Juvia ran along side Gray. The beast which was chasing them- a werewolf Gray had called it hadn't he? She wasn't sure however she tried her best to keep up. "Listen, Juvia," he called out to her, looking back at her for a second. "I've got to tell you: You know when I said that this thing which is chasing us is a werewolf? Well we're running towards a river and I know you have no idea what's going on, but as soon as we jump I need you to hold onto me, alright?" Juvia didn't have time to answer.
"Natsu!" The raven haired boy shouted. "Run!"
"Lucy!" Juvia shouted not long afterwards. "You need to get away!"
Natsu smirked smugly, turning his head to Lucy, "I told you that you needed to come with me to protect you."
Juvia's gaze stayed upon her sister as she spoke and pointed behind her. She looked at the boy stood next to her. He looked the same age as all of them. He had pink hair and was tanned but that was all Juvia could make out from being so distant from him.
"Juvia!" Gray shouted as he suddenly took a sharp turn to the left, the werewolf behind them skidded to a stop for a moment, deciding whether to go to Juvia and Gray or to the pinkette and Lucy. The reason Gray had warned Juvia was because at that moment she saw what he was talking about. There a rather large river in front of them. Gasping in a breath she waited until he spoke again, "Jump!" He shouted, leaping into the dense water he dragged Juvia with him. She clenched her eyes when she felt the water surround her. Suddenly it felt as though there were a thousand needles pinching every cell within her body, painful wouldn't be the word which Juvia would use to describe it. More like agony when she felt the cold seep through her skin to her bones, it wasn't winter however it was close by- meaning that the water would have been becoming swollen and freezing. She screamed however no sound came out, just a load of bubbles which clouded her vision and a mouthful of salty water. She felt her lungs contract at her let go of the only oxygen she had, they began to burn after a while- begging her to breath however Juvia had long forgotten about anything. Slowly her body began feeling numb- even her eyes were stinging and heavy against the water which surrounded her. She had noticed beforehand the empty feeling within her palm, she must have accidently let go of that boy's hands- Gray was is?- when they had hit the water. Juvia didn't know if she was sinking or floating but whatever she was doing, it was painful, too painful to move or try to fight against it. Slowly her eyes closed, allowing herself to accept her current situation. Was she really accepting herself to die? Apparently so.
As she let her last thought slip her mind, she felt something brush against her arm. Fingers? No, it couldn't be... She hadn't known what it was as she felt herself fall deep into the darkness...
Until she left something hard press against her chest causing the water which had been trapped within her lungs to come choking up her throat. Instinctively she laid upon her side as the salty left her body. Gasping for air when it had finally come out, she groaned. Upon hearing a sigh of relief, she fell back onto her back, looking up to see the dark haired boy. He had his eyes closed as he tried to regain his breath, his face looked relaxed and that was the moment Juvia realised. He had just saved her life. She felt heat rise up to her cheeks, as she continued to stare at the boy. She had died, yet this stranger had saved her life. No he wasn't a stranger- he was Gray. The boy who had saved her life three times now. Opening his eyes once again, her eyes met his. He blinked in shock at first, obviously not expecting her to be staring up at him, however they stayed like that for a couple of minutes.
As Juvia continued to stare, she couldn't help but notice how attractive he looked upon grey sky. When a crack of sun came shining her eyes widened, she realised that his attractiveness had changed to godlike.
"Gray-Sama..." She muttered. His brows narrowed as he tried to work out what she was talking about.
"Eh?" He questioned after coming up with nothing. A bright smile captured Juvia's lips as she jumped up into a sitting position, wrapping her arms around Gray's shoulder she repeated her mutter, only this time much louder.
"Gray-Sama saved Juvia's life- again!" Gray jerked back, not only from the surprise hug but how loud she had shouted.
"H-hey, come on now," he said as he tried to push the girl off his lightly.
She didn't let go...
He tried to do it again, this time a little harder. "Please let go..."
She hummed although it seemed as though she hadn't heard him. Or she was ignoring him completely...
He pushed her for the last time, this time his strength had been able to rip her body from his. She didn't seem bothered however, she only stared at him with googly eyes. For some reason Juvia felt a strong attraction between her and Gray- was it love? No, it was too soon, but it was something which filled her heart with something warm and fluffy, it was nice.
"Come on," he sighed, standing up, he held a hand out for Juvia to take. "We should go meet the others," Juvia nodded, taking his hand she stood up.
"Juvia hopes Gray-Sama don't mind Juvia asking, but what is going on?" Juvia asked as she walked beside Gray, there hands swinging past each other rather than entangled like before.
"Right, I couldn't really explain it to you because you were getting chased," Gray sighed and stayed silent for quite a while, making Juvia become nervous of what he was going to say. "Well I guess I should start with telling you about the planes of this world and mine. You see there is a world parallel to this one- my world- however it wasn't always like that: Both worlds were once one but were ripped apart. In my world, we have many different blood types which separates us like races - unlike yours, we don't really have all that much of cats, dogs or any animal you see everyday or rarely in this one, instead we have creatures which would usually be conjured up in dreams or nightmares. That werewolf we had been running from was one of those creatures.
Whilst he wasn't a pure blood- pure bloods don't have human forms- he is pretty dangerous and that was him in his wolf form. We have many creatures like him in my world. Every mythical creature in this world is a reality in mine and in my world every mythical animal is reality in this world."
Juvia blinked before narrowing her eyes. "So everything made up in Juvia's world, is a creature in Gray-Sama's world, and everything made up in Gray-Sama's world is an animal in Juvia's world?"
"Precisely," he nodded before continuing, "And so in my world we are able to pass through this world in and out freely, although it's against the rules, and you get in serious trouble if you even attempt it. And I know what you're going to ask, why aren't I going to get in trouble? It's because I have permission. After the Royal family heard about your whereabouts, they have been searching for you for quite a while, although with that information a bounty has also been placed on your head. The reason why you were attacked earlier."
"Huh? But Gray-Sama said the "Royal family"? What does the Royal family want to do with Juvia?" Juvia asked as they finally got back into the streets. As they walked, she noticed Gray began to walk a little closer to her.
"Yeah, I was about to explain that part to you too, you see Mermaids are becoming extinct and there is only a handful, you Juvia are a pure blood, something which the Royal family need right now," Juvia stopped. Wait did he say mermaid? She stared at the pavement, which was now shining against the sunlight, she was a mermaid? "You okay?"
"How?" She squeaked. "How is Juvia a mermaid?"
"Listen, I know that you don't know how to control it now, but you are- and I'm here to protect you and get you safely to Atlanta." Juvia looked up at him.
"So Gray-Sama will teach Juvia how to be a mermaid?" She beamed, stepping towards him, a grin appearing over her frown.
"W-well not yet but..." Gray stepped back, rubbing the back of his neck, looked over to a building in the background. "Yeah I guess I have to teach you. And could you please call me something else?"
Juvia shook her head, she couldn't call her Gray-Sama anything but Gray-Sama because he was her Gray-Sama and whilst he was her Gray-Sama he would be named Gray-Sama otherwise he would no longer be Gray-Sama and Juvia could no longer call him Gray-Sama meaning it wouldn't be Gray-Sama and not being able to call him Gray-Sama would be upsetting to Juvia so she would call him Gray-Sama and he would be called Gray-Sama by Juvia.
"Right," Gray sighed.
"Why can't Gray-Sama teach Juvia how to be a mermaid now?" Juvia asked as she shivered, realising how cold it was.
"Because right now we just have to get you to safety, with this bounty who knows who could come after you," he explained. "Besides, I'm a bad teacher anyway."
Juvia shook her head, with a small smile. "Juvia thinks Gray-Sama would be a great teacher."
As the two talked the conversation drew down until there was only a comfortable silence. As Juvia looked around she saw that they were quite close to her house. Except Gray seemed determined not to go back there, which Juvia understood why not. She and Levy had been attacked there.
As she watched her surroundings every new corner they turned, they began to change. She soon found herself feeling slightly vulnerable at the unfamiliarity. The usual houses she was used to seeing: two stories high full of red bricks, with small gardens and attached to each other in a long row, with small windows on each side, top to bottom and with homely curtains hung up. However now she was in new territory. Large expensive houses, ones with ackers of land, long runways with a fountains waiting to be glanced at in the middle, expensive ornaments looking as though they had come from another world and large metals gates with long silver bars and gold plated locks. This was the part of town which Juvia hadn't even known had been there.
The more they walked onwards the more the houses began to disappear before they were no more. Now Gray and Juvia were just walking in a field and what seemed like hours, Gray stopped. There in front of them was a large lake. The lake looked deep and the surface of the water shone like silver under the sunlight, catching Juvia's breath away. This was somewhere where she had been in before.
"Where are we?" Juvia gulped, although she already knew, she felt goosebumps run up and down her body causing her to shiver. Her eyes ran over the silver lining of the water, it looked dense and Juvia knew that if anyone was going to jump in, they would never reach the surface ever again.
Gray sighed, "The lake where me and my partners had decided to bring you to."
"Juvia's been here before but... It had been a long way away from here..." Muttered Juvia as she crouched down, letting her finger dip into the water.
As her index finger dipped in, she felt the water swirl around her finger, instead of it feeling just a little heavy from the water, it kind of felt as though she had just put her finger through a glove. Curious of what it would be like if she put her whole hand in, she did. Just as her finger did, she felt her hand feel as though it had been placed into a glove. "How strange..." Juvia whispered.
"You know this water isn't from your world?" Gray asked, who had now crouched beside her. As she looked up at him she saw that he was bow looking at her- instead he was looking at her hand. Glancing back down, her cheeks beamed read as he dipped his own hand down into the water. As she watched his hand go over hers her eyes widened. His hand was no longer the pale skin which covered his body, it had changed. As the water bobbed up and down his wrist his skin had changed which looked like scales. The scales were a deep blue- a blue which matched his eyes- they layered over each other up to his knuckles where they seemed to spread out a little before disappearing at the tips where only the blue colour was left. His finger nails longer and sharper and were pure black. Juvia stared at his hand- how strange it was. "This water is from my world, the silver tint is just this world showing the veil over it."
"Gray-Sama's hand is..." She couldn't draw her hand away from his hand, which had bow let go of her own and was next to hers.
"I was appointed to collect you because you're not the only mer-person here." He said as he took his hand out of the water, shaking the droplets off before looking back at her. "You see the Royals hadn't actually appointed me to collect you directly," Gray explained, "In fact it was just my guild which appointed me to collect you. Out of many people, the master had chose me to get you because we are both same. But don't get me wrong we're not actually the same- I'm an Ice Shark and you're a Water Serpent."
"What is a "Ice Shark and a Water Serpent"?" Asked Juvia as she took her hand out of the water.
"Oh yeah... I forgot this is all new to you," Clearing his throat Gray looked over at the water. "You see in nearly every person from my world there is a type of blood which consists of magic. There are many different types, and different types of that type. Like, use us as an example, you are a Water Serpent- a name given a hundred years ago to the people who have your type of blood. A Water Serpent had been given because it was those with your type of blood had the power to manipulate water and change even change there body into water, and long ago they had been used as spies, seeing as though they sly and sneaky people began to call them "serpents" you know, like the myth of the snake? Or a snake...?"
Juvia nodded. "So Juvia is a Water Serpent and Gray is a Ice Shark? What is a Ice Shark?"
"Well an Ice Shark is what type of blood I have. An Ice Shark is able to create Ice but cannot control water like a Water Serpent can. The reason for the name is because the fact that they can make ice makes it Ice and for the Shark, because when a war had broke out, something I'll tell you about later, it was up to the Ice Sharks to be the offense within the war and because of the shark being the strongest in all of the sea creatures they were named after it in tribute." Gray explained, standing up. "I think they've finally arrived."
Now we know what's going on with Juvia why don't we check on Levy?
"Who exactly are you?" Questioned the small blunette as she walked beside the large teenager. He had put her down from his shoulder a while back, and she was able to walk on her own two legs again. Levy couldn't help but stare up at him. It wasn't his tallness which made him look so strange, it was his crimson eyes. Levy had never seen anyone with red eyes before, they enticed her.
He grunted a reply to her; making her pout. "Well what's your name?" She tried again. This time she got a reply which were up to her standards.
"Gajeel." He, technically, growled. Levy nodded. Levy blinked up at him, that was an... Unusual name... But she couldn't really say anything, she had met people with very strange makes so his name wasn't all that bad. Smiling she walked a little faster, since after his reply she had slowed down slightly causing a small gap between their paces.
"That's a nice nam-" suddenly she felt her back being slammed into a wall. The bricks felt as though they had shattered her bones. It had all happened so quickly that she didn't have time to scream, or do anything but get the wind knocked out of her. Tears rimmed her eyes as she collapsed onto her knees until she instantly regretted it when a shock of pain shot through her body from her knees all the way to her head. It hurt. Panting she tried to get up however her body wouldn't allow it and once again she fell down onto her knees causing the same pain run through her again. "W-what the..." She wheezed as she cranked her neck to look up. Unlike before when she had been bit and on the brink of death, Gajeel didn't curse, there was no flash of light and the pain stayed roaming her body almost as if it was violating her very body. As she made eye contact with crimson orbs, she felt a warm wet streak run down her cheek down under her chin when finally broke from her flesh. A lump caught her throat as she stared up at him. He was stood there, his face hard. She couldn't tell what he was thinking. "W-why the-"
"Why didn't I let you die before?" A sinister grin took hold of his lips, showing off the sharp pointed teeth. Levy swallowed the lump in her throat as she awaited his next words. "It's simple really, I couldn't let you die then because I need you alive- although they never said that you couldn't be hurt." Levy tried once again to stand up, this time she pushed through the wave of pain until she was standing. She trembled furiously as her body refused to do as she wanted and it felt as though the ground beneath her would suddenly go crashing down if she tried to move. But what other choice did she have?
Before Levy even had a chance to run, or even take a step, she felt fingers grip the roots of her hair, throwing her back against the wall. This time she couldn't fall down onto the ground because the very same hand which had gripped the bold of her hair was now clenching rather tightly onto her neck, slowly raising her up until she was taller than Gajeel himself. Her eyes stung, opening them was like putting a million eyedrops into your eye at the same time. With one eye open and one closed she looked down at Gajeel, her arms rose as she dug her nails into his skin although it was no use because he didn't even since. He still had the toothy grin, which now looked even bigger, as he stared up at her. Her lungs soon began burning, as though they had been thrown into a fire, Levy wouldn't have been surprised if smoke had coke out of her mouth when she began her coughing fit. Black spots filled her vision before she could no longer hold onto consciousness. The feeling was alien as her numb body fell- she knew she was no longer conscious so this feeling of falling wasn't real yet... It felt as though she was plummeting face first into nothing. Was she dead? Or was this just a dream?
...
To say that Lucy wanted to slap the pinkette was an understatement- if she wasn't running for her life, she would have destroyed the boy! However, as mentioned before, she was running for her life. The beast, which the boy- Natsu?- was teasing, was seriously speeding up. "Will you stop that!" Lucy almost screamed as she glared at the boy. His grinning face changed to a pout when he looked over at her.
"Oh come on, don't tell me you're scared," a smirk played his lips as he stopped, grabbing Lucy's shoulders, he stopped her. He snaked his arms around her waist as he placed her in front of the beast as it ran at full speed at them. "Go on deny it." He whispered within her ear.
Lucy's breath sped up the closer it got. She shook her head furiously as she tried to pry the pink haired boy away from her. "Let me go!" She screamed before her eyes shot open as the beast was so close just one leap away and she would have been it's dinner...
Except she wasn't...
As the beast lounged itself into the air Lucy felt the boy pull on her waist out of the way. She watched as if in slow motion the beast go from in front of her to her watching it from the side. It was so close that she felt as though if she had reached out her hand she would have been able to run her hand through the fur of it. Gulping she watched it skid on the wet road, losing its balance.
She had been so captivated by it that she hadn't heard Natsu's chuckled, nor had she felt him let go of her waist and grab her wrist. She only realised when it was too late and he had began running again. She couldn't really say anything, her mind had been overrun with so much panic that now all she wanted to do was just lay down. Of course that couldn't have happened because as soon as she got the pacing of running along with Natsu, he stopped, jerking her back.
"What the hell is it now?" Lucy asked as she stared at Natsu, scared of what he may do to her next. Although when she realised what he had been looking at she couldn't believe it. Her breath was caught within her throat as she stared. "I-is that..." She couldn't believe what she was seeing. There of the wall was none other than her sister, Levy, attached to the wall as if crucified. Lucy froze. What more could she do? Natsu had let go of her wrist and had started to walk towards the blunette. "I'm guessing Jet and Troy weren't the ones who helped your sister..." Natsu gritted his death as his hand became engulfed in fire. Normally Lucy would have screamed and told him but after everything she just watched him was he melted the iron around Levy's wrists. When she fell Natsu catches her effortlessly.
"I-is she?" Lucy started walking towards them when Natsu turned to face her and he shook his head.
"She's fine, she's just a little hurt," Natsu's eyes narrowed before hearing a growl. Since they had came into an alleyway to detach Levy from the wall they had secluded themselves. Well that was before Natsu put Levy leaning against the wall before grabbing Lucy's shoulders, shaking her frantically as he asked, "Can you use you're magic yet?"
Lucy blinked and shook her head. Sighing, he turned towards the beast, walking towards it he breath in deeply and as the beast was about to pounce Lucy shut her eyes, not wanting to see the pink haired boys death. Mind, when a wave of heat washed over her and a howling screech rang in her ears she was glad she closed her eyes. Because when she opened them, all that was left was Natsu standing where he had been when the beast looked ready to attack, with flames circling around him.
"Come on," he said in a serious manner, walking towards Levy and picking her up. "I'd rather not have to save you for the fourth time today," he grinned and Lucy saw it. Was this a joke to him? Lucy tsked as she followed him.
"I can protect myself you know!" She argued, crossing her arms.
"Sure." Was all Natsu said. They walked past the streets. They all looked exactly the same as they walked, it was kind of frightening of how similar all the houses were. Lucy was even going to question whether or not they were going in the right direction, actually now she thought about it, she didn't even know where the hell they were heading to. She prolonged it when they came to a field, a rather large one at that but when they reached a lake and he set Levy down, Lucy couldn't help but feel very out of loop.
"So, uh, where are we?" She asked fidgeting on the spot as she walked over to her sister.
"Just somewhere we need to be." Natsu replied, shrugging as he walked to the rivers edge, crouching at it. "Hey, come over here," he said.
Although Lucy shouldn't have since she didn't really know the guy, she had left her sister to crouch down at the river with Natsu. "This is magic," he said, cupping some of the water in his hand. It spilled from his hand in moments but Lucy was able to see the silver tint it has, showing it wasn't normal water. "It's a gate from your world to mine," he grinned, as though he was proud for saying it. "So do you know what we have to do now?" He asked as he stood up, making Lucy jump out a gasp as he walked over and picked Levy back up once again. "We've got to take you home," and with that he ran and dived into the water, Levy still cradled in his arms. Lucy sheltered her self with her arms waiting for the splash that never came. Blinking she let her arms drop as she stared at the water, there was no splash, no ripple, nothing. It was as though it had been undisturbed.
"What the-" she asked before she felt saw Natsu pop his head of the water, gasping for air. Now she was able to see the ripples around his neck before he swam back over to the edge where she was still crouched.
"You ready?" He asked as he raised a hand towards her. Lucy stared at it backing away.
"Where did you take my sister?" She asked before she fell onto her bottom, hissing from the suddenness.
"Don't worry, she's safe now," Natsu grinned as he got out of the water, wiping the water from him, he approached Lucy. "Come on, trust me on this, Luce."
Lucy caught the nickname and glared at him. "Who in the hell gave you the right to call me that?" She asked. She was going to continue her rant of respect and anything else along those lines when Natsu tripped unexpectedly and landed on her. Although he had only landed on her, Lucy's face beamed red as she pushed him away from her. "W-what the h-hell was that?" she asked cradling herself once Natsu had been pushed away from her.
"No idea..." Natsu rubbed his head before grabbing her wrist, taking the advantage of their closeness. "Just come on." He said. Lucy struggled against him but it was no use before just as soon as he jumped into the water, she went flying with him.
