Summary: Juvia was even more than his best friend. She was his family. His sister.
A/N:Hi, this is worshiperofunknownstories and this was my submission for the appreciation day of the queen of my heart, Juvia Lockser. Seriously, we totally deserved a day like this since Mashima is making us suffer by showing us our beloved queen so sick. (Oi, Mashima, stop, let the butterflies and the sunny days come back! T-T)
This is the first writing without myentropicmess that I publish, even though she and mavis-118 were my betas, (thanks for everything girls!). I wrote it in a day kind of complicated for me so, I feel like I couldn't give my best for this contribution, however, I hope you like it and that it's at least worthy of our queen.
It's Gajeel's POV, and I tried to express what I think she means to him. I mean, I haven't got any doubt they're like family and one of the strongest friendships in Fariy Tail,even though Mashima sensei won't show us that.
Disclaimer: FT belongs to Mashima-sensei! ^^
"Rain woman," he muttered.
"She weakens as the hours pass. Gajeel, I'm so sorry."
But Lucy's voice didn't reach him. He didn't even answer, all he could do was waving his hand asking for a private moment while he approached the quiet silhouette laying over the undone bed.
It was raining heavily when he arrived to the gloomy village. Gajeel grunted in silence cursing the rain. That damn job was becoming far more complicated than he thought. For God's sake, it only consisted in hunting a thief and returning the stolen jewellery to a wealthy family. However, he had been tracing the man for three days and all he could find was a path of hurt people and more goods stolen. And as if that wasn't enough, now that; the bad weather.
Gajeel recognized the man running under the rain. That was it. The thief was finally his. "Gihi, this is going to be fun," he thought as he stretched his fingers and walked down the slight slope. The woman appeared from nowhere.
"Rain woman, do you hear me?" his sharp voice came out in a quiet and restrained ripple. "I don't buy it. You're Juvia of the Great Sea, and I've never seen the sea lacerated enough to remain calm for this long. Wake up, Juvia!"
Her steps, silent and elegant, drove her directly to the dark shape standing at the edge of the cliff, under the rain. Gajeel stood still, examining the scene. What was going on?
"You must return it to Juvia, or Juvia will have no other choice than harm you."
"Don't make threats that you can't keep, woman."
"The amulet belongs to the village. This is Juvia's last warning."
The man smiled and that settled the beginning of the battle. A thin light crossed the ground drawing a large circle around them, filled with what seemed to be runes. Juvia scanned the place, tense, and Gajeel noticed a glimpse of exasperation in her body. She stepped closer to the man and raised her hand.
"Water lock," the bluenette yelled, summoning water all around her opponent; encircling him and enclosing his body in an aquatic prison.
Gajeel gasped, amazed by that powerful display of magic. The woman began to close her hand, as if she were trying to compact the water even more, guaranteeing the bane of her victim. Then, some of the runes painted around them glowed harder, and began to move through the circle, gathering in the centre, above the two contenders.
"Those who use magic against the creator of the circle, shall receive a pain equal or superior to the inflicted," Gajeel read in the air. What was all that about?
As soon as the runes were reunited, they fell over the bluenette's body and began to spin around her. In no time, she was surrounded by some sort of blizzard. The girl resisted and even used more magic, tightening the water even more as an attempt of making the man stop the spell. However it didn't work and, both the man in the jail and the girl in the blizzard began to choke. Gajeel decided it was time for him to do something. Definitely that girl wasn't as powerful as he thought. However, a small part of him wanted to stay where he was and watch a bit more.
Right when it seemed the two of them would collapse, Juvia opened her hand and released the man. A few seconds later, she was freed from the runes.
"So, I see you discovered that your tricks won't work on me, huh?" the man said, cheerful.
Juvia was in the floor on all fours, gasping loudly, trying to make the oxygen to return to her body. The man approached her and grabbed her hair, roughly. The blue hat she was wearing fell to the ground and, after stepping over it, he dragged Juvia to the end of the perimeter.
"You'll see, I had time to write some more rules," he said forcing Juvia to wake up and then pushed her against the light.
"Once the circle is activated, only one person must remain conscious to unlock it. If anybody tried to escape, the strength of a thousand rays should cross their bodies."
Gajeel could tell the pain was almost unbearable watching Juvia's face; her eyes closed and her mouth writhed, with her hands clenched into a fist and her legs approaching to her chest as if she tried to become smaller. The iron dragon slayer found himself running towards them. The thief was stronger than he thought. He underestimated him, and now the bluenette was enjoying a nice fight while he was doing nothing. Gajeel couldn't bear to see such an unequal bout.
A few more runes gathered together and came to meet him.
"If anybody tries to interfere or enter the circle, the person should share the pain dealt inside the runes."
Gajeel felt the electricity burning his insides. The pain too intense to let him keep moving. He was paralyzed and yet, he kept trying to get closer.
Juvia finally fell to the ground and lost contact with the barrier. She saw Gajeel behind the light barrier, still in pain. Her knees were too weak to sustain her weight, so she had to stay in the floor, trying to come up with a plan quickly and to gather the little magic and strength she had left.
"Is the threaten standing still? Or would you like to withdraw?" he taunted.
"Water Slicer!"
Thin blades made of water appeared next to her body and travelled through the battle space, gaining speed and ferocity. By the time they reached the thief, they were strong enough to cut his clothes and skin as if they were scythes. Immediately, some roots emerged from the ground and aimed for Juvia's body, only to cross it without doing any harm. The water mage raised her hand once again, and summoned the sharp-shaped water again and attacked. Then, the light surrounding them disappeared.
"When given the proper amount of force, water is strong enough to slice even the hardest rocks. A bunch of runes written over a piece of land weakened by the incessant and quiet rain is no rival for Juvia."
She registered his pockets and found the small jade in one of them. Her mission was accomplished.
"Shin shin to," she said while leaving. Then, she turned back to look at Gajeel, who was standing up, and said, "Thank you for trying to help Juvia."
"Oi, Rain Woman," he called. "You said those blades of yours could cut anything. Even Iron?"
"Even steel," she replied.
"Let's check that. Iron Dragon's Sword!"
"Even though you were severely hurt, you were strong enough to face me that day," Gajeel put his hand over Juvia's face, caressing her cheek only to retire it a second later. "I was very surprised, rain woman. Since that first training together, because hell yeah, that was our first training, we grew up a lot, both of us."
Juvia moved slightly under the sheets, bending her body, bringing her legs closer to her chest and getting closer to Gajeel.
"Three days later you almost defeated Totomaru and Sol on your own. If Aria didn't block you with his crying, you would have definitely beaten their asses. I even felt a bit disappointed that you didn't win that time and then," Gajeel took a moment to sigh and let a half smile to appear in his face.
"You made me laugh of pride when the next day you came to my house and ask me for hard-core training to become the most powerful mage of the Element 4," the iron dragon slayer uncovered his upper chest, showing a small scar crossing his right collarbone. "Damn it! That day you proved that you were able to cut the iron, and now you're just giving up because of some shitty illness? Who the fuck are you and where is that rain woman?"
Juvia covered her face with her arm, trying to hide the wide smile growing in her face, but Gajeel grabbed her wrist and stopped her.
"The heck? Why are you smiling?" he said, bewildered.
"Gajeel-kun!" she opened her eyes and continued, "Juvia has been waiting a long time for Gajeel-kun to say such words. Since the arrival to Fairy Tail, whenever they went on a mission, he was so quiet and moody and then… they started teaming up less. Juvia was afraid that he might not be having a good time with her, as those days, back in Phantom."
"How long have you been awaken?" he asked with a grimace ranging from anger to amusement.
"Since Lucy-san closed the door," she recognized, smiling in embarrasment.
"Rain woman, I should punch you," he hissed through his teeth. "First you threaten to go and let me alone with all those overexcited fairies and then you let me talk embarrassing stuff-," his anger vanished as soon as Juvia's pale arms embraced him.
"Damn it, Rain Woman," he whispered, placing his arms around her and hugging her tighter, with all the strength he could gather, not even giving a fuck if he crushed any of her bones.
Warmth flooded his chest. It didn't matter that she heard him expressing his feelings out loud, it was Juvia, anyways. The first friend he had. The one that knew his heart even when he didn't even know he had any; the girl that saved his butt more than once; the only one besides Lily that he truly felt comfortable with; the partner that accompanied him to the easiest missions only to make them more bearable and even funnier; the rain woman that brought the sun to his existence buying him a second opportunity when nobody else believed in him; the bluenette that encouraged him to keep going with his music projects and the one that laughed at his first "shubidouba".
Juvia Lockser, the rain woman that erased, drop by drop, any presence of darkness in his heart and, with her hugs, her kind words and her smiles, made him discover himself and see that he was someone worthy. Juvia was even more than his best friend. She was his family. His sister.
