*making fart noises* Enjoy babehz. Please feel free to Review, Follow, Favorite or do nothing at all. Be happy and have a good day!
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Sleeping Beauty
Silk pajamas always made Juvia feel more comfortable.
A Christmas present from Erza a few years ago, it was a baby-blue color and a violet printing of tiny stars decorating over it. It naturally exposes Juvia's belly, as it was on purpose from Erza, who claimed that her friend needed some seductive outfits (although this really isn't all that lingerie-looking). All of Juvia's girl friends thought of Juvia's belly as an attractive feature of her body.
However, when Juvia put it on and felt the relief of a silky texture on her skin, she kept it more to herself than to share it with anyone else.
Curled in her large bed with the TV on for background noise, Juvia was snugged in her sleeping-wear, a mirror in her hand and the butterfly-pin in her other, she tried to place the pin somewhere in her long hair. Playing around with what kind of styles she could conjure up, long, blue strands placed in numerous spots on her head. Juvia was surprised at how much the pin helped, being able to keep her hair out of her face, yet not reveal too much - it was perfect for Juvia's face.
Once she decided what hairstyle she planned to wear tomorrow to show Lyon that she appreciated the gift, Juvia slipped out the butterfly-pin and set the mirror on her nightstand. Turning her attention to the TV, Juvia watched the late-night news report on the sudden arrest of a group of Mages found in a private pub downtown.
"The four Mages started a brawl inside the pub, evidently intoxicated, and used illegal measures of violence, injuring two Humans and one other Mage who was not part of the fight," the reporter stated emotionlessly, showing images of the arrest and ambulance at the scene. Juvia has never been to the pub, but she has seen it on some errands she would do once in a while. The Mages, however, look unfamiliar to her. "The Mages will be held in confinement overnight to sleep off the alcohol, the morning will have them questioned by law enforcement."
Juvia's mouth settled to a frown, wondering what could have caused such a mess. Although she is more concerned for the injured people that were harmed, hoping that there are no serious wounds or health concerns for the innocent victims.
Looking to her nightstand, she noticed her photo album in the small collection of books she owned. Unconsciously picking up the album, Juvia flipped through the first few pages and hummed brightly at the pictures of her back home.
One photo was when she first arrived to the home called Fairy Tail School for the Gifted, at the young age of seven, with the home's housemaster right beside her. The photo was taken when the housemaster, Makarov Dreyar, picked her up at the station with an assistant named Reebus, camera ready. It was raining hard that day, Juvia remembered, yet Makarov was as bright as the sunniest day of summer when he found Juvia standing patiently by the fountain.
"Miss Lockser, I presume?" the short, old man said with a cheeky grin, making Juvia stiffen at his sudden friendly greeting. Noticing this, the elderly gasped and waved both hands when the small girl began to tip-toe away. "Ohh, no, no! It's quite alright, Miss Lockser, I'm not here to hurt you."
Juvia, on the other hand, peeked at him, her dark blue eyes wide and full of tears. Makarov frowned at this and took a look at the fountain sprouting water from the inside on the train station. "Do you like this fountain, Miss Lockser? It's a wishing fountain, you know."
Juvia still kept silent, yet the grip on her pink umbrella loosened a little from the interest of the wishing well. "I have noticed that it has been raining quite hard since I was told of your arrival, Miss Lockser. Is it true that you are a Mage of water, like your father? Your mother's parents were also water Mages, yes?"
Juvia sniffled and nodded, making Makarov smile a bit bigger. "I have heard of your parents. Very wonderful people, who enjoyed helping preserve the history of Mage and Humans. They helped a lot of Humans and Mages alike. I bet you're the same, no? Do you like helping people?"
Her lip quivered. "J-Juvia...wants to be g-good and help," she whispered, only the old man can hear her soft voice. "But...Juvia does not know h-how. Juvia told she was bad...by police."
"Hmm," Makarov hummed, hands digging into the pockets of his raincoat. "Well, if Miss Lockser would allow me to speak out loud, I think Juvia is a very good person. I think, Miss Lockser, that Juvia just needs practice with her abilities."
"B-but everytime Juvia is sad," she pointed to the opening of the station, "Juvia makes it rain. Juvia's mommy and daddy are gone, so Juvia is very, very sad…"
"It's okay to be sad, Miss Lockser," Makarov said, pulling his hand out of his pocket, obtaining two coins in his palm. "I think I'll make a wish on this fountain, and I'll have you know that it works."
Juvia blinked and finally looked up to Makarov, surprised at how he's not that much taller than she is. His whiskered face seem to curl with a smile as he closed his eyes. "I wish for Miss Lockser to believe in herself, and that she is not a bad person. I wish that Miss Lockser will trust that I will take care of her and make her a good person."
Flicking his thumb, one of the coins flew into the air, and Juvia watched with wonder as the coin dropped into the fountain's pool. A glow seem to spark on the coin, until it reached the bottom. "The coin...it sparkled," she pointed to the pool of water, looking between the water and Makarov.
"Would Miss Lockser like to make a wish, too?" Makarov asked, holding out the last coin to the young child. He was still, letting Juvia take her time as her tiny fingers picked the coin and look to the fountain. "Tell the fountain what your wish is, and it will make it come true with time."
Juvia closed her eyes for a moment, her single grip on the umbrella tightened. "J-Juvia wishes...to be a good Mage, and help people like Mommy and Daddy. Juvia wishes to be happy once more, so the rain will stop." Like a normal child, her little hand wound back and tossed the shiny coin to the fountain. She sniffled to hold back tears when the coin fell to the water, and she turned to Makarov.
The old man smiled to her, his eyes sparkling as Juvia hiccuped a sob and rubbed her eyes. Holding out an old, wrinkled hand, Makarov held out an offering to the young child. "Miss Lockser, may we have a photo taken? I do this with all of my new students."
Juvia grasped Makarov's fingers and nodded, making the old man chuckle. "Don't worry about the tears, Miss Lockser. Most of the photos I take the first time with student have tears."
The photo shows Juvia when she first arrived to the station, only a few inches shorter than Makarov. Her eyes shedding tears and cheeks puffed to try and look normal. Her little blue dress she arrived in and the pink umbrella clutched in her hand made it feel as if it was just yesterday. Makarov looked jolly and happy as usual, making Juvia chuckle at how much she missed her headmaster…
Juvia had a sudden thought of calling her old teacher, but, looking at the time it is now, he is probably busy resting after a hard day of...being Makarov. From the last she heard from him was a postcard from a well-known casino and a message saying 'I wish you were all here, kids! Spending the spring here! Be safe and I will be sure to send you gifts.' Juvia wondered if he himself was being safe and healthy. She remembered how he could get very playful when he has so much freedom.
Looking at the next picture, which was taken not long after the first, was of Juvia in the town. Once a week, the members of the Fairy Tail home would take a trip to the town, where shops and vendors and playgrounds were open for the kids to go play in. There was a shop, though, that Juvia would look at the display window with great interest to a particular object.
"'Teru teru bozu'?" Juvia spoke out loud, reading the sign that was above the ghost-looking doll with a smiling face. Lucy, who was walking with Juvia with a blue umbrella, stopped when her companion spoke and followed her gaze.
"Mm?" Lucy perked and smiled. "Yeah, they are suppose to give good weather, but they make the cutest dolls, too!"
"Oh…" Juvia sighed and looked down to her rainboots.
Lucy smiled at Juvia and tugged her hand. "It's okay, Juvia-chan," she comforted. "It's been super dry here and we need the rain. I actually like the rain, you can play in the puddles and catch raindrops on your tongue."
"WOOOOO!" a loud, shrilling voice echoed across the street, causing the two girls to turn around and see Natsu, a pink-haired boy around their age sliding across a puddle of water, splashing the other children walking on the sidewalk. Juvia blinked in shock, a little hand covering her mouth from gasping, all while Lucy reddened in the face with anger.
"NATSU! WHAT DID MASTER MAKAROV SAY ABOUT SPLASHING!" Lucy yelled as she excused herself from Juvia's side, leaving the girl to turn back around and continue to admire the dolls smiling down at her.
She tried her best to ignore the dark-haired boy, who got wet by Natsu's slide and cursed at him. She only sees that boy at dinner, really, since she is too nervous to leave her bedroom during the day… But, everytime she sees him, when she wanders around at night, he takes notice of her, too.
Flipping over a few more pages, Juvia did her best to ignore the photos with his face in them. However, the faster she flipped through, one photograph slipped from its hold and fell to the wooden floor, causing Juvia to slam the album shut suddenly.
"Oh no," Juvia whispered as she slipped down to pick up the fallen photo, holding back a sob as she recognized the picture in an instant.
Juvia at the age of seventeen, smiling brightly as the sunshine practically made her glow with joy. She wore a bikini, picked out by Lucy herself, and a large dress shirt that was definitely not hers. Her childhood curls were erased and left with thick waves that rivaled the ocean; a natural blush adoring her cheeks and wearing lipgloss. Happiness was on her face and love was in her eyes in this moment, Juvia remembered. Strong, muscular arms were around her, holding her in a protective yet gentle manner as she sat on his lap and offered the photographer the peace sign with her free hands. Him, on the other hand, was a head of dark hair, tanned skin and piercing black eyes that always made her blush; strong body and some scars adoring his torso and one of his forehead that she always loved to kiss tenderly…
"Gray-sama…" Juvia finally caved, tears slipping from her eyes as she held the photograph to her chest and sat on the floor. Shutting her eyes, Juvia rest her head on her knees.
=xxx=
"You're the new girl."
Juvia was alone in the library, or so she thought she was, hugging the thick bound book as close as possible to her heart. Blinking, Juvis looked up to see a boy around her age, maybe a year older than her? Dressed in only plaid-pajamas with no slippers, Juvia thought of him as underdressed, compared to her long-sleeved nightgown and a ribbon holding most of her hair up (thanks to Levy, who said she looked too cute to not wear it to bed).
Juvia flushed bright red and curled into a tighter ball in her little corner. It was her second night here and the second night of constant rain she has caused since arriving. She hoped that her silence would let the boy go away.
"My name is Gray. I haven't seen you, but Lucy and Erza talk about you at breakfast," he continued on. Juvia still didn't answer, trying to hide her face in the book. "Your name is Juvia, right? Gramps told us you are very shy, and might not talk for a while."
Juvia noticed Gray crouching down by her, trying to get a look at her face. "What are you holding? Can I see?"
"W-why are you awake?" Juvia whispered quietly, trying to shrink further back and away from Gray. "Everyone but J-Juvia is asleep."
"It's too hot in my room. I share it with that frickin' fire-ass Natsu, and he always keeps the heat on in his sleep. He doesn't know how to control his fire," Gray grouched and sneered out the window, seeing the rain pouring against the window. "I saw the door open, and I saw you in here… What's the book you're holding?"
Juvia slowly moved to show Gray the cover of the book, keeping her head down. She really didn't want anyone to see her face, since it looked so gloomy when she peeked into a mirror. She gently held out the book for him to take, which he did and made a noise in the back of his throat.
"'Sleeping Beauty'?" he read outloud. "Why do you hold have this book anyway?"
Juvia frowned deeper, hiding her face in her knees. "J-Juvia's mommy and daddy read it to her before bed… Juvia's favorite story."
Gray pursed his lips. "Huh. I guess that makes sense," he shrugged and offered the book back to her, which she took back and hugged again in a matter of a second. He still didn't leave, and kept sitting with her. "You miss your parents?"
When she didn't answer, Gray assumed her answer. "Yeah, I haven't seen my dad for a while, but it's really nice to be here. He visits when he can, but I like it here better."
"Everyone is nice…"
Gray nodded, looking behind himself to the stacks of books and magazines. He was beginning to look bored, hanging around here with her, and it bothered Juvia greatly. Gray began tapping his fingers to his knees out of the silence, and whistling lowly, making the blue-haired child shake with anger.
"Gray does not have to stay with Juvia, if he doesn't want to," she finally spoke, thunder starting outside in her frustration. "Gray does not need to feel pity for Juvia! Juvia doesn't need Gray to make noises of boredom, jerk!"
"I'm not," Gray snapped back, but then quickly froze when he noticed Juvia's tears dropping to the cover of Sleeping Beauty, watching as the girl tried to wipe them away with the sleeve of her nightgown hastily, but only more dropped after. "Hey, stop crying, okay? I didn't mean to come off as a jerk. I don't feel pity for you, okay? I just thought you were lonely, is all."
The tears kept falling, and Gray began to run out of options to stop the girl from crying harder. Despite his panic, Gray was calm to exhale and admit defeat to reasoning with her. He reached over and wrapped an arm around Juvia's shaking body and pulled her into a hug. She instantly stopped on the spot by being hugged by someone.
"Heh," Gray let out an amused breath, but very gentle. His other arm came around her and pulled the rest of her body to his side for better angle. "I guess you haven't been hugged in a while, huh? I'm sorry, okay? Just don't cry anymore."
Juvia could only nod in response, and slowly fell asleep for the first time in a long while.
Opening her eyes to the early morning song of birds, Juvia whimpered at the bright light burning her sight. Swallowing, Juvia forced herself to sit up on her floor and wake up from her uncomfortable sleep. She hadn't expected to fall asleep right beside her bed, yet somehow she must have forgotten to crawl back into bed after shedding a few unwanted tears.
"Juvia drank too much," she complained openly and rubbed her eyes and stood up, wobbling a little bit from the sudden spin of the room. Blinking a few times to regain her sight, Juvia completely forgot the photograph that slipped from her fingers during her slumber and slid under her bed.
Walking over to her closet, Juvia proceeded to pull out clean clothes; a sweater dress that hung to her ankles and matched the color of her eyes and high heeled boots. Stripping down to her underwear, Juvia took a moment to look at the blue-colored tattoo inked on her upper-left tight, feeling glad that her work clothes were able to hide the reality from her boss and co-workers. Specific tattoos, such as the one on Juvia's thigh, were a bad omen to Mages and making them easier to spot out for Humans and law enforcement.
Remembering that made Juvia dress herself quickly to be ready for work.
Arranging her wavy hair with the butterfly-pin, Juvia looked overself over once more and flipped her long hair past her shoulders while looking in the mirror. Taking a peek outside her large window, she noticed the sky had some dark clouds hovering in clumps. Blinking, Juvia went to the window and pressed her palms against the glass.
"Okay, so now Wendy is arranging her stuffed animals for you," Lucy's voice could be singing in her mind. The phone call last night went on for a while, and it made Juvia feel so much better. "You know she still sleeps with the plushie you made for her birthday last year? She loves that thing sooo much. Remember, you still have to make me one, too."
"Mama!" Wendy's voice could be heard in the distance. "Mama! I can't reach the top shelf, please help me! Happy and Carla are napping!"
Juvia smiled and exhaled, closing her eyes when the sun finally peeked out and the dark, rain-coming clouds began to disappear. She was too focused on sadness before falling to sleep, and it became evident in the sky when she woke up.
"Juvia needs to be careful," she reminded herself with a smile. She had yesterday to herself to think of the bad, sleep it off, and recollect herself to go back to work the next morning. The call from Lucy and her growing family did enough to cheer her up, and she was very much happy about the butterfly-pin taming her bangs from her face.
Juvia is happy.
Grabbing an apple and a muffin from her kitchen, Juvia hurried out of her penthouse and locked the door, completely forgetting that she had left the TV on the news from last night, replaying with an update that even the victim Mage was interrogated as well, believing that he was part of the brawl after all.
=xxx=
She was not expecting to see the police cars, shattered glass, scattered rocks and burn marks on the cement when she approached her company's luxurious building.
A crowd of press and bystanders crowded by the entrance of the building, much to Juvia's curiosity as she approached the door that wasn't blocked by too many people. Flashing lights of cameras and policemen shouting for the crowd to back away, it was a little bit difficult for her to figure out what was going on as she squeezed her way into the bodies of people. All she wanted to do was slip past them and get to her office-!
A tight grip on her upper arm stopped her from going under the 'Do Not Cross' ribbon, making Juvia wince at the tight hold.
"Juvin!" she squealed in slight pain, looking up to see a police officer staring down at her.
"No trespassers, ma'am," he told her with an authoritative sneer. "This is a crime scene."
"But Juvia works here!" she huffed, stomping her heel on the ground. "Juvia wants only to go to work, or she will be late. Juvia doesn't like being late to work!"
"I will need to see some ID, ma'am," he instructed and held out his hand to receive the card. The blue-haired woman puffed her cheeks, but did as she was told and reached into her purse to pull out her wallet.
"What happened?" she asked as she clipped it open. Pulling out her ID, she placed it into the large palm of the policeman's hand. "Please, tell Juvia wh-!"
"Wait here for a minute, ma'am." He walked away from her, leaving Juvia to splutter curses at being ignored when she is counting down the time to check in.
Looking to the building, Juvia saw a large hole in the glass, cracks creating a spider web-like design up and around the large hole. It was like a boulder ran through the wall, and inside was no less cleaner; shards of glass, rubble of rocks and cops inspecting every inch of the seen, and a sheet was covered over a mass of…
Juvia's hands covered her mouth to hold back the scream of the dead body lying underneath the white sheet. She saw the familiar cap of the security guard placed on top of his still body, making tears shed in shock. The tips of his fingers stuck out just a little bit, his once-normal skin looked burned with boil-spots on the back of his hand.
Juvia heard the cop talk on the radio a few feet away from her. "The ID passes her as Human, chief. Name is Juvia Lockser, sir."
"Juvia!" Lyon's familiar voice yelled from inside the building, making Juvia stiffen as a few tears slipped from her eyes. She tried to keep her breathing regulated as she felt the first few drops of rain dropping on her head. "Hey, Juvia!"
"How come it's raining now?" she heard a reporter complain.
"It looked gloomy this morning, you know. I told you to bring an umbrella!"
Shutting her eyes, Juvia pushed her emotions aside and stopped the rain before it poured. A hand grasped her wrist and tugged for her attention. "Juvia," Lyon's voice whispered into her ear. "You didn't see the body, did you? Come on, open your eyes."
She didn't want to, but she opened them anyway. "Mister Vastia, what happened? Juvia is confused, and no one will tell Juvia!"
"There was an attack last night," Lyon said, worry written in his eyes. "A group of Mages came to the building after most of us left. I wasn't here, but they tried to break in to-!"
"Did the guard get hurt..?" Juvia whimpered out, interrupting Lyon, allowing him to wrap an arm around her when the cop returned with her card.
"Was this employee working yesterday?" the cop asked Lyon, who stood straight and serious when the cop handed Juvia her ID back. "The systems say that she checked out earlier than usual."
"I sent her home early. The security guard who died called me at noon to tell me she officially checked out, as I asked."
"It seems that my boss wants me to question the lady, since her office was the only one broken in to," the cop said bluntly, not having any of Lyon any longer. "Since her ID checks her as Human, we just want to make sure-"
"Juvia's office was broken into?" Juvia practically screamed in horror, holding her face with both hands. She didn't care that the press turned their heads when she yelled.
"Your office is the only one that was broken into, and it was obvious that the Mages who committed the crime targeted your space and no one else," the cop when on. "Please, follow me, ma'am, and we can get this over as soon as possible."
Juvia took a few shaking steps after the cop, entering under the police tape and through the propped door that wasn't damaged from cracks. It was odd for Juvia, entering the building she has come to every day for the past two years… It was different, like it wasn't the same workplace that welcomed her before. Now, it seemed silent and rejecting to her.
Some of the co-workers were watching from the window-walls from the third-floor up that faced the lobby. Some were watching the investigation take place, others were sipping their coffee and had tears in their eyes and a few saw Lyon's arm wrapped around a shaking Juvia as she followed the cop to the elevator.
Holding her sweater skirt, Juvia couldn't stop her shivering shoulders. Even though Lyon's hold on her was comforting enough, she couldn't get the image of the security guard's body laying on the ground. She refused to look that way after seeing it, but it was still in her thoughts. The very thought of him possibly suffered his last breath made her heart clench in pain.
"Most of the damage is in the lobby of your company," the cop went on to explain to Lyon, probably thinking that the only woman present has drowned out any outside noises of her thoughts. "We will write a report of the broken window and doors. There is also some sort of damage to the walls going to the top floor. They seem to have used speeding magic instead of the elevators."
"Well, yeah," Lyon scoffed. "If they're still working, that proves it."
"Sir, I'm just telling you what will be on the repo-!"
"And E.N.D. deals with cases such as these on a daily basis! Property damage, physical injuries and any other Mage crimes are no shocking matter to us," Lyon snapped, carefully pulling Juvia closer to his side, as well as keeping her farther away from the cop. "You can stop talking with my employee here, got it?"
"I apologize, sir," the cop muttered. The rest of the ride was in utter silence until the 'ding!' of the elevator opening up for the three to come out.
Slipping from Lyon's hold, Juvia hurried ahead, shoving any detectives who tried to keep her out of the scene. She ignored Lyon and the co-workers trying to make her slow down as she turned the corner to where her office would be locked, just as she left it…
Instead was welcomed by forced entry, ice completely covering her personal quarters.
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=xxx=
AUTHOR'S ENDING NOTE- Helloooooo and goodbyeeeee.