The Raingirl
A/N This is my first fanfic, so I hope you guys like it! I am planning to do more cheerful ones later, but I've always felt like Juvia's courage and strength are underappreciated, so enjoy! I really love being able to share my stories with you, and I hope you love this!
Chapter 1: Glass Armor
Through the transparent, yet stained old glass, any person inside the musty, tired Victorian home could look out upon an overgrown yard filled with roses of all colors, their bushes separated by a cracked cement walkway that wound its way up t the house set far back on its wide, sprawling land. Across the street stood more stately homes, though they were kept better, with landscaped lawns, fresh paint, and gleaming new cars in their driveways. But, to the occupant of the house at the end of Fairy Tail Street, in Magnolia, Fiore, the appearance of the house meant very little.
Sprawled lazily across the worn chair in the front parlor was a teenage boy, his dark hair tousled, and his lean but athletic frame clothed in dark blue jeans, and a white button down shirt with a sword pendant at his neck. His name was Gray Fullbuster, and he was very, undeniably, colossally, bored. He was seventeen, and had a car, he was about to be a senior, he had tons of friends, and free rein, and best of all, it was summer. And yet he was undeniably bored out of his mind. Gray's best friend Natsu was on vacation with his dad, Igneel, while all the girls in the usual group were on a thrift store shopping spree in a neighboring town. So Gray was left with nothing to do but wait for something to happen. His mother was on a business trip, and his sister was at college, which meant he was often home alone in the summer, but he could normally go hang out with Natsu and Lucy and the others, but now he sat dejectedly, staring out the window, picking at the pieces of stuffing he had wormed out of a small split in the seam of the chair's cushion.
But the one day Gray had chosen to waste every minute of his time in utter laziness was picked at the most perfect moment, for he may have felt alone in the old house, but outside the world kept moving, and so did the life of another seventeen year-old not too far away.
Juvia Lockser lived every day in silence. She was nothing, a grain of sand floating in the wind of life, with no control, and no protection. She was invisible, clothed in dark dresses, hiding her vibrant blue hair under dark hats, always walking alone, hunched down as if caught in a torrential downpour. Today she had trudged over to the park near her high school, a small book nestled in her arms, as she curled up under a tree. She didn't speak at home, she didn't speak often at school, and she had never known a person she cared about enough to want to speak with them. The counselors at school would read her file, their brows pinching, nodding and frowning, until they would tell her she was depressed. They asked her about home, about friends, about school, and she would mutter vague excuses about being shy, or quiet, and they would tell her to make some friends as they called in some truant for examination.
Juvia knew they were right. She had read countless psychological journals, and concluded she suffered from depression years ago, but they couldn't help her. Juvia was broken, and they couldn't fix her. The last pages of her book flipped by, the story engulfing her, taking her somewhere far away, where she could be loved, and comforted, but the illusion faded as her book closed, and she leaned her head against the tree. She watched the sky for hours, as the clouds and sun faded away in the summer heat, and the moon came out to illuminate her face, as she named constellations one-by-one until it was almost midnight.
She knew it didn't matter how late she stayed out. Her dad's house would be full of his gambler friends, and she hadn't spoken with her mother for three years, even though her house was a mile away. She could never find refuge in those places. She saw them in her nightmares, in her waking hours, in every passing comment, her parents, screaming, fighting…no she wouldn't think of it, she would forget. Years ago, nights like these meant tears, and tantrums, hiding under the bed and in the bushes, but she was past that. Juvia did not cry now. She would not deny her past, but still she could not accept it. No, these things shouldn't happen, couldn't happen. They did. Why? Wondering, wandering, lost. She was a hurricane, but she was caged. Caged. A bird with crippled wings, a horse with broken legs, the one left behind as food for the predators. Lost. She was lost in a maelstrom of her emotions, crying out for help, but she made no noise. Nobody would listen, she was trapped on the other side of a door, locked out of the rest of her life. Nobody cared. Why would they? She was a grain of sand, adrift on an endless ocean with no raft to paddle across.
Gray stood outside the bookstore, leaning against his car impatiently. Finally, he sighed and ambled into the store, hands in pockets, bracing himself for the worst.
"Gray, it's been a while since you came in, would you like to help me stack these!" Blue-haired Levy, ever the bookworm, peered over a towering stack of Shakespeare from behind a clerk's counter in the little store.
"I'm looking for Gajeel, I thought he would be here." Gray picked up some volumes and began shelving them, used to Levy's overbearing but endearing enthusiasm for the upkeep of her family's establishment.
"He'll be coming around any minute now, I sent him to the storage room to dust some boxes for me. Do you guys have something planned?"
"We have track practice, I think Natsu's already there, but I have to swing by Jellal's to see if he needs a ride too."
"On carpool duty again, Gray? I know you're the only one with a big enough car, but you must be paying a lot for gas." Levy was always practical, unless her beloved books were involved.
"It's no big deal, I just make them all clean my car every week to make up for it. I'll go grab Gajeel from the back if that's okay." After a quick nod from Levy, Gray headed to the back to find her boyfriend, and a good friend of Gray's, Gajeel Redfox. As expected, he was stooped over at the top of a ladder, running a duster over the top of some boxes labeled with the names of several astronomers he remembered enough from his classes to recognize.
"Is it time for practice already? I lost track of time dusting off row after row of these boxes," Gajeel grumbled with a fierce expression. He acted tough, but Gajeel spent most off his free time at the store with Levy, doing the heavy lifting for the tiny girl.
As the two friends edged out of the store, hoping the ever-vigilant Levy didn't see them and enlist them for price tag placing, a customer walked in, distracting Levy so the boys could make a clean escape. But just as Gray reached for the door handle, Gajeel grabbed his hand a whispered, "It's that weird girl again," prompting Gray to look back at the cashier, where a girl in blue jeans and a black jacket stood. She wore a black and white baseball cap, with blue hair pulled into a disheveled bun at the base of her neck. Then Gajeel tugged Gray out the door before he could make sense of what was happening.
"That girl! She comes in all the time, and she never wears anything but blue and black!" they got into the car and pulled out of the parking lot. "I know she goes to our school, she's in our grade, but she also went to my middle school, and, get this, I have never heard her speak! Unless she was answering a question, which she never does, she never speaks!"
"Do you know her name?"
"Yeah, it's something like, Juvia L-something. She comes into the store a lot, she's been a constant customer for about 3 years now, and I've never heard her say a word!"
"That's pretty weird…wonder if somethings wrong with her?"
Juvia stared at her feet, while Levy printed receipts for the books she was purchasing. She came to the story often, by day she haunted it, and by night she haunted the parks, sleeping under trees and benches, until she had to sneak into her dad's house for some laundry, or money. As long as she wasn't caught, he wouldn't care. She fingered the scars on her arm, some ropy and long, others short cuts, all near her wrist, but scars inflicted in a drunken rage rarely met the mark.
"Will that be all?" Levy asked with her characteristic cheery smile. Juvia nodded, mumbling a soft thanks, as she lifted the bag. "Have a nice day!"
Juvia normally just nodded to Levy, who seemed to understand she didn't want to speak, but today her armor of invisibility was shaken, its glass surface almost cracked, because he was watching her. The big, long-haired Gajeel was a constant presence in the store, but he was new. She knew he had crossed paths with her before, at school, but this time, he stopped and looked at her, she caught his attention, and that shouldn't have happened. He probably thinks I am a freak, or repulsive, like my parents, like the teachers, he's just another one, a person who will never spare me a second glance, I might as well be dead for all they care.
She felt a droplet of water fall onto her face, and trickle tantalizingly down her cheek, as if willing her to shatter her armor and let the tears fall, but her armor was all she had, and she would not let it break. She swept the droplet away, but more fell, as the heavens opened up and let their wrath descend upon her as she trudged solemnly through the melancholy downpour. She disappeared into the blue-gray mists, into the rain.
"Man, this sucks!" Natsu, Gray's best friend, slapped the bench beside him as they stared out into the rain, which was churning the track into muddy slop, as their gazed dejectedly out from the covered benches, while Gajeel and Jellal argued over the abysmal accuracy of the weather report. "We can't practice in this, but we have to get working, or else we'll never make any progress!"
"Calm down Natsu, it's just one practice, jeez..." Gray sighed into his hand, marveling at how well his friend could turn from being an immature senior, to a serious, determined rage machine.
"And the track's gonna be wet for at least two more days, dammit!" Now Natsu was pacing while kicking up clods of wet grass and oozing mud, splattering the stuff onto Gray's running shoes.
"Watch it you idiot! These are new! Besides, we should just head over to Makarov's and wait out the storm, since it's the closest." The boys headed back to the car, bound for Makarov Dreyar's garage, where Laxus Dreyar, a college-aged friend of theirs, had set up a hangout room for when he moved to his grandfather's place after his dad lost custody of him.
"It's too bad Lucy and Erza are out of town still, then we could have a real party. But instead I get stuck with you morons." Natsu drove the car down the deserted streets, throwing up sheets of water as he rounded each corner, and he turned the radio on to a classic rock station, blasting the music through the car. But for a moment Gray's mind wandered to the girl he had seen in the store, recalling that peculiar feeling he'd had when he saw her, as if he remembered her from somewhere…
Three hours later, Gray found himself wandering up Nakama Lane, in search of Natsu's notoriously wayward cat, Happy, who often ended up lost, and showed up the next morning each time, but the storm worried Natsu, so he deployed his friends in search of the cat. Gray was halfheartedly glancing around him, knowing Happy wouldn't get caught, as it was a running joke in his circle of friends that it seemed at times like the feline had wings so he could escape any confinement.
Gray strolled up towards Summers Ave., making a right turn and stroll down memory lane, as he recalled some of Happy's escapes, but as he took another left onto Guild St., he glanced up to see the blueish cat nestled in an old magnolia tree, which Gray grudgingly began his ascent into. As the branches became thinner, and the foliage obscured his vision, he noticed that his light source was the house across the street, in which he could see the figures of men drinking, and playing cards, oddly disgusted, Gray reached for Happy, when he saw a small, dark figure dart across the houses lawn, and into the wild bushes. Gray stopped his hand mid-reach when the moonlight illuminated the faint features of Juvia, the blue-haired girl from the bookshop.
Watching, fascinated, Gray saw her sneak through a side door into the house, which she seemed to have a key to, and dart through the brightly lit, but filthy kitchen into hidden rooms beyond, and emerge bearing an armful of clothes she was stuffing into a bulging bag. His heart almost stopped when one of the men came into the kitchen while she was pulling money from a cracked cookie jar, but he just staggered in to drop his bottle in the trash, and left walking with the lurching gait of a drunk. Juvia grabbed the rest of the money and slipped back out the side door, walking into the park behind the house, and disappearing into a clump of trees.
Gray scooped up Happy and scrambled down the tree, heading home, but as he walked he began to wonder what was causing the strange behavior of the girl, who was she, and why did she seem so scared. As he tumbled into bed, he fingered his sword necklace and wondered until he fell into a deep slumber.
Chapter 2: Mansfield Park
Natsu leaned against his worn wooden bedpost, one hand stroking Happy, the other holding his cell phone to his ear, waiting for Lucy to pick up.
"Natsu, what's wrong?" Lucy's voice came softly through the speakers on his phone, concerned and sweet, but her voice always sent a shiver up his spine.
"Why would you think something is wrong?" his voice came out teasing, but she had read his mind like always. There was a pit in his stomach, and he felt almost as if a heavy fog were blurring his thoughts, anxious curiosity pouring through him.
"Seriously, you call me at 11:30 pm, when you know I am tired, when you normally would never bother me this late, and you expect me not to think something is wrong?"
"Sorry. You're right. I just have this really bad feeling, and I'm a little worried. Gray's been acting really off lately, it's freaking me out…" Natsu trailed off mid-sentence, but setting aside his masculinity in favor of compassion, he continued. "He acts really distant, and preoccupied, and I keep finding him hanging around the park. He asked me yesterday where my old yearbooks were, but I said I didn't know, and he seems to be lurking near Levy's store, watching the door."
"Yeah, that's pretty out of character for him…maybe I should try to talk to him tomorrow, or I could get Erza to corner him and hold an interrogation…thanks for calling me, it was kind of you to worry about him, but it's late, so you had better get some sleep. I'll call you when I've approached him. Bye!" Lucy turned off her phone with a troubled heart. Gray was one of her best friends, and he and Natsu were so close, they often seemed like brothers. He was usually alert, and active, he focused on one thing and confronted it wholeheartedly. He was deliberate and blunt, making this secretive behavior strange, and baffling. Lucy rolled over, wishing now that Natsu could take her into his arms and reassure her, tell her it would be okay, but she felt the pressure of loneliness, and a growing fear that seemed to feed off of nothing at all…
Gray rifled through the rotting cardboard boxes crammed wildly into Natsu's attic, piles of photo albums and school projects balanced precariously on top of storage crates. He was searching for a way to stimulate his memories, to take hold of a memory that darted out of his grasp, leaving him desperate, and confused. That morning he had risen from his bed to recall a fleeting instance in which he recognized Juvia, he remembered her, he remembered her hair, a tearstained face, and rain. She was the raingirl. His hands dived into the box, and emerged grasping a yearbook, from elementary school, and with it, photocopies in a binder of second grade art projects, and scribbled stories.
Gray cracked the pages open, the spine popping. Natsu never really cared about yearbooks, and had a tendency to leave them unopened. He quickly browsed the second grade class, flipping past Natsu, his smile the biggest in the book, and past Levy, barely tall enough to fit in the frame, until a flash of blue caught his eye. He scanned the page of Mr. Jose's class to find a picture of a blue-haired girl without any hint of a smile, gazing solemnly at the camera, the caption proclaiming her Juvia Lockser. Memories came flooding back to him, and the little girl emerged from the page to appear upon the bleachers on the edge of the sports field, where a sloppy soccer game was taking place…
Gray and Natsu sitting in the stands, waiting for their turn to play, while Erza and Lucy chatted with levy, laughing at the fact she held an enormous book in her arms, and was completely ignoring the game. A little ways down the row Juvia sits on the bench, wrapped in blue coat and carrying a closed pink umbrella which bears a pattern of darker pink hearts and white trim. The clouds above burst open and release a torrential downpour, the rain so heavy it seemed as if the heavens were mourning for the girl, who sat under her umbrella, tears making shimmering lines of sorrow down her face, and her small chest shaking with silent sobs. Behind her two children stood, their faces washed away by time, but their words still clear and cruel.
"Ugh, stupid rain. I bet it's all Juvia's fault, she's always so gloomy, it's no wonder nobody cares about her."
"I know, she's always crying like some kind of obnoxious little baby."
Gray and the others stood and hurried inside, but as he trudged past Juvia, her small cries became barely audible, and he bent to ask if she was alright. Before her answer came, the coach blew his whistle, calling off the match, and when Gray turned back around, she was hurrying off into the mist…
Juvia opened her eyes, recollections of the past becoming too painful, and she looked up into the mirror. The bathrooms at the park civic center were small, but they had showers for people leaving the pool, and she woke up early enough to get them to herself most mornings. She pulled her bush through her hair, the fallen pieces leaving wet blotches on the shoulders of her blue tank top. Her heart was still pounding from last night's escape from her dad's house. Before her mom moved she could have just gone to her, because she went out at night and left the kitchen window open a lot, but her dad's house was her last money source, even if it was a risky one. She packed her things into a backpack, pulled her hair into a loose chignon, and slipped out of the bathroom to walk to the grocery store.
As she threaded her way through the neighborhood, her thoughts turned again to the black-haired teen at the bookshop. Juvia had been stripped of her invisibility, although she hated to admit it, and she was shaken. It had been a long time since anyone had really looked at her, watched her, Levy had long ago given up trying to pry anything out of Juvia, a name was all she had ever given. Her thoughts and halfhearted musings carried her to the police station. Her feet stalled as she gazed at the doors, a glimmer of hope sparkling in her eyes, but her pale fingers trailed across her scarred wrists, and she dropped her gaze to her shoes and walked past the station in a hurry, drunken bellows and shrill tantrums echoing in her mind, accompanied by her mother's criticism and her father's indifference.
"Stupid girl, you're the biggest mistake of my life."
"Ugh, you're such a bratty nuisance, just go away, I'm busy."
"What're you doing here, go away."
"I wish you had never been born."
"What are you hanging around here for, nobody wants you."
She carried her bag of groceries out of the store and into the park, where she sat under the bleachers with her new book, bread and cold sausage with orange juice awaiting.
Gray tugged on a T-shirt and headed out the door to run, hoping to make up for missing track practice the day before. He was supposed to meet Natsu at the park, and he really didn't want to wake up the next day to an enraged Natsu armed with hot sauce. He turned the corner and walked up onto the sidewalk, only to see Juvia sitting under the bleachers by the little baseball field kids played at sometimes. He quickened his pace cutting his warm-up short, and jogged towards her.
"Hey, Juvia!" She sat bolt upright, and grabbed the backpack at her side, while across the park strode her father, bottle at his side, calling her name. She scrambled to her feet, and swung her backpack over her shoulder, and took off down the path. Glancing behind her she saw her father falling behind, but the boy from school was running towards her waving something in his hands, her book! But there was no time, if she stopped, he would get involved, and she wasn't worth getting hurt over, after all, she was a mistake. Turning back, she tore off into the neighborhood, adrenaline spurring her onward.
Gray watched her sprint off, her hair tumbling around her shoulders, the last expression on her face burned into his retinas, the primal fear, and loneliness, the way tears were gathering in her eyes, and her desperation as her gaze flew to him, and the book in his hand, until she looked past him, and turned away. He looked back to see a drunk, lean man, with a bottle clenched in his fist, the bottom jagged with broken glass, and a violent hunger in his eyes. The man was very obviously her father, or at least an uncle, and she was obviously afraid of him. Gray stepped into the shadow of the civic center, and watched the man stagger by as he took a quick photograph, then proceeded to call Lucy, hoping she was awake.
Lucy looked up from her computer screen as her phone rang, and she picked up, seeing Gray's name under caller ID.
"What's up?"
"Lucy, I just watched a girl run straight out of the park looking absolutely terrified, while being followed by a very drunk man who looks like her dad, and now I have a book that she left behind, and I think she's in trouble."
"What!"
"So that's why you've been acting so weird lately, Gray." Natsu sat on an ottoman in Makarov's garage, with Gray Lucy, Erza, Gajeel, and Levy clustered together in bewilderment,
"I knew I recognized her, and really wanted to know why."
"Well," Levy interrupted, "obviously we should find her and return her book, and maybe we can find out if that man was chasing her. By the way, what book is it?"
"Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen." Gray turned the book over in his hands, contemplating its return. "I think we should split up and look for her, because she seemed really scared, but we have no proof, so we can't really call the police."
"Sure." Lucy sat up and counted the occupants of the room. "Okay, Levy, you stay at the store, and that can be our base of operations, since she might go there, and then Gajeel can watch the area nearby for that guy. Natsu and I will patrol the park, Erza, you go watch the house she went to that night. Gray, just look for her, okay, wander around with a goal, and look."
Chapter 3: The Bridge
Juvia ran. She ran until her lungs were bursting and her heart was pounding so violently she felt it would rupture. Her vision was spotty, growing black around the edges, and she was drenched in sweat. But she kept running. She hadn't faced him in two years, she hadn't spoken to him, hadn't seen him. He hadn't hit her in two years. It had been two years since her father had told her she was better off dead and tried to slit her wrists. It had been two years since she had heard her mother walk out the door, laughing in her face when Juvia asked when she would be back.
She reached inside herself and found the source of her fear, and she ran. Her legs flying, her feet slamming against the pavement, and her backpack crashing into her spine with every stride. She ran and ran, she ran from fear, and anger, and loss, and sorrow, and from loneliness. Juvia reached the river before she collapsed onto the pavement, her knees bloodied and her jeans torn. She lifted her palms and saw the red, raw scrapes, made a shaky attempt to stand before she gave up and crawled into the bushes at the base of the bridge. She curled into a tight ball, her knees tender, and her jeans stained with blood. She was still shaking, but not of exhaustion, she was afraid, she shook with fear, and she knew he wouldn't give up, he would follow her, follow her until he found her. He must have realized she was taking his money, he came after her, and she was completely alone.
Gray had searched half of the neighborhood with no trace of Juvia. He trudged dejectedly down the street as a light, misting rain settled upon the streets. All he could think about was the fear on Juvia's face, the look of a caged animal with nowhere left to run. His phone rang, and it was at his ear in an instant.
"Gray!" Erza's voice came through, sounding out of breath. "I just watched her father leave the house, and he must have come in the back door, but he seems to be looking for something, and he is in a really big hurry."
"Where?"
"He's heading down First Street towards the intersection at Fairy Tail and Fifth!"
"On my way."
Gray Stuffed his phone into his pants pocket and took off down the street, without the slightest hesitation.
Juvia kept her head tucked into her knees, starting at the sound of approaching footsteps. She froze, shrinking farther back into the bushes, until a rough hand grabbed her arm, wrenching her out of the bushes and onto the deserted street. The rain fell harder as she looked up and met the bloodshot eyes of her father. Then, quick as lightning, he punched her in the gut, right at the edge of her ribcage, and she bent over gasping for air.
"You wretched little thief!" His voice was cold as steel. "I know you've been taking my money, and you thought you could get away with it, thought you could run away!" another punch. "Well you better stay away Juvia, or I'll get you. Stupid girl. Nobody wants you around, you are just a miserable little girl, and nobody needs you! So just go on and die!"
Juvia's breath caught in her throat, and tears pricked her eyes and slipped down her dirty cheeks. Her armor had shattered into a thousand fragments, because he was right. Nobody wanted her, she just made everybody sad, she was never happy.
Gray sped around the corner to see Juvia on the bridge, holding her stomach while her father gripped her wrist. He grabbed his phone without breaking his stride, and dialed three numbers.
Juvia could barely breathe as he pushed her into the railing his words falling on deaf ears, as her mother's back walked out the door, as the other children avoided her, she watched her father telling her nobody cared about her. She let go of the railing at the same time as she saw him running towards her, his phone falling out of his hand as her reached out, and she fell.
Gray vaulted over the railing, no longer thinking, just acting, as he straightened out and plummeted towards the water. It hit hi, like a wall, but he shot down, watching her body fall, her hair spreading like a fan in the water, as she struck the bottom, and Gray reached out his arms.
Natsu stared at Gray's rapidly disappearing form descending into the river, and turned to face the man who stood staring at the railing. Erza walked right up to him and bashed him on the head with one fist, and he dropped like a stone. Sirens were quickly approaching, but they all stood staring at the water below.
Gray scooped her up in his arms, crouched, and launched himself into the water, the surface approaching, and as his head brake the surface, he looked at Juvia, who looked far too pale and her skin seemed almost purple. Across the rain speckled river was the shoreline, and Gray launched himself towards it, hauling her onto the muddy bank, where medics were rushing to greet them. Gray took Juvia's hand in his and held on tight.
5 Years Later:
Gray walked around the corner of a building, and looked out upon a bridge. He strolled onto it to join its sole occupant. A blue-haired girl leaned against the railing, wearing blue jeans and a black coat.
"We are your family." Those words were spoken as he turned her around, wrapped her in his arms, and kissed Juvia on the bridge.