My type of paradise wasn't sitting on the beach with the sand sliding through my fingers or the waves pecking at my pale pink painted toes. It wasn't sitting at the top of Splash Mountain at Disney World with a Mickey hat making my head it's home. It wasn't going to the Dallas Mall just to buy something from every store, which would cost a fortune.

My type of paradise is sitting at home with a large Mcdonald's fry in my lap, watching a movie I've seen a copious amount of times. I was just a normal kid before the incident; a kid who'd eat ice cream for dinner and regret it later, but still go back for seconds. I was innocent and kind, a kid who wasn't left scarred from past experiences

My type of paradise is a reverse in time, who I can go back without thinking twice.

=-=-=-=

The train ride was bareible. There was a guy a few seats down, who I named Phil, that was staring me down the entire ride and made me feel uncomfortable. Then some lady, who's name was Nancy, started talking him down and giving him what he wanted. She would say seductive things to make him distracted. There was a gold wedding ring on his left hand. I'm glad he didn't try to talk to me, because my prepubescent attitude might have made him happy. I could tell he wanted to, but the headphones I stole from some guy in Dallas made him think I was too preoccupied with my own mind. I was, in a way, because waiting for the train to get into the station was taking too long, and I'd already spent my small amount of cash on food, but I was hungry again.

"Magnolia Station." a deep, rough sounding voice pounded through the intercom. I took a deep breath and heaved myself from the comfortable position I'd been in since I had first got onto the train. Then I quickly made my way to the nearest exit and got a nice hit of fresh air. It'd been so cramped on the train, and luckily Phil took the other direction.

After getting my small duffle bag, I tried to find Jellal, my twenty-five year old cousin who decided to take me in after the incident. He was tall and had blue blue, like mine, and a red tattoo on his face. He told me he'd wear aviators and a cat t-shirt so that it would be easier to find him. I told him I'd wear a black college sweatshirt in June so that it would be easy for him to find me. I instantly regretted that idea, however, as it was smouldering hot underneath the hoodie, and I didn't want him to not find me. My pattern-less duffle bag wasn't heavy, either, as it only contained a few key items, like clothes and an extra pair of shoes. I just didn't feel like carrying it.

After I stood in one spot, jumping up and down to try to peer over the crowd in hopes of finding a feline-decorated shirt and blue hair, I felt a hand touch my shoulder. I whipped around, my self-defense instincts kicking in. Luckily, it was just Jellal, his blue hair in a backwards black baseball cap, and his shirt covered in small cats and unicorns. "Jellal, I thought you forgot!" I engulfed him into a hug, dropping my bag at our feet and wrapping my arms around him.

"Why would I ever forget about you Juvia?" Jellal chuckled.

My embrace tightened. "Because everyone else did."

I hadn't been to Magnolia since I was eight years old. Jellal and I's grandmother, Grandma Webber as everyone called her, lived in Magnolia. Even though Jellal was eight years older than me, he was basically my brother. He treated me as if we were the same age, told me of his teenage problems and high school troubles, taught me gambling games with his friends. We would bet with different colored jelly beans or gummy bears, since none of us would have actual money. Then Grandma Webber died, and we never saw each other again. It was as if she was the only reason our family ever saw each other. Now Jellal was married, had a small toddler named Rosemary, and lived in the same neighborhood Grandma Webber had lived in. It was as if everything had changed, but stayed the same at the same time.

His house was a two-story suburban house with blue paneling and white accents. It was cute, and I felt honored to be able to stay here for the summer. His wife, whom's name was Erza Scarlet, stood in the driveway wearing her workout clothes. I assumed that she was waiting on Jellal to get back before going to the gym, so that she could meet me and get me settled. She had gorgeous red hair that was put into a neat ponytail, and a physique that could match no one. Jellal immediately got out of the vehicle and hugged her, and kissed her forehead. I decided to sit and watch their interactions. I'd never met Erza before, and I didn't know how she would react to my teenage sarcasm bullshit. How did I know that she was a safe person?

I finally rolled my eyes and thought You know what? Fuck it. and climbed out of the car with my bag in my hand. I heard her laugh and go "Don't me put you in a headlock, Jellie." She was obviously joking, but I wasn't too sure. Based on her appearance, I have a feeling that she'd probably put Jellal in a headlock once or twice before. "And you must be Juvia. I'm Erza, Jellal's wife. But you probably already knew that…" I could then tell that she wasn't an immediate threat, as her ability to go into an awkward conversation almost seemed like her greatest talent. "Well, I must be going. The gym awaits.." She gave Jellal a quick peck before taking the keys and escaping the driveway and out awkward conversation.

"She really is something, isn't she?" I said with sarcasm literally dripping from my metaphorical fangs.

"She's not good with first impressions. Give her a few days and she'll warm up to you."

I let out a chuckle. "If you say so."

Jellal set me up in my room, which was on the second floor and had a bathroom ensuite. I was thankful for this, as then I could be as private as possible and not accidentally hog the bathroom. Rosemary's bedroom was downstairs with Jellal and Erza's, and they shared a bathroom. It made sense, since they probably don't want Rosemary hurting herself on the stairs coming down, and potty-training would be much easier if the trio all shared a bathroom. My walls were painted cerulean, because Jellal remembered that I loved the color blue. The bedspread was solid black, so what basically everything else in the room. It was as if black was a theme they chose to follow with the rest of the furniture they bought at ikea. The bed was a queen sized and was shoved in the far left corner, next to the window with black curtains. Then there was a desk, most likely freshly built by Jellal, and a simple black spinny chair. There was an empty bookshelf, and that was it. I nearly wanted to cry, since they did all this stuff for me.

I set the stolen white headphones on the shelf, as the first piece of me left in the home. I unpacked my small amount of clothes into the walk-in closet, and placed my pair of sandals next to the bed. This was my room, and it felt really nice. I sat on the bed and looked at the beat-up high tops on my feet. I was in need of new ones; I had owned them since freshman year of high school. I took off the Blue Pegasus University hoodie I'd gotten from a Goodwill a few months back and straitened the purple and green tye-dyed shirt I was wearing underneath to look decent. I took the curly blue mass of my hair and pulled it into a messy bun, the layed on the bed. It was soft, almost like I was on a cloud floating through the night sky.

My peaceful train of thought was interrupted the sound of the doorbell ringing. I sat back up, but made no move to see who could be at the door. Then I was forced to see who could possibly be at the door, because Jellal shouted my name at the foot of the stairs. I'd only been in Magnolia for .25 seconds; who would want my presence already? I slowly made my way downstairs in hopes of getting a peak at the doorway to see who it could be; what they look like, I mean. It was two boys, one shirtless and in cargo shorts and Nike's, the other with a scarf around his neck and a tanktop and shorts. One had raven hair, the other had pink. "Gray, you ice-freak, you lost your shirt again!" the pinkette shouted to the shirtless one, who went "ugh again?!" What did he mean again?

"Natsu, Gray, you guys stop fighting for like five seconds and let me introduce you to my cousin Juvia. She got in town like two hours ago from Hargeon, and I don't want her spending the summer cooped up in her room." Jellal basically pleaded the two teens, who nodded in unison. There goes my plans of spending the entire summer watching Netflix on Jellal's computer when he wasn't using it and sleeping in. I got to the bottom of the stairs, fear looming in the back of my mind.

"Hey, I'm Gray." the shirtless, raven haired boy held out his hand for me to shake it. The pair were both very muscular, probably both on sports teams during the school year. His voice was soothing, after hearing Phil cheat on his wife on the train, and Nancy feeding him inhumane thoughts just a seat over, his voice was what I needed. "And this pyro is Natsu." Gray pointed to the pinkette with the scarf, who was twiddling his thumbs away at a phone. Natsu put his phone in his pocket and shook my hand lamely.

"Gray, is she going to come to meet the others? They're waiting, and you know Lucy's the impatient type." Natsu then asked Gray, who found his orange tee and slipped it back on. Gray looked to me for the answer, and my first thought was no. Then his eyes, oh his eyes, told me to nod in agreement and look to Jellal, who would give the final verdict. Jellal gave a smile.

"Yeah, Jubs, you can go. Let me give you one thing, though." Jellal disappeared to the kitchen and emerged back with a small Iphone 4s, an old model that still had some capability of working. "I want to make sure you can communicate with me, just in case of an emergency or something."

"You're giving me a phone?" I inquired, holding the device in my hands.

"Yep, now go have fun and make friends! Have an adventure!" At that, I rolled my eyes, followed Gray and Natsu out of the house and shut the door behind me.

There were a small group of people waiting underneath this big tree. The neighborhood was filled with cal-de-sacs, all surrounding an elementary school, and all connected with a path for people to walk their dogs or take leisurely strolls. Natsu and Gray led me to the small group, which consisted of two girls, a blonde and a bluenette, another with long brunette hair, and a ginger boy with glasses. The bluenette looked up from the book in her lap and gave me a smile. "You're new! I'm Levy McGarden."

"I'm Juvia." I was never good at first impressions, but luckily Levy introduced me to everyone fairly quickly. The blonde's name was Lucy Heartfilia, and her and Levy live on the saem street and both work part-time at the local bookstore on weekdays. The redhead's name was Leo, though he prefered to be called Loke, since it was his middle name and it sounded better. The brunette's name was Cana Alberona, and she had a slight drinking problem, though she tried to keep it under the radar, as her dad basically took care of all of them. He was a teacher and had the summer off, while everyone else's parents were busy working. It was a lot to take in at once, but I figured I could manage for the day.

Lucy let out a long sigh. "I'm bored of sitting under this tree doing nothing." She was dressed in a pink muscle tank with her black sports bra showing and a pair of nike shorts. Levy stayed silent; she was reading what seemed to be an extremely good book. She wore a simple orange tee and jean shorts, her blue hair daintily put into a ponytail with an orange ribbon. Cana let out a groan. She wore high-waisted black jean shorts, a swimsuit top, and an unbuttoned Hawaiian shirt with some sandals. Her style was definitely my favorite, although I would never dare to say that outloud.

We had resorted to having small talk under the big tree, lazily laying on the dry grass and playing on our phones. Cana had clearly had enough.

"Lucy, I can't agree with you more. Let's play A&D."

"Man, Cana, we haven't played that since-"

"I was there, Loke, I remember!" She snapped, flashing a face of anger for a second, then back to her natural state. "Plus, I think Juvia will like it. Call it our 'initiation' or some shit." Cana stood and picked up her furry, blue purse. The others followed suit; they rose the from dry summer ground and gathered their belongings.

"What's A&D?" I inquired, fear evident in my voice.

"I'll explain once we get to my house to gather the supplies." Were they about to slaughter me? If I weren't being honest, I would say that being terrified isn't on my agenda at the moment, and I wasn't scared for whatever the crew had in store for me. It felt weird walking the same streets I used to with Jellal when I was just a kid. I stayed near the back of the group to watch their mannerisms, the small things they did when they thought nobody was paying attention. One of the major obvious ones was that Gray seemed to 'accidentally' take of his clothes at random points of time, as to which seemed normal to the group. Natsu would take out a lighter and flick it on and off; Cana would play with a deck of cards as she walked; Lucy couldn't keep her hands out of her hair; Loke would fixing his shirt every two seconds; and Levy twiddled a bookmark between her fingers. They weren't really small things, but they caught my attention.

Once we got to Cana's house, we all waited patiently for her to run in and run back out with an old converse shoebox. She emptied the contents onto the sidewalk, and that's when it clicked. They weren't going to torture me. We were just going to play a twisted game of cops and robbers. Geez, I really need to stop overthinking sometimes.

As Cana explained the game of A&D, (it's really angels and demons, but even the group admitted that the name was too cringeworthy to stick, so shortening would have to do) it finally made sense. On the ground laid eight bandanas, all different colors, each color having two matching socks that were filled with flour. One person is going to wear their bandana on their head, the demon, and he's trying to convert the angels, or the people with their bandanas on their wrists, into demons. He has to try to hit the angels on the back. Once an angel is hit on the back, they must go back to the safe area and wait one minute before putting their bandana on their head, thus becoming a demon. To avoid such demon attacks, angels can throw the socks as weapons. If a demon is hit with a sock, then they must go to the safe area and wait one minute. Last person alive wins.

The game almost sounded like a video game, a convoluted version of cops and robbers created by a pack of fun-hungry bored teens. "Can I be blue?" I spoke up, looking at the colored bandana with a sense of want lingering in my mind.

Cana smiled and tossed me the blue colored bandana and socks. The socks were surprisingly light, considering how packed of flour they were. Everyone called their individual colors: Gray had violet, Natsu had red, Levy had green, Lucy had pink, Loke had orange, and Cana took yellow. "Who wants to be the demon first?" Cana asked the group. Loke raised his hand, his bandana already tightly wrapped around his head.

"I'll do it, for a kiss." Loke's smile was infectious, but his pervy attitude seemed to gross out the group, and I was glad I wasn't the only one.

"God, Loke, can you not be a fuckboy in front of our new friend today?" Cana laughed as she led us through the neighborhood to the elementary school that the neighborhood was basically built around. The field was basically empty, because it was 95 degrees outside and no dumb fuck would let their kid melt on a hot summer day like this. They apparently thought it would be a great idea. Luckily all of them seemed to have been smart enough to bring water, as I wasn't informed. When Gray caught me staring at his water, he held it up. I took it wordlessly and waterfalled a few sips. I was grateful that the group treasured hydration.

Loke went a stood next to the basketball hoops with a phone as a timer. He had to wait two minutes before being let loose to turn us. I took in my surroundings. I really wanted this group to like me, and I knew I had to achieve that by winning my first game. It was going to be difficult, yes, but if I stuck next to the seemingly strongest of the group, Gray, then maybe I had a chance.

There was a tree house on the other side of the field, next to the tennis courts. It would be a long shot, though, as I don't know my running ability, and I don't know if I'd be able to escape the treehouse if I were to be trapped by Loke. There was a giant jungle gym off to the right of the basketball hoops that seemed promising, full of obstacles for Loke to get stuck on. Yet, I don't know his speed or agility,and either way I'm, quite literally, running into this blind. There was a stretch of some trees with a plaque in front of them, probably to recognize an old principal or something, which Cana said was 'out of bounds', because hiding in trees was unfair to the few who didn't have climbing trees in their daily routine.

Loke yelled for us to run, and he covered his eyes with his hands, as an honorary movement to show that he wasn't going to watch where someone was going and get them that way. My plan immediately backfired as Gray disappeared from my sight, so I followed Levy to the treehouse; big mistake.

I ran faster than I expected, and managed to get to the treehouse and protect Levy and I safely behind the barriers of the wall. We sat with our backs against the wall, in the opposite direction as Loke. He was behind us, surely, with his eyes shut, and waiting for his phone timer to go off. Levy and I were radio silent, the only sound being the thuds of our heartbeats, and the rustling of the leaves in the tree above us. Three minutes passed, and we heard no battlecry. There was no fallen soldier, and Levy and I started to become worried. "Do you think he's messing with Lucy and Natsu over in the jungle gym?" I asked Levy in a low whisper.

She shook her head no. "We'd be hearing them shout curses of war. I hear nothing." Levy nervously messed with the green banadana around her wrist. I desperately wanted to look out to the field, just to see if he was at least okay.

Levy and I shakily lifted our heads above the railing toward the field. "He's not out there, but it makes no sense." I whispered to Levy. I hastley moved my eyes around the park hopes of finding Loke away from the treehouse, but no luck. Then we heard it; the squeakiness of the wooden floorboards of the treehouse. "Was that you, Levy?" I asked her, hoping she'll say that she was just positioning her body to a more comfortable state.

"Juvia-"

"Run!" I flip my body around to see Loke with a hand to Levy's back, her eyes wide with terror. I look up and see Gray jump from the tree to the ground. I hop the railing of the treehouse and do a summersault to the ground, surprisingly landing with ease and no scratch. Gray launches one of his socks towards Loke, and it hits him square in the chest. His aim was impressive; I could see him being a pitcher in baseball, with Loke as the bat. "Don't stop running!" Gray encouraged as we fled the scene as if it was World War III, Battle of Fort TreeHouse.

We bolted across the field to the jungle gym, where Lucy, Cana, and Natsu were nowhere in sight. That made us uneasy, so we climbed to the top of the monkey bars and let our feet dangle. Gray's breathing was heavy and loud and out of breath. "Loke got Cana almost immediately. It was gruesome to watch. She was hiding in the t-buildings, and he almost sensed her presence. She ratted out our locations to him in the hopes of him abandoning her for someone else, but it didn't work. She'd already threw her socks and missed, and they were behind him. When she went to run, he touched her back, turning her."

"So you were hiding with us in the treehouse?'

"Not exactly," Gray started, " I initially went to the tennis courts hoping to sneak attack him, but then I saw you and Levy get into the treehouse to hide. SO, I climbed the tree to, I don't know, protect you guys in some way? It makes way more sense in my head, trust me." I couldn't help but smile at his gesture. I looked down at our dangling feet; we were quite a few feet above the ground. I remember in third grade, a girl was chasing another, and the girl being chased fell off of the monkey bars and broke her wrist. I watched in awe, not because broken bones are cool or anything, but because of how it happened. How dare that girl chase her until she broke her wrist?

His shoes were worn, and had ripping at the toe. My guess was that he had a new pair at home, but prefered to wear his ripping ones, because they're more comfortable. "Do you see Loke or Cana or Levy anywhere? We need to keep our eyes on them, since you're down a sock."

"I see Cana's back, and she might be chasing Lucy-"

There was a battlecry- a yell so incredibly loud that neighbors might call the police in fear of a gunshot or something. We look over to the field, where Natsu fell to his knees in anger. "LUCY!" Lucy stood before him, a pink bandana loosely hanging from her neck.

"I have to do this Natsu, so that we can be a team again." Lucy sounded reassuring to him, trying to convert him to the dark side.

Natsu stood, his hair covering his eyes. "Who got you out?" he growled.

Lucy let out a sigh of frustration. "Loke-"

"Loke's dead to me." He opened his hands, and between his fingers were four socks, two in each hand, all different colors. He lifted his head, just to discover that he was surrounded by all four demons: Lucy, Levy, Cana, and Loke. All at once, he threw all four socks at each individual person, taking all of them out.

Gray let out a small laugh. "Natsu can overdo it sometimes."

"No kidding." I looked down at our feet again, since we now had the time. "So what happens when we fall?" I questioned, then looked back up to meet his eyes. He shrugged and smiled.

"Then we fall."

"We'll also risk being found, or breaking our wrists-"

"Why our wrists? We could break our ankles or thumbs."

"Way to ruin the moment, Gray"

We both started to chuckle at our banter, until something got caught in our ears. There was arguing by the stretch of trees dedicated to some dude I didn't know. Gray slowly made his way down from the monkeybars, motioning for me to follow him. He lead me to Cana, Loke, and Levy, who were surrounding Lucy, next to a dumbfounded Natsu, and a girl I hadn't been introduced to yet. She had short white hair and big blue eyes, and wore a blue crop top and some shorts. Natsu's voice was low and steady, probably the calmest-sounding I'd heard it. "Lisanna, what are you doing here?"

"I live here, jackass." She rolled her eyes deeply and smacked her gum as loud as possible.

"No, Lis- what are you doing here, at this park?" Natsu had become aggravated with her being here, I could tell.

"I thought we were all friends, right?"

"Lisanna, friends don't leave each others' side at a time of need. "

"You knew I had no choice-" Natsu lifted his hands in frustration, as a sign of him backing off.

"You left, Lis. You left."

The group had started to back away, hoping that this conversation, one I'd yet to understand, was over. Natsu tightened the bandana on his head. I looked at the people surrounding Gray and I, and I knew it was over. "I'll just go to Bixlow and cry, is that what you want?" Lisanna shouted over the game. Something in Natsu changed, same with Gray and Cana. Their attitudes changed from annoyance to anger.

"Are you saying that the Thunder Legion's back in town?"

She took a large gulp of the pepsi she was holding and smiled weakly. "At least they want me, accept me with open arms."

"They are only accepting you because of Mira and Laxus, you realize that, right? Not because of your looks or actions, or because of pity. It's because of Mira and Laxus. Are they still going to get married? I really hope so, so that I can watch you from the back pew with tears in your eyes because your sister's leaving you alone, like you left us. So go home, Lisanna. Just go." Cana spoke, staying in a fearful calm state during the entire speech. There was obvious tension in the air, even if I didn't understand how Lisanna had 'left' the group, or any of the drama for the matter, I still felt it.

Wordless, Lisanna trudged home in a walk of shame matter. I watched her leave, and I wonder if this was the same way she left before, berated by Cana because of the truth, or yelled at by Natsu. There was something I didn't know, but there was a twinge in the back of my mind that knew I needed to know.

"So is the game over?" Levy asked, scratching her forehead.

"There's still two left…" With that, Gray took my wrist and sent us running down the field to the treehouse, where we climbed the ladder with great speed. It was where the game began, and it's where the game will end. Gray hoisted me up into the tree, and was supposed to follow me up, so that we stay hidden from the demons. Supposed to. Natsu had followed up, and got Gray while he was helping me get into the tree.

I had won, not only the game, but my newfound friends' graces. It's all I really wanted, since I'm going to be stuck in Magnolia all summer with Jellal and Ezra, and their precious toddler, Rosemary, whom I've yet to meet. Gray and I walked home in silence, because after the Lisanna incident, nobody felt like talking. Even Natsu was quiet, which from what I've heard, is unusual. "So what happened before I came?" I asked Gray, who was shirtless once again with his hands in his pockets.

"Some bullshit teenage angst that's really not important right now. It's not that I don't trust you enough to tell you, it's just that you're new. You don't need to start hating someone on your first day in Magnolia, just because your new friends have a past. You'll find out in due time, anyway, because I feel like it's going to come back and bite us in the ass sooner or later."

"But what does it mean, Gray?"

"In due time, trust me." And I did, because he protected me in a game that, in the end, meant nothing but a title, and saying that I won. Gray dropped me off at Jellal's house, and descended down the street to his own. I still had so many questions, but all were still unanswered. It might take the entire summer to answer all, and that's a risk I'm willing to take.

Now other than my clothes and room, all I owned was a few new acquaintances who, after only a few short hours, referred to me as their friend, a curiosity larger than the one I had as a child, an old Iphone, and a pair of stolen headphones. I wanted to know every secret that group was keeping, but if I trust Gray, I will in due time. Why is he such a cryptic fuck?