Well here is something new, it's about Gray and Juvia along with a couple of other ships. Depending on how this does I might continue this story. Also if you liked this then please check out my other stories so read on and enjoy!
Most children's first memories are those of their mother holding them close, keeping them warm, keeping them safe. Most children remember how the heat of the afternoon sun felt on their young and delicate skin. However. Not all younglings get to experience this for some are born in the harsh and punishing howls of the rain, just like Juvia Lockstar.
Rain, there was always rain. No sun, no rainbow just the same old rain. Day after day the same cold, wet rain. She had been born into a sky blanketed with thick and hostile grey clouds, the first time she heard about rainbows the young girl barely eight years of age thought that the other kids must have been mad. Juvia had no mother to love or teach her, she had no father to guide or protect her but the girl with the ocean blue hair didn't mind, she felt more comfortable in the water than in the arms of the mother she never had...or at least that's what she thought.
Growing up with the rain meant it never bothered her, the otherwise annoying pitter patter of the drops of water were nothing more than dulcet tones that would whisk her away to a land of dreams, to a land of rainbows. While Juvia never minded the wet weather that seemingly followed her those around the little girl certainly did, it was the children that were most vocal with their abuse.
''Why does it always rain when she's about?'' One would yell.
''The rain is just like her, gloomy and horrible!'' Another would cackle.
''Go away and take your nasty rain with you!'' They were always the same insults day after day. Juvia didn't mind the venomous stares or hushed comments about 'the strange blue haired girl'. It was the sheer poison and sharpness in the words of the children that she wanted so desperately to play with that cut deeper than anything else. After all, you can't play tag or hide and seek with the rain as your friend.
One day when she was nine years old Juvia had seen an old lady showing what she presumed to be her granddaughter how to make what appeared to be a doll made of a small ball and a square of cloth, captivated by the happiness that Juvia could see in the little girl's crystal eyes she attempted to make her own, and while it was not a beautifully crafted as the one that the far more dexterous and experienced lady had made. To Juvia it was the most important thing in her otherwise cold and lonely life.
For two years she had her doll had done everything together, they had played, they had eaten, they had shared secrets. They had spent what had been the happiest years of her life together, yet despite the seemingly unbreakable feeling of euphoria Juvia knew that in the real world she didn't have a single friend that could really play with her, or could really eat with her, or could really share secrets with.
Her royal blue eyes awoke to an all too familiar sight, grey. The clouds above far above her were once again spilling their wet and depressing contents onto the weary and frustrated people bellow. On this morning in particular Juvia had a thought that she never thought she would have. I wonder maybe...if behind the clouds there is a rainbow. Little did she know that she would have to wait almost six years to find out the stunning truth. But for now she was in for what would be one of the worst and most eye opening days of her life.
Today was Saturday, no school, no homework. Today was beach day for the chirpy girl! After getting dressed and tidy she hummed a gentle tune as she skipped her way towards the center of town to buy her train as she readied her strolled away Juvia she reached into her satchel, she retrieved a fluffy woolen coat that had been given to her by her kindhearted and generous teacher the other children from the school showed up with malicious intent in their surprisingly fickle hearts.
''Look everyone it's the gloomy girl!'' A boy with short golden hair called out as he pushed her into a particularly muddy puddle. With a great splash her treasured coat was ruined. Brown, sticky mud had filled the pockets and stained the formerly beautifully navy blue fabric that had been hand sewed.
''Hey look at that.'' Pointed a girl with ginger pig tails. Her outstretched finger was directly aimed at the doll that had kept Juvia company for so many days and nights. ''Is that her doll?'' The cruel hearted girl scooped the cherished doll from the mud moments before Juvia could stop her.
''Give that back, we're going to the beach today!'' For the first time ever Juvia had found her voice against the bullies that filled her innocent heart with dark and evil thoughts.
''If you want it come and get it.'' With a weak and quiet splash the girl dropped the doll into the dirt and with all her young might she brought her tiny foot crashing down upon Juvia's most loved possession.
''NO!'' Juvia yelled and with an ear splitting howl the sky screamed too. But the children paid no attention to the vast black clouds that had replaced the dull grey ones that usually obscured the heavens above. Once again her foot came down upon the fragile head of her doll, Juvia stood from the puddle and ran to protect her inanimate friend when a pair of much stronger arms sent her straight back down into the mud. Pain filled her vision as her delicate head crashed against the wet but hard ground below, once the stars of soreness faded from her eyes Juvia could see with perfect clarity the damage that they had done and they were far from done…
Even with the cloth cover Juvia could still see a large crack forming along the continuous curve of her doll's head. Shiny, crystal like tears were now cascading down her flawless white skin. ''P-please…'' Juvia whimpered as another fissure formed in the near destroyed head.
''Damn...this thing is tough, here you have a go.'' The girl with the ginger hair jested to the ringleader with the short blond hair.
''Okay!'' He jogged over to the crumpled remains of the toy and took a moment look at the helpless girl before spitting at the mud stained doll, being older and stronger than the girl he smirked hatefully as he raised his much larger foot over the doll and with his a fraction of his strength he crushed the head of Juvia's doll into a thousand tiny pieces with a shattering crack that broke Juvia's heart as if it were the shell of a weak snail under a boot.
''NO!'' Juvia screamed with all the rage of the untamed ocean. Her pain filled cried fueled their witch like laughter but their victory was short lived when the ebony clouds above them filled the sky with the striking bolts of lightning that gave even the sturdiest of adults the scare of a lifetime.
''H-hey, let's get out of here.'' One of the children suggested, the other quickly agreed and they set off towards the direction of home and the loving arms of their parents. But Juvia wouldn't let them go without punishment for their grave crime.
''NO!'' Power like no other flooded her entire being like a tsunami, she stood from the filth to face those that would hurt her. Instead of the clouds sending forth their seemingly infinite number of individual raindrops all the water currently surrounding her, in puddles, in ponds, even in the very air around her manifested in the form of a great serpent hundreds of meters long.
The horrified children were powerless to watch as Juvia pulled every last molecule of water from the very air around them, their blood had frozen in ice in their veins as the weak and pathetic girl they were bullying transformed into the manifestation of all her pent up rage and fury. Being only kids there was nothing any of them could do as Juvia unleashed all the power she never even knew she had.
''Magic...Juvia has magic power.'' Juvia looked at her dripping hands with an expression of utter disbelief. Amidst the torrents of punishing water something had clicked in her mind. It is my rain… For the first time in her life Juvia listened to the rain, she really listened to it. Drip, drop. It was a lullaby that she didn't even know existed.
From that day on all Juvia could do was run, survive and train like there was no tomorrow. With everyday that came Juvia made the most of every minute that she could, at first Juvia couldn't even form a single ripple in the many puddles that formed wherever she went. ''Ugh why won't it work?'' Juvia huffed, no matter what she tried it didn't work. Talking to the water, swimming in the water, ordering the water. No response from the rain in any way shape or form.
''Maybe Juvia needs to try something different…'' She sighed, doing what she had done meant that Juvia had to stay away from the larger, more well connected towns but she needed some form of guidance in mastering her newly discovered powers. ''Juvia needs to find a library.'' Juvia huffed.
After three days of traveling from village to village Juvia came across a larger town, from her perch in the nearby forest she weighed up her options. ''Juvia is sure there's a library there, but...if someone recognises Juva then there will be trouble.'' It was a difficult decision, she was getting nowhere on her own and she needed to learn how to control her confusing magic power. Deciding that finding a book on water magic to be the best course of action Juvia buttoned up her coat as high as it would go and after taking a deep breath she walked into the busy and crowded town.
Juvia thanked the rain that followed her quietly, due to the seemingly endless downpour most of the residents had fled for cover leaving most of the town empty for her to explore free from prejudice. ''Drip, drop.'' She hummed softly as her black boots splashed through one of the many puddles.
Being in an unfamiliar environment meant that it took Juvia a lot longer than she had expected to find her way around the settlement, after consulting a map of the town it took her another twenty minutes before Juvia actually located the building that she hoped would contain the knowledge on how to control her powers.
It was a rather old building, the entrance to which was constructed of two giant pillars decorated with stunning designs of vines. Between the two constructs was a large mahogany door, Juvia wasted no time in rushing inside and brushing the rain from her coat. ''Now, to find that book.'' With that she set about searching the thousands of tomes housed within the library.
''Hhmm...Let's see. Magic history...no...Magical creatures...no.'' Juvia was becoming frustrated at her lack of progress, she leaned against one of the many, many book cases and sighed. ''Juvia will never going to find it at this rate.''
''Find what miss?'' The foreign voice came as a shock to Juvia, she looked up to see what she guessed to be a librarian looking down at her,Juvia guessed she could have been no older than herself possibly even younger.
''Oh… Ju-I need a book on magic, specifically water magic.'' She didn't dare make eye contact with the worker in case they recognised her from the wanted posters that plastered most of the cities on the continent.
''Ah of course, please follow me.'' Juvia did so and as she followed the chirpy girl she took note of her hair, it was blue like her own but it was much lighter almost a sky blue in colour. They walked down a long series of book bases each brimming with volumes ranging from the history of Fiore to books containing the near infinite number of magic guilds that were dotted across the lands. After a couple minutes of walking the librarian turned on her heels to face Juvia who quickly looked to her shoes. ''Here we are, this case contains information on magic involving the elements, I hope you have a pair of these.'' She reached into her pocket and retrieved a pair of glasses Juvia had never seen before, they were golden and were decorated in patterns and various jewels.
Juvia simply nodded before turning to examine the shockingly tall shelf, as she began scanning the books Juvia heard the librarian call to her. ''The books on water magic are on the far left, oh and if you need anything else just ask for Levy.'' With that she walked off leaving Juvia to her thoughts.
''That saved Juvia a lot of time…'' She huffed, thanks the Levy Juvia quickly found a book with the title of. A guide to mastering the magic of deep.
''This sounds perfect.'' Juvia had finally found what she had been looking for all this time and now she could finally learn how to use her powers. To make sure the content of the book was what she needed Juvia skimmed over the pages only stopping to observe the diagrams and images of the spells and incantations.
Content with the information recorded on the pages Juvia tucked the book under her shoulder and walked straight to the main desk where Levy was knee deep in publications of all genres. ''Excuse me, but...I would like to take out this book.'' It was a struggle to talk in the first person when she had spent her life referring to herself in the third person.
''Of course, I'll just need a name.'' This as a complication that Juvia had foreseen but she had not yet come up with a solution for.
''Oh..um well…'' Juvia had two choices, give a fake name and hope that she didn't realise or give her true name and beg that Levy didn't yet know of her crime. ''Juvia Lockstar.'' As the words left her lips Juvia screwed her eyes shut in preparation for the immediate reprisal of her mistake but. It never came instead and to her complete and utter surprise she heard a compliment.
''That's a lovely name, here you go.'' Levy handed her the book before adding. ''It will need to be back in two weeks okay?''
Once again Juvia nodded in agreement knowing that she would never return such a valuable book. After leaving the library Juvia did her best to shield her possession from the now torrential rain, she couldn't afford to damage this most precious of articles.
''Juvia needs something to keep dry, she needs an umbrella.'' Juvia sighed, it took next to no time to find an umbrella in this rain. It was a perfect bowl shape made of a bright pink fabric decorated with hearts a slightly darker shade of magenta. ''Drip, drop.'' She hummed as the rain parted over her new protection, to her it was a pleasant sound. Juvia took a moment to admire the constant pitter-patter that filled her up and brought a slight peace to her heart.
It took hours more to find a suitable place for Juvia to find to begin practising using her new learning resource. In the end it was only a lonely cave but it was more than enough for the blue haired girl. ''Well beggers can't be choosers.'' She sighed after accessing the dingy grotto.
She propped the book against a protruding rock on one of the first pages that detailed one of the most 'simple' spells.
''Water slicer...sounds simple enough.'' Juvia took a deep breath and closed her eyes, all her focus was on her breathing, in and out. After a few minutes of absolute silence Juvia's navy blue eyes shot open and swung a single arm in a wide arc.
''WATER SLICER!'' She yelled as her arm drew a wide curve, for a single horrifyingly long moment nothing happened but Juvia didn't even have time to consider her attempt a failure.
A swarm of long water like blades seemingly appeared from nowhere and flew at speed her eyes struggled to follow before colliding with the wall of the cave leaving several deep scars in the rock face. ''It worked!''
And while Juvia was filled with a joyous sense of euphoria and pride this was the beginning of a long, dark journey that would be filled with darkness and suffering.