"You are and always will be a Phantom's woman."
Juvia just couldn't stop thinking about what Freed had said. It was a year ago but the words had clung onto her. Was Juvia really accepted as a Fairy Tail member? There was Gray, who just wouldn't accept her feelings. Juvia hid her face in her palms. She stayed like that for a while until she heard footsteps in her direction.
"Juvia." The bluenette heard a deep male voice. She looked up and saw it was Lauxus.
"Yes Lauxus-san?" Juvia was confused because Lauxus and her didn't usually talk to each other a lot.
"Freed wants to meet you at the cherry tree. Ya know the one in the garden where Mira picks- uh vegetables and stuff." Lauxus made a disgusted face when he said vegetables. Juvia couldn't help but laugh.
"Okay Lauxus-san." Juvia went out the guild door.
'What did Freed even want? He made it clear he never wanted to talk to me.' Juvia thought while sighing.
Juvia saw the cherry tree but the runes Mage no where in sight.
"Fr-Freed-san? Where are you? This better not be a joke!" Juvia warned him if he heard her. She kept walking towards the tree. She still couldn't find him. The bluenette looked around the cherry tree and he still wasn't there. Eventually she got tired and leaned against the tree. Juvia heard a lot about the cherry tree. Erza liked spending time alone here. Juvia didn't know she had a soft side to her. Natsu and Lisanna made their relationship official here. It turned out that Lucy actually liked Natsu but was disappointed when he started dating Lisanna so she went to the same tree and felt comfort there. She moved on and fell in love with Loke.
Juvia had always imagined it was just Gray and her at the cherry tree alone. But that never happened. She felt like Gray would never accept her feelings. She closed her eyes. The cherry blossoms fell in her hair but she didn't care.
"Are you sleeping already?" Juvia quickly opened her eyes and saw Freed there. She stood up straight and tried to look angry at him.
"Where was Freed-san and what does he want?" Juvia crossed her arms. Freed looked down and his hands dropped to his pockets. There was a small silence between the two.
"I wanted to apologize to you." He murmured.
"Huh?"
"For calling you a phantom's woman. For saying you could never be a Fairy. That you don't belong here. Everything." Freed was at the point where he felt helpless even though Juvia didn't even start yelling at him.
"Juvia forgives Freed-san but she and him are not friends." Juvia huffed. "Bye." The bluenette stomped away from Freed ignoring what he was saying.
The next morning Juvia slept in. She felt cranky. She also had a terrible dream. It was back where she and Cana were trapped in Freed's runes magic. He told them they had to fight in order to get out. The one last standing would fight him. She told him it was ridiculous so she tried to turn into water and fly up to the lacrima. Like she did before, she hit it with all her strength. She had her eyes closed when she did that but when she opened them, there was Cana. Covered in dripping blood. Juvia then felt as much pain in her heart as when the lacrima electrocuted her. She attacked her own nakama. One of the members of her family.
'I told you. You will never be part of our guild.' Freed said in her dream and she woke up.
She was crying silently to herself. Hoping no one would see her she sat up and went outside to take a walk and get some fresh air. Her vision was a bit blurry since she just woke up. She rubbed her eyes and looked up at the sky. Her blue orbs adjusted to the bright light and she kept walking. The water mage was close to her guild and saw the cherry tree. Juvia decide to take a break for a while. She sat down at the tree's trunk and closed her eyes. The bluenette heard shuffling next to her and got scared.
"Juvia?" The said water mage saw Freed right next to her. Her eyes were still wet so he put his hands out to wipe her tears. Once Juvia realized that she slapped his hand away.
'Right Juvia, you hate him. Act tough.' She thought to herself.
"What's your problem?" Freed asked confused. He really didn't know why she was mad at him. "And why are you crying?"
'Because of you!' She wanted to say but she already forgave him and felt guilty.
"Juvia... Hates you..." She sulked and covered her face with her pale hands. Freed's face looked so hurt, Juvia almost regretted saying that to him. Freed pulled the water mage into a hug. She cried into his chest. She didn't want to but she couldn't stop herself.
"Why are you hugging Juvia? Let her go..." Juvia managed to pull herself together and escape his hold.
"I don't want you to hate me. Please Juvia, I'm bad at handling girls. Do you think I can handle a crying girl?" Juvia wiped her tears away. It started raining so it didn't help much. "Let's go inside, it's raining." Freed softly said. Juvia did what he said but didn't think about what her guildmates would react.
"Uh Juvia?" Juvia saw Gray out of the corner of her eye. She didn't want him to see her crying, let alone with another guy. She hid her face.
'Not now Gray-sama...' Juvia sighed.
"Are you and Freed-" Gray got cut off by Juvia for the first time.
"Shut up Gray..." Gray backed off and realized she didn't put sama after his name. Juvia pushed Freed away from her. Everyone was shocked.
"At least Freed-san comforted Juvia when she was crying. Gray never did. He just brushed her off whenever she wanted to talk. Juvia needs time alone..." Juvia said quietly. Freed quickly grabbed her wrist and reeled her into him. He softly kissed her pale lips.
"F-Freed-san! When Juvia said that she didn't mean anything!"
"Yeah but still... I felt something when you said that. You might not like me back but... I like you..."
