember.
"Juvia, dear, I'm not quite sure how to tell you this…" Elizabeth said as the blue-haired child looked up expectantly.
"Well, sweetie, tomorrow you're being transferred to another orphanage."
"Transferred?" Juvia had heard some adults say this word before, but she didn't really know what it meant.
"It means that you'll be moving to another house to live."
"Why?" Juvia asked with wide, innocent blue eyes.
"Dear, it's the rain. It follows you everywhere. It's not good for this old building, or the other children either. It's...it's not healthy for them to live in the rain, especially for as long as they have. You're going to have be moved away. I'm sorry."
"But...Juvia doesn't want to leave." Juvia protested. She didn't really have any close friends, but she liked this place. It was her home.
"I'm so sorry dear, I really am, but the decision's been made. I've packed your things, and you'll be leaving in the morning."
Juvia stared for a moment, before nodding and going back up to her room one last time. That night Juvia cried, and it rained harder than she had ever seen. And she had never wanted anything more than she had wanted it to go away.
Seven-year-old Juvia sat in her room, sewing a little doll. To most it would look rather strange, with it's stitched smile and eyes, it's body shaped almost like a ghost, but to Juvia it was the cutest thing she'd ever seen. It was called a tera tera bozu, and it was supposed to keep the rain away. It will work, Juvia told herself cheerfully. It would work like it was supposed to and the rain would go away, and then maybe people would stop hating her.
" I don't think Juvia should be allowed to go on the field trip." a boy said, leaning up against his desk with his arms crossed over his chest.
"Yeah, cause everywhere she goes it get's rainy and gloomy." said another kid. Eight-year-old Juvia stood just to the left of the doorway, out of the other student's sights. She wasn't really sure if they knew she was there. Surely they didn't though, right? They wouldn't be saying mean things like that to her face. They only did it behind her back so they wouldn't hurt her feelings. But she remembered the other times they had hurt her, not trying to be discreet or subtle, shoving her down and telling her she was gloomy and stupid. No, they didn't do it on purpose. People were good, they weren't mean like that. She wouldn't really blame them if they were mean to her though. They were right. It washer fault it was always raining, and she didn't want to ruin their fun. She would just stay home tomorrow, so they could go to the field trip to the zoo without it raining, even though she had really wanted to see the dolphins and otters and other sea creatures. She didn't want to ruin anything for the rest of them.
Later that day she dropped her little doll, her tera-tera-bozu, in the mud. It never worked anyway, but she wanted to keep it. When she turned around to retrieve it though, some of the boys from her school had already gotten ahold of it.
"What's this dumb looking doll thing?" One asked picking it up and looking right at Juvia.
"It- it's, umm-" before she got a chance to ask for it back it was thrown in the mud, the boys walking away as they laughed about how the gloomy rain girl couldn't even talk right.
She ran home, and started making a new tera tera bozu, since the other had been lost. She had made dozens in the past year, not a single one affective against her gloomy rain. She cried as she sewed on a face.
Stupid rain! Juvia thought. It's disgusting and terrible! Everyone hates me because they all hate the rain! Why can't it just go away for once? She finished her doll and threw it onto her bed.I just want it to leave me alone! Is that so much to ask? I don't even care about seeing the sun anymore, I just don't want everyone to hate me! I just want a friend!
Juvia lay curled up on her bed. She was eleven years old now, and in the past three years she had taught herself to become a water mage. She had always been one, the rain following her because it was part of her magic, but she had now learned to hone in on her powers. The rain did not leave though, no matter how much she willed it to, and she had not been able to find a wizarding guild that would accept her because of this. So she remained at the orphanage. She had been transferred a few more times over the years. Now she had her own room. Not because the orphanage was rich, but because every time she shared a room with other children, she would end up either beaten up or bullied. She never fought against it though, and so she was secluded from the others in her own small room by the man who had run the orphanage. He hadn't wanted to put Juvia alone, but he decided that her safety was more important than her socialism. He had allowed her to stay for a year now, and Juvia suspected that she would soon be transferred again.
Curled up alone in the dark she thought of all of this, and she listened to the heavy beating of the rain on the walls as her body shook with silent sobs. Why had this happened to her? Had she done something wrong? She must have, or the rain would not have chased away any chance of happiness. The rain. It was horrible, disgusting. It was the reason morbid ideas swirled around in her head, the reason her body was always filled with so many unwelcome emotions. Grief. Distress. Anger. Sorrow. Pain. They were all there, caving her body in on the the inside, jumbling her thoughts and will.
But no one knew. she made sure they didn't. They didn't know how badly she would cry, how much she would choke on her tears with body racking sobs. How unstable her mind sometimes felt, how feeble she was feeling. She was weak and broken. Eleven years old and she was already feeling her body crack as if it were dying.
Juvia was so lonely, and she couldn't help but believe that it was all her fault. That just made her feel worse. Juvia shook with loathing for herself, and she gripped her blue sheets in anguish, something to distract herself from the pounding rain outside, but she couldn't ignore it, no matter how she tried, because it was connected to every part of her life. Juvia, the gloomy rain woman.
Her pillow was drenched in tears, and her eyes stung with more sure to fall. Her throat burned. Her breathing was jagged, broken, just like her. The rain was something that influenced her depression, and it tore mercilessly at her heart until she felt she would burst.
Juvia wanted to be better. she didn't want to hurt. She wanted to hold back her stinging tears, to at least pretend she was fine, like she did around others, but she knew that she couldn't. Juvia couldn't pretend that she fine because she wasn't. She couldn't lie to herself because she was hurting. It was killing her. The rain that she had once loved so much was killing her.
Juvia felt exhausted as the racking sobs slowly subsided for the night, but her tears still streamed through closed eyes, the anguish still remained in her chest, her soul, and the rain still poured down as she finally fell asleep.
Juvia, just 15 years old, sat on the damp bench, crying. She had been asked to transfer again. No one wanted her, the gloomy rain girl. She supposed that they couldn't be blamed, but she couldn't never help but feel heart-broken each , she felt a gentle hand on her shoulder.
"Are you perhaps a Miss Juvia Loxar?" a man's voice asked. It was thin and raspy, but echoed with a certain power. Juvia turned around to look at a tall thin man, but it was difficult to see his face in the pouring rain.
"...Yes, I am Juvia."
"I am Jose Porla, the master of the Phantom Lord wizarding guild. I've heard that you're a very powerful water mage, and I'm interested in granting you a position." He smiled welcomingly. Juvia had heard of him before. He was one of the Wizard Saints, the ten most powerful mages throughout Fiore.
"Why would you be interested in Juvia?" she asked quietly, looking down. "Juvia is just a gloomy water-girl."
"You are a powerful Rainwoman, my child. Don't ever talk down on yourself."
Juvia considered for a moment.
"We could provide housing, of course, but it won't be long before you have enough to afford your own home. At a guild you could have access to many job-requests, specifically for mages such as yourself."
"Juvia… needs to think about it." Juvia wanted to join, but a lifetime of rejection had made her cautious of such offers. It was dangerous to hope.
"Of course Juvia, that's only expected. But I promise that you will be content at Phantom Lord. You'll be among your own kind. Take all the time you need to think it over, and stop by the guild any time you'd like." With that he disappeared.
Juvia stood in front of a huge, castle-like building. It was raining less than usual, just a gloomy drizzle, and she could almost smile. Today she was joining Phantom Lord, a guild that had looked past her rain.
However the moment she opened the door she was met with crash, a man slammed up against the wall by a heavy iron rod just a few feet away from her. Her eyes following the strip of metal, she realized it was attached to a man's arm, just for a moment, before fusing back into his skin in the form of a large fist. Well, this was definitely the most terrifying human being Juvia had ever laid eyes on. He couldn't have been less than seven feet tall, though he was probably only a year older than herself, sixteen or seventeen, and he wore all black. There were metal studs all over his face and on a few his arms, and he had a wild mane of black hair. His eyes were as red as blood, clear even from the other side of the room, and his sadistic grin revealed fangs. Actual fangs.
Was he a vampire? Juvia didn't know vampires were real. But wait, weren't vampires supposed to be pale?
The man glared at the one against the wall. "What did I say about bothering me while I'm EATING!" he shouted, immediately sitting down and taking a violent bite out of a large scrap of iron. He. Was. Eating. Iron. Well, that ruled out vampire at least. Juvia stared, wide eyed. No one else seemed bothered. Was this a normal occurrence?
Juvia suddenly realized that she had no idea where to go. This building was huge. Where was Master Jose?
"Hey!" a voice next to her said. Juvia jumped, squeaking, and turned to face a girl next to her. She was tan, with short, dark brown hair and a friendly smile. "You're new here right? Master Jose said we'd be expecting someone. Along with some rain!" she laughed. "Anyway, I'm guessing you want to speak with him? His office is on the second floor, the door at the end of the hall."
"Thanks" Juvia murmured weakly, and walked towards the stairs that the brunette had pointed to.
"Oh, by the way, I'm Shawna!" The girl called.
"Juvia." and she made her way up to Jose's she opened the door, he looked up and smiled, and Juvia got a better look at his face than she had yesterday. It didn't really match the kind tone he had spoken in. His face was long and thin, with a crooked nose and cold, black eyes. He had a frightening smile on his lips and his hair was slicked back. He looked like he was in his mid-sixties. "Juvia, my dear!" he exclaimed. "So you've decided to join our guild!"
"Yes,sir."
"Well then, first order of business, your guildmark."
Juvia was surprised. "Just like that? You'll let Juvia join?"
"Of course my dear, a guild isn't a bureaucracy, and I've already said we wanted you to join. After that it's probably best you get started on a job right away. It's tradition for new recruits to go on their first mission with one of our more experienced members, and I've already chosen a very appropriate partner for you. Right at your level." Juvia was confused. It sounded like Master Jose had been sure she would join the , she supposed it was kind of obvious. Who would pass up an offer to join such a successful guild? Especially someone like her.
"So then, where would you like your guildmark?"
Juvia thought for a moment. She was very proud of joining such a prestigious guild, but she wanted the mark somewhere she could hide it in case she ever had to go undercover. She blushed as an idea hit her knowing someone would need to put the mark on her, but it would be convenient in the future.
"Could Juvia have her guildmark on her thigh?" she asked timidly.
"Of course." Master Jose said casually. Juvia supposed she was the only person who thought a few inches above her knee was inappropriate. Just then, the girl from earlier, Shawna, entered the room She carried what looked an awful lot of like a brand.
"What is that?" Juvia asked, a bit nervously.
"It's what we use to give people their marks." she said cheerfully. "See?" she turned it around to reveal the design of Phantom's insignia, which exactly matched the one on her hand. Juvia fidgeted quietly. That really looked like it would hurt.
"Don't worry, it doesn't hurt at all I where would you like it, and what color?" Shawna asked. Juvia hesitantly rolled up her long navy blue skirt and pointed about halfway up the outside of her right thigh.
"Could it be light blue?" she asked
" Yes! 'Kay, you ready?"
Juvia nooded, and really quick Shawna pressed the marker down on Juvia's pale skin. It didn't hurt at all, and within a few seconds it was pulled away, a perfect, sky blue mark on her skin. It looked a bit like a snake to Juvia, with two swirls ending with a circle at the end. She was officially part of a guild. Phantom Lord.
"Isn't that great?" The cheery girl smiled brightly at her. "Phantom is a great guild, you're gonna have so much fun here Juvia!"
"Now then," Master Jose said as Shawna left the room. "I suppose it's time for you to pick out a mission. As I said, I've picked out a good partner for your first mission with Phantom Lord. Gajeel." He said the last word no louder than the others, yet he had changed the tone so it was almost like he was calling to someone. Suddenly, Juvia heard a pounding on the stairs outside, as if someone very heavy was purposefully trying to make an intimidating noise. Slowly, the door opened, revealing a terrifying figure with metal piercings and blood red eyes. It was the man from before, the one who had thrown another across the room.
"Juvia, this is Gajeel Redfox, The Kurogane, Iron Dragonslayer, and pride of Phantom Lord. Gajeel, meet Juvia Loxar, Phantom's newest mage. I'd like you take her on her first mission."
"Are you serious? A newbie?" He scoffed, then gave another sadistic smile that made Juvia fight the urge to shudder. "You know what happened last time I was forced to deal with some incompetent new kid."
"She isn't like that imbecile you were given last time." Master Jose said calmly. "She powerful, Gajeel, trust me."
The "Kurogane" shrugged. "Okay, but she's the one who's gonna have to pay if she gets in my way." He then turned to Juvia, who shrank under the intimidating glare. "I'm picking out a mission now." and he turned and left the room.
"Follow him Juvia" Master Jose said. "You're supposed to be learning. Just...be careful not to get in his way. He can get a bit…violent...sometimes."
Juvia nodded and walked down stairs after Gajeel Redfox. When she reached the main floor, everything seemed as it was before, only now Gajeel was standing in front of what Juvia assumed was the request board. It was absolutely covered in flyers. He turned around with a mission in his hand right when Juvia had stopped behind him (about five feet away of course, she wasn't risking it with this monster.)
"C'mon Rain-woman, we're leaving." He said indifferently. Well it was better than hostility.
"Umm, Gajeel-san, may I ask where we are going?"
" The train station. The request's from a few towns away."
"Oh." It was quiet as they walked to the train station, Juvia seriously fearing for her life. The aura around this man just radiated with anger and violence. He was like a time bomb.
"Damn rain." Gajeel snarled. " It's gonna rust my food." In all honestly, Juvia hadn't noticed the somewhat heavy her it seemed like it wasn't there. She didn't say anything to the black-haired man about her being the cause of the weather.
After buying their tickets, they boarded the train, where they sat in silence in their little compartment. Juvia just stared out the window at the gloomy rain, not bothering to ask where they were going, or even what their mission was. There was one question that was seriously bothering her though, and she dared to voice it.
"Umm, G- Gajeel- san." She whispered as quietly as the possibly could. She was actually surprised when he responded. She didn't think anyone would be able to hear her at that volume.
"Yeah?" He growled. Juvia was beginning to think that everything he said came out as some kind of hostile noise.
"Well, Juvia was wondering… wh- what exactly is a Dragonslayer?"
"Stop stuttering like a baby and maybe I'll tell ya." It was silent for a minute after that before Juvia came up with enough courage.
"Juvia would like to know what Master Jose meant when he said Gajeel-san was the Iron Dragonslayer." Juvia said boldly.
"Ghi-hi. I knew ya had guts Rainwoman." He smiled threateningly and Juvia was beginning to think of it as just the way he always smiled. "Alright, well, Dragonslaying is a type of dead magic. There's only one other wizard besides me that knows it, the fire-dragonslayer, but he's just a kid, I could kick his ass in ten seconds flat."
"If it is a dead magic, who did Gajeel-san learn it from?" Juvia asked, curious.
The dragon-slayer's expression darkened to a glare, and Juvia thought that she definitely preferred the sadistic grin. " I was taught by the Dragon Metallicana." he seethed, and his voice grew even more tense as he spit out Metallicana's name like a swear. Not that he seemed to have a problem with actual swears. Wait, he had actually met a real dragon?
"Why are you so upset about Metallicana?" Juvia asked before she could stop herself. She seemed to have a death wish.
"That damn dragon raised me." Gajeel's expression softened just a miniscule amount. Okay maybe softened wasn't the right word. More like became just the teeniest tiniest bit less angry."It was tough love, but it was definatly the best I could have asked for." His expression darkened once again. and Juvia half expected the train to explode with the murderous intent that radiated from the Kurogane. "Then he just up and left seven years ago. Didn't say a fucking thing. I just woke up and he was gone. I swear to god if he ever shows his face again I will try my damn best to kill him." Juvia stared for a minute. " Wait a second, why am I telling you this. Damn Rainwoman, stop askin' questions!"
Juvia nodded and they finished the train ride in silence. Deep down, it seemed the violent Kurogane harbored a great loss, a little regret. They had both lived with pain. She remembered Master Jose's words. You'll be among your own kind. The Rainwoman and the Dragonslayer. They really were exactly the same.
After about another half an hour of sitting in a silent train compartment, Juvia and Gajeel arrived in the town of Bardus, where their request had come from. After the conversation on the train, Juvia was frightened to ask anything else from the Iron Dragonslayer, but this was something she really needed to know.
"Gajeel-san, what exactly is our mission?" she whispered. Half of her was too scared to ask, so she spoke as quietly as she could. He heard her anyway though. Did he have the ears of a dog or something?
"I picked an easy one for ya." He said smirking. Juvia had the feeling he had purposefully chosen a mission that would be difficult for her. "We're gonna be slaying a hoard of vuldrins that've been harassin' a town.
"A- an entire hoard?" Juvia asked, terrified. vuldrins were huge, violent creatures that pretty much lived to destroy anything they could get their hands on. Including people. They were like demons of destruction, that were seriously never found in large groups. That last part was a good thing, seeing as it often took entire towns to to get rid of even a few.
And Juvia was supposed to take down an entire hoard with the help of just one other mage? Why would Master Jose possibly think she could keep up with this wizard who was talking as if he fought demon hoards all the time? Juvia had never even fought before! She practiced her combat moves, sure, but she never actually used them! She had just become an official mage! This was her first mission ever! She felt the rain grew heavier as she panicked, but she couldn't have that right now. Juvia had to calm down She took deep breathes. She could do this, she just had to calm down.
"So, what do we do now?" Juvia asked in a practiced monotone.
"Damn newbie." Gajeel growled. "Already getting in my way."
Juvia didn't really see how asking questions was getting in the way, but she decided that she didn't want to make the Dragonslayer any angrier with her, so she decided that she would eventually get the information if she just shadowed him (still several feet away of course.)
Juvia followed the older teenager out of the train station until they arrived at the doors of what was obviously town hall. With several white pillars and expensive oak doors it could be nothing else. Gajeel barged straight in, and even after the secretary yelled at him about who he was and what he was doing, he just he just kept walking, almost breaking the doors off their hinges. Juvia stopped for a moment, bowing to the secretary and apologizing for her comrade, briefly explaining that they were here to deal with the vuldrin problem before running after Gajeel so she wouldn't get lost.
Soon enough Juvia found the mayor's office, where Gajeel was already standing before a very surprised and terrified mayor.
"We're from Phantom Lord." he spit out menacingly. "We're here for the job request about the vuldrins."
"Oh. o-of course." the mayor's voice shook and he trembled under Gajeel's glare. He was a middle aged man with light brown, thinning hair and a round physique. Juvia was pretty sure you weren't suppose to scare the requester like that. "Ummm, well th-the vuldrins dwell in the woods just to the west of town. That's pr-pretty much all you need to know. You'll get your payment wh-when you succeed."
Gajeel grunted illegibly and turned to leave. Juvia bowed quickly to the mayor and turned to follow her frightening partner. She heard the mayor let out a sigh as they left, no doubt relieved that he was still alive.
Juvia trailed Gajeel out of the town through the thick rain. She had to nearly run to keep up with his large strides, and after about fifteen minutes of walking they arrived at the edge of a forest. Gajeel did not hesitate at all, or even turn around to make sure that she was still there. It seemed her was determined to ignore her ever since he accidentally told her a bit about himself on the train.
The forest was mostly evergreen trees, and the muddy ground was coated in dead pine needles. Any light that may have filtered through the storm clouds was completely blocked out by the canopy of trees, and Juvia could barely see a thing. If Gajeel was having similar problems, he didn't say anything.
They walked for what seemed like hours, deeper and deeper into the woods, before they reached a clearing and Gajeel suddenly stopped and sniffed the air. Juvia realized that she was only about two feet behind him at this point, and she took several quick steps backward. She really didn't want to be too close to the man who had thrown someone across a room just because he had been bothered while he was eating.
Gajeel turned his head to face her and grinned sadistically over his shoulder. For the second time that day Juvia Loxar was hit with the urge to shudder, and this time she couldn't hold it back.
"Ghi-hi. Get ready Rainwoman, this is gonna be fun."
"F-fun?" she squeaked out.
"Hell yeah. There are about a hundred of those vuldrins, and they're all ours." The Kurogane's eyes burned with bloodlust. No. One hundred? He had to be joking. RIght? Please? There couldn't be that many, it was impossible! And even if it was possible, she couldn't handle that many. She didn't know what the man in front of her was thinking, but he was obviously insane. There was no way in hell anyone could take down that many vuldrins, no matter how strong they thought they were. And Gajeel was saying it was going to be fun? Did dying seem like fun to him?
Before she had time to run they were ambushed by the creatures, and to her it seemed like a lot more than one hundred. The monsters were at least twice as tall as a normal man, and their eyes glowed varying shades of orange and red. Their hulking grey bodies twitched with their hunger for destruction as they bared their glistening fangs. Before Juvia even had time to pray for a painless death, she saw Gajeel's limb become iron, as it had before, only this time it looked almost like a chainsaw and it shot forward, taking out five demons.
Five Vuldrins.
With a single shot.
Juvia couldn't believe her eyes.
Once again too fast for her to process another vuldrin lunged towards her, teeth bared. She squeezed her eyes shut and held out her hand. "Water Slicer!" she yelled, and waited for the impact of the demon who would surely be unscathed by her probably feeble attack. But no impact came. She slowly opened one eye, then the other. Not ten feet in front of her the vuldrin lay, purplish blood being washed away by the rain. She had done it. She had slayed a vuldrin. Juvia was so proud of herself she couldn't believe it. She was stronger than she had ever dreamed. No time to celebrate though.
More attacked her, three this time, and she held them in a water lock. They quickly drowned, and when she released their bodies she used the same water to take down two more. Another attacked her, and instead of using a counter-attack, she turned her body into water, a move she had been practicing for some time, and the vuldrin went right through her.
This was amazing. She was defeating demons, all by herself, though Gajeel was taking on dozens more than her nearby. Juvia had never witnessed a real wizard in action, had never really considered herself a real mage, but she was! She was fighting demons and winning! Master Jose had said she was powerful. She had assumed he was just saying that, but she was, she was strong, and even more than that, she was keeping up with Gajeel, The Iron Dragonslayer and the pride of Phantom Lord, one of the best guilds in all of Fiore! A guild that she was now a member of!
Juvia wasn't really sure how long they spent fighting the monsters, but she knew she was breathing heavily in exhaustion. She had never used that much of her magic at once, and quite frankly, she found it draining. The last vuldrin fell by the hands of the Kurogane, and as soon as it did he made his way towards her laughing out loud.
"What'd I tell ya Rainchick? I've been so damn bored lately! This is just what I needed! Did you see the way they bled? It was fucking great" Gajeel wasn't breathing heavily, but he did wipe some sweat off of his iron pierced forehead. " Fucking demons won't be coming back anytime soon!"
Juvia was a bit troubled at his words. Yes, it was necessary to kill the vuldrins to preserve human lives, but to actually enjoy killing them? To enjoy watching them bleed? Even if they were killers. Just the thought that someone like that was in her guild frightened her, but she supposed it was better he enjoy slaying demons than people.
When Juvia and Gajeel got back to the guild the first thing they did was report back to Master Jose. He was, of course, extremely pleased.
"What did I tell you Gajeel? Isn't she powerful?
"I guess." Gajeel grunted, crossing his arms.
"Don't listen to him my dear." Jose said, looking proudly down at Juvia. "He's just angry because you didn't give him something to complain about." Juvia said nothing, and instead just looked down at her black boots. "Juvia, I must be honest, there was a more specific reason I wanted you to join my guild." Jose confessed.
"What?" Juvia asked, curious, and slightly uneasy.
"Well, I've been forming a team, consisting of four mages who use the magic of each of the four elements. So far there are only three members however. Air, Fire, and Earth. I was missing water. That's where you come in. You don't have to join, of course, but it would be greatly appreciated, and you'd be able to go on higher paying missions with the rest of your team."
Juvia thought for a few minutes. She heard the door open and close as Gajeel left the room, and Jose patiently waited for her answer.
"I...Juvia thinks she'll accept that offer." Juvia said, finally looking up at the guild master.
"Marvelous my dear! The other's will be so excited that their team is finally complete! The Element Four. Sounds nice, doesn't it?"
Juvia nodded. She was warming up to the idea of being part of a team.
"Come, child, I'll introduce you to your new team." Jose stood up, his lanky form towering almost a foot and a half over her.
They walked downstairs and he led her to a room in which there were three people. Once again it seemed like Jose was sure she would accept the offer, but as before, she supposed it would have been insane for someone like her to refuse.
The first to walk up to her was a boy around her age, maybe a bit younger. He had black hair and wore an orange jacket. "Hey! I'm Totomaru, the fire mage" he said in a friendly tone, offering her a handshake, which she tentatively returned. "Man, your hands are cold! You must be the water mage we've been waiting for. Cool hair, by the way!" Juvia's pale hand came up to touch her shoulder length cerulean hair, which curled up at the ends. No one had really commented on it before.
"Oh… thank you." she said, surprised at the continuously friendly demeanor of the fire wizard.
"And I am Monsieur Sol." said another voice with a heavy french accent, more from the left. She saw no one, until suddenly a man rose up from the ground. From the earth. He was very skinny, and wore a plain brown suit. "As you may have guessed, I manipulate zi element of earth." Juvia stared for a moment, processing the fact that he had appeared out of the ground. She really had to get better at adjusting to this whole everyone-around-her-being-a-different-kind -of-mage thing.
Juvia felt a cool breeze, and then standing in front of her was a large man in a green coat. His clothes swayed in an intangible wind and he wore a blindfold over his eyes. "And I am Aria." He said solemnly. Juvia noticed tears running down his face from underneath the blindfold. "The mage of wind, and as things stand, the strongest member of the element four." Neither of the other two members contradicted him, so Juvia decided it was probably true. Besides, the man had not said it in a bragging way. He had said it more as if he were simply stating an everyday fact, if a somewhat depressing one by the tears still silently streaming down his face. Juvia decided not to question his reason for crying, nor for keeping his eyes covered. This was her team now, she could learn about them later. For now it was late, and, granting a respectful goodbye to Master Jose and the Element Four, she made her way back home.
A year passed. Juvia went on missions with her team, though they never sought her company outside their work. Totomaru had tried in the beginning, but as his visits slowed she suspected it was the rain that had chased him she was lonely, she would go to Gajeel, who complained and called her annoying, but never made her leave. The endless rain continued, and most people continued despising her, so she remained depressed behind her often times emotionless facade. But maybe just a little less so.
As soon as she got back to the guild she ran straight over to Gajeel. She was absolutely beaming, something she hadn't done in a long time. She was so excited that she didn't even notice the rain was only a steady drizzle.
"Gajeel-san!" she exclaimed, bouncing up and down. "Juvia have a date!"
"Good for you." the Kurogane said nonchalantly, rolling his blood-red eyes.
Juvia pouted, though she wasn't really that upset with his indifference."Can you at least pretend to be exited?" she asked. Gajeel paused for a moment.
"...Yippee."
"Gajeel-san is just jealous that he can't get a date." she said defiantly, crossing her arms over her blue-sweatered chest.
The older mage rolled his eyes again at the huffing Juvia. "Go away Rainwoman, I'm eating."
Juvia backpedaled. He was eating? Her gaze suddenly honed in on the large scrap of iron he had been chewing on. Juvia had never dared to approach her comrade when he was eating. No one did. Doing so resulted in being thrown across the room by an iron limb. It was a death wish to bother him while he was eating. But just now she hadn't been paying attention, and she had bothered him anyway. And she wasn't severely injured, nor dead. She had bothered Gajeel Redfox while he was eating and he hadn't so much as thrown a single punch her way.
Juvia left the guild confounded, with a blank expression on her face. Why hadn't he attacked her? Did he actually tolerate her that much? She found it difficult to believe that her somewhat sadistic comrade found anyone tolerable to a significant extent.
The thought that someone put up with her that much at all was foreign to her, and she spent the entire walk home pondering the idea. The rain poured down, but she hardly noticed at all.
It had been two weeks. Well, thirteen days. Thirteen days that Juvia felt her life was finally turning around, even if the rain still followed her and most people still despised her because of it. She had been almost content for a while, and she thought maybe…
But she had been wrong. She had dated Bora for almost two weeks, but it ultimately ended for the same reason everything good in her life ended. Her rain.
"Can't you do anything about the rain? We can never do anything outdoors."
"I'm sorry." She had whispered because she was afraid. She knew what was happening. "I don't have any control control over it." She kept her eyes determinedly on the muddy sidewalk.
"Well, I don't want to deal with all this gloom. I think we should see other people." With that he turned around and waved his hand dismissively, not even turning back to face her as he walked away. She stood there, silent tears falling down in her face. She was alone again.
Now she sat alone, coincidentally on the same bench Master Jose had once found her at. Alone. She savored each rain droplet as it stained her skin, probably even more than her own tears. Stupid rain. She truly despised it, but right now she couldn't bring herself to hate. She could only feel pain. It was a familiar tightness in her chest, the feeling of loneliness. Even besides the normal pain a teenaged girl would feel after being dumped, Juvia felt miserable. Not because she was dumped. Because she was left alone. Again. Because of her rain. She was alone. Damnit, Why did it have to be her? Why did the rain have to follow her, chase away everyone, leave her broken and lonely? What had she done wrong?
Suddenly she realized she no longer felt the heavy rain on her skin. But it was still pouring all around her. She looked up and saw her own pink umbrella, which she had discarded earlier. She followed the hand holding it up a metal-studded arm up to a very ticked looking Dragonslayer.
"The hell ya' doin' out here Rainwoman?" he asked angrily. His left arm was in a first on his waist and his right held the umbrella over her at arms length.
"Gajeel-san?" she asked hoarsely.
"Who the heck do I look like idiot? You look ugly when you cry by the way."
"What are you doing here?"
"I was just walking by when I saw that dumbass Bora walking off. Then I found you here crying like a baby."
Juvia was silent for a minute. "He broke up with me."
"Yeah, I figured that out idiot."
"I'm Sorry."she whispered. It was silent for what seemed like hours.
"...C'mon, we're going on a mission. And take you're umbrella back, I look like a fuckin' pansy."
Juvia looked up at the Kurogane, confused. "Why?"
"To get your mind off that damn freak. He wasn't good enough for ya anyway. If you're still weeping like a baby when we get back, I'll beat him up for you." he said looking away from her.
Juvia looked up at Gajeel through the sheet of rain. The rain, right there, making everything gloomy, probably making his piercings rust, something he would definitely complain about later. And yet he was right there, holding an umbrella over her head, telling her that Bora wasn't good enough for her.
Why would he do that? Was… was he actually her… friend? Juvia had never had a friend. She had known that they had been comrades for a long time. They were the same. They had both known pain, were both broken and had found a safe haven in Phantom Lord. Their company could distract each other from their suffering, or they could suffer together, once in a while. Gajeel Redfox really was her friend. Despite her rain he had actually accepted her. She remembered when she was a child, when all she ever wanted was a single friend. Now her wish had come true and the thought made her smile through her tears.
She stood up and gently grabbed her umbrella.
"Thank you Gajeel-kun." Juvia said in a whisper. She knew he would hear her.
"Yeah, whatever, Rainwoman." Gajeel grumbled looking away, and they both walked off to the guild to take on a request.
The rain poured down. It could not be stopped for now, and it would continue to pour until the day she'd meet an ice mage, who'd spare her life even though they were enemies. Who'd show her the sun. Until that day she still cried , and she hated the rain as much as she ever had. But strangely, in the presence of the most violent, sadistic dragonslayer, she found it was almost tolerable.
Thank you Gajeel. With all of your flaws,thank you for being my friend.
So yes. That was the ending. I'm not to good at endings in my own opinion, but I do like the last line. I always wondered why Gajeel didn't take away the rain for Juvia. He was her friend right? Even if he wasn't all that well, Gruvia fans can enjoy the moment.
Also, about the vuldrins, those are not actually in Fairy Tail, nor are they related to the Vulcans. I just wanted to make a scary bad guy, and that's the first thing that came into my much more to say than that.
Loved it? Hated it? Found about a million grammatical errors? (I guarantee there are at least one thousand.) I'd love to hear all you'r opinions, even the negative ones, since I'll use them to improve, and positive ones will make me a very happy person. So please review!
until next time,
RainXSnow