Notes: This is a second chapter to "The Wyrm Conspiracy." Originally it was to be an entirely separate sequel, but I have too many stories to scroll through as it is, and this one is pretty short and half-formed.
Summary: All of Fairy Tail is celebrating Juvia's pregnancy. Except Gray. Mostly because he has no idea how she got that way, or why she's claiming it's his baby.
The Wyrm Conspiracy
A Fairy Tail Fanfic by
Nate Grey (xman0123-at-aol-dot-com)
Chapter 2: The Imaginary Conception
It had taken him quite some time, but Gray Fullbuster had come to a startling, horrifying conclusion.
He was, at some point, most likely going to end up married.
At one time, Gray had been convinced of the total opposite. He enjoyed his freedom as a bachelor, dated only occasionally, and (since over half of the girls in town had seen him unclad) never had a problem attracting the opposite sex.
But two momentous things had happened recently to change his mind.
First and foremost, Natsu, of all people, had a kid with Lucy (again, of all people). This had, unfortunately, reminded the rest of Fairy Tail's women that they wouldn't remain young forever (except for possibly Mirajane, though Gray was convinced this was due to either to her Transformation magic, or a secret ritual involving the blood of several virgins and no less than two goats). Without warning, men were hunted down left and right, held against their wills, and made to commit. It was all rather frightening.
Second, and still quite worrying in its own right, Gray had recognized that Juvia was more or less the most perfect woman for him. In her eyes, he could do no wrong (and even when he did, she immediately blamed it on anyone else standing nearby, which was almost always Natsu, amusingly enough). Juvia cooked his meals, washed his shorts (often when they were still clean, and usually using her own "body water," which was both slightly disturbing yet strangely arousing), praised him for overly common things like breathing properly or remembering his own name, and would routinely tell anyone that would listen that he was the most perfect man ever to draw air (no one but Erza, for reasons unknown to Gray, would listen to these lectures any longer). Aside from that, Juvia had told Gray many times (in extremely explicit detail) how much she would enjoy bearing his children.
After he got over the initial shock, Gray found that he actually sort of liked Juvia, sometimes. He was seriously considering asking her out for the first time. They already went nearly everywhere together (not that Gray had ever had much say on the matter; either Juvia walked alongside him with his blessing, or shadowed him from about twenty feet against his will), and the only reason they weren't dating yet was because Gray had thought he wasn't ready for the commitment that Juvia so obviously wanted from him.
But he had begun to change his mind lately. Natsu, despite having a kid, was still largely the same person. It was just that he occasionally had to look after a miniature version of himself, one that regularly ate things not fit for human consumption (such as tires and speedbumps) without suffering any obvious ill effects, and belched great clouds of jet-black smoke at the most inopportune times (like during the annual Fairy Tail Talent Show, and just at the moment when Gray, rather reluctantly, had agreed to let Erza saw him in half for a magic show). Despite his issues, Wyrm was generally liked by the majority of the guild (Gray included), and was probably the very reason why Juvia was so interested in children of her own. She had, through unknown means, beaten out all other competitors for the coveted title of Wyrm's godmother (even Mira, who had sulked until she was given babysitting privileges twice a week), and took great pleasure in forcing Gray to spend time with the boy. Gray had a strong suspicion that Juvia was trying to get him used to life as a family, so that he would be well-practiced when and if he had his own kid to look after.
The only problem was, Gray liked to do things at his own pace. Juvia tended to be a bit more aggressive, especially when she really wanted something. And unfortunately for Gray, he had assumed that bearing his children was something that Juvia was perfectly willing to wait for.
He was sort of wrong about that.
Gray had planned out everything he would say in advance. Really, there was no reason for him to be so nervous. Juvia would instantly agree to any idea of his, especially one that involved them going on a date. But this was still the first time that he'd ever plainly asked her out, and for some reason, Gray was so anxious that he felt he might suffer a nervous breakdown before he got one word out.
As it turned out, he nearly had a nervous breakdown for another reason entirely.
The moment Gray set foot into the guild that afternoon, he knew that something was wrong. Everyone was staring at him with enormous grins on their faces, and a few people (mostly women) broke into wild applause and cheers. Gray instantly glanced down, fearing his clothes might be gone, but they were firmly in place (for the moment). He quickly scanned the room and found Juvia.
She was seated at a table on the far side of the room, her back to him. Occupying the rest of the table were Natsu (who was a little green in face), Lucy (who was smirking nonstop), Wyrm (who was gnawing something that looked to be burnt beyond recognition), and Erza (who was staring hard at Gray, something that instantly worried him). Mirajane was hovering at Juvia's side, alternating between keeping an eye on Wyrm and carefully patting Juvia's forehead with a damp cloth.
"Why is everyone looking at me?" Gray demanded as he walked over to stand beside Juvia's chair. "I haven't done anything yet, and my clothes-" He trailed off when Lucy immediately covered her eyes with her hands, an old habit that she'd made no attempt to break. "They're still on!" Gray snapped.
Lucy peeked through her fingers and slowly dropped her hands. "Well, you can't blame me. I've seen you near naked more times than I care to remember. And it's pretty obvious now that you know how to handle yourself when you ARE naked."
Gray stared at her, completely unnerved by that statement. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"I hope you intend to take responsibility, Gray," Erza said in a soft, dangerous tone that Gray was unprepared for. "It wouldn't go well for you if you failed in your duty as a man."
Now totally lost (and starting to think Erza had spent too much time around Elfman), Gray glanced at Natsu (who turned a little greener and looked away), then at Mira (who was frowning just as deeply at him as Erza, now). Feeling that he needed at least one person on his side, Gray turned to Juvia, sure he could count on her support, at least.
He got a rather bad shock when he looked down at Juvia, and more importantly, her stomach, which was several times bigger than the last time he'd seen it a few hours ago. At first, he thought that maybe she had simply eaten something she was highly allergic to. But then Juvia rubbed her distended stomach and beamed up at him, and Gray knew he was in trouble.
"Juvia," Gray said slowly, "why do you look like that?"
"Because Gray-sama is so manly, of course," Juvia replied sweetly. "How else could Juvia look, now that Gray-sama's superior sper-"
"Wait, wait, WAIT!" Gray interrupted. "Are you saying you think that I did this to you?!"
There was a long, tense silence that lasted almost a minute.
Then the table was overturned and sent flying end over end as Erza, Lucy, and Mira all lunged for him at once.
"You JERK!" Lucy howled, going for his throat. "You knock her up, and then you have the nerve to say something like that!"
"WHAT?!" Gray snapped, tearing her hands away from his neck and barely avoiding the giant battle axe that very nearly claimed his head. Even more amazing, it wasn't in Erza's hand, but Mira's. "Mira, what are you doing?!"
"I've lost all respect for you, Gray Fullbuster," Mira said coolly, lifting the axe for another strike.
Before Gray could say another word, he felt the cool steel of one of Erza's many swords pressing firmly against his neck.
"Calm down, everyone," Erza said, though Gray had never felt less like doing so. "I have known Gray for years, and I am sure he has a reasonable explanation to explain this misunderstanding."
"Yes, it's a misunderstanding!" Gray shouted. "Tell them, Juvia! Please, hurry up and tell them!" It was obvious that only she could save him now.
It also quickly became obvious that she was also the only one that could seal his fate.
"Must I, Gray-sama?" Juvia asked, blushing prettily. "Very well. What you see is the result of several nights of passionate lovemaking between Gray-sama and Juvia, and in a few months time, Juvia will give birth to Gray-sama's child."
Gray's mouth fell open in shock and horror at her betrayal. "Juvia?" he asked weakly.
"I'm sure Gray-sama is still so pleasantly surprised that he doesn't know quite what to think," Juvia added quickly. "You should disregard anything he says at the moment. Once his considerable mental capacities return, Juvia is sure that Gray-sama will be just as happy as Juvia is. Until then, Juvia must ask that no one attempts to harm Gray-sama, as it would be greatly upsetting for Juvia in her delicate condition."
Gray was immediately released, and at least Erza made some attempt to straighten his clothes, except that her hands kept drifting up to his neck and squeezing, as if reminding him that she could still strangle him at any time. Once done, she all but forced Gray into her former seat and planted the chair firmly beside Juvia. Then, instead of moving away, she stood just over Gray's shoulder, and though he didn't dare turn around, he could feel the weight of her gaze on his back.
"You look pale, Gray-sama," Juvia noted, taking his hand in hers. "Maybe you should drink something?"
Before he could answer, a large mug of a suspiciously bubbling substance was slammed on the table in front of him. Gray slowly looked up to see Mira still scowling at him. "Drink it," she snapped.
Gray had never felt less like drinking something, and was sure that whatever was in the mug would kill him, but figured it would at least do so relatively cleanly, compared to Erza and Mira hacking him to bits right in front of Juvia. He downed the drink in one go, briefly turned a fantastic shade of burgundy, and quickly excused himself.
Noticing the way that Mira seemed to be testing her axe for sharpness, Juvia decided it might be best to follow Gray.
"Why did you do it?!" Gray demanded once they were alone in Juvia's apartment. "Why did you lie, Juvia?!"
Juvia blinked. "Whatever could you mean, Gray-sama? Juvia would never lie to you."
"Oh, yeah? What about that time you swore up and down that my farts didn't offend you, and that they smelled like the start of a fresh, new day?"
"That was also true," Juvia insisted, though a muscle in her jaw twitched noticeably as she spoke.
Gray sighed heavily. "But you're not pregnant. You can't be. We haven't... I mean, I'd KNOW if we had..."
"I'm sure Gray-sama must have taken a blow to the head in one of his many glorious adventures and forgotten-"
"Now, you listen to me, and you listen good," Gray snapped, seizing Juvia's shoulders as firmly as he dared. "Good or bad, I don't FORGET sleeping with a girl." He bit his lip and muttered, "I especially wouldn't forget if it was you, Juvia. So don't you stand there and lie to me. You are not pregnant. Not by me, since I don't remember, and I know you're not the type of girl that would just sleep around with anyone. Besides, I've heard you say plenty of times that you'd wait for me, and I believe that you did. I believe in you."
Juvia didn't say anything for a long moment. Then, without warning, she burst into tears, hiding her face in her hands.
"Hey! What, why are you crying?!" Gray demanded, but Juvia only cried harder. Feeling he had no choice, Gray carefully wrapped his arms around her. He did not particularly like the idea of holding a pregnant woman, so he forced himself to focus on the fact that it was Juvia, who he had never really minded holding, no matter what he'd said.
It took close to an hour, but Juvia finally calmed down, and was immeasurably more pleasant to hold as a result.
"Gray-sama," she murmured against his shoulder, "will you stay with me tonight?"
For a moment, Gray thought about what people would say, if they discovered he'd spent the night in Juvia's apartment. Then he glanced down at Juvia's belly and reminded himself what they were no doubt already saying, and ultimately decided it couldn't hurt anything. "Yeah, okay. I can do that."
Gray woke up in Juvia's bed, with Juvia snuggled against him. All in all, it was a rather pleasant sensation. If he allowed himself to fully enjoy it, he could almost fool himself into believing that she wasn't pregnant.
Alarm bells suddenly went off in Gray's head as Juvia sighed happily in her sleep and snuggled closer against him.
Gray blinked, and slowly looked down the length of their bodies. With a shaky hand, he grabbed the bottom of Juvia's shirt and slowly lifted. The sight that greeted his eyes was a startling but welcome one: Juvia's stomach was just as firm, toned, and sexy as it had always been to his eyes, and nothing like it had been the previous day.
She wasn't pregnant.
Or at least, she wasn't showing anymore.
Narrowing his eyes, Gray dropped her shirt. "Juvia," he said coldly, making no attempt to keep his voice down.
Juvia yawned cutely and slowly opened her eyes. Noticing his intense glare, she gasped, and instantly, her swollen belly returned.
"Oh no you don't!" Gray shouted, punching her in the stomach. It wasn't a full punch, but there was enough power behind it to disrupt the hastily formed water bubble, which exploded with a large POP!, soaking much of the sheets in the process. "You were FAKING?!" he demanded. "And don't you DARE make a joke about your water breaking!"
Juvia laughed uneasily. "Surely Gray-sama can take a joke?"
"Privately? Sure. But dragging all of Fairy Tail into it, especially Erza, Mira, and Lucy?! Are you TRYING to get me castrated and THEN killed?!"
"Juvia just wanted Gray-sama to know that Juvia was serious about him!"
"Okay, fine! Stand outside my window with a boombox at three in the morning! Leave messages written in lipstick on my mirror! Steal my underwear and wear it when you're alone! Hell, propose to me if you have to! But pretending to be pregnant is completely out of line, not to mention insane! And you know the worst part of this is? The absoulte worst part?!"
Juvia slowly shook her head.
Gray sighed heavily. "Now, you have to go on pretending to be pregnant until you actually ARE. Or everyone's going to find out you lied and hate you, and some people will just assume that's how former Phantom members get their giggles, and I'm NOT going to let them say that about you, okay?!"
Juvia blinked. "But Juvia isn't really pregnant..."
"No, not yet," Gray grumbled reluctantly, "but I guess we'll have to get started on that right away, dammit. And what the hell are you smiling about?!"
"Nothing, Gray-sama," Juvia said quickly, composing her smiling face into a blank stare.
He scowled at her. "Honestly, it's almost like you planned it this way."
"But your beloved Juvia would never do something so devious, Gray-sama," she assured him at once. "Right?"
"I don't ever recall saying you were beloved or mine, and right now I don't know what to think. Now get naked and get over here, before I come to my senses."
Gray didn't like to admit it, but the way Juvia instantly turned into an extra long tentacle of water, shot up out of her clothes, and landed neatly next to him, instantly reverting back into her completely nude body, was rather alluring. Shaking his head, he pushed that thought out of his mind and reached for her, hoping that he wasn't about to make another huge mistake in deciding to impregnate the decidedly crazy woman he'd decided to fall for.
A Certain Number of Years Later...
"OH MY GOD, THEY WRECKED THE WHOLE GUILD AGAIN!"
Gray barely suppressed the urge to ditch his clothes and hide as he watched Fairy Tail collapse for the third time in just two months. It was fairly easy to spot the culprits fleeing the scene: a wild-eyed, pink-haired boy with an infectious laugh, hand in hand with a shorter, infinitely cuter blue-haired girl, with eyes that sparkled like tiny ice crystals. Though Gray was probably just a little bit biased.
Aura Fullbuster had unfortunately been a troublemaker from the start: the moment she was born, she'd accidentally blown her midwife (a very startled Mirajane) out of a third story window with a localized tornado. Mira had thankfully survived by landing on an equally startled Reedus, who assured everyone that asked that the accident had actually been rather pleasant.
At any rate, Aura was not really a bad girl. Far from it, in fact. She was very intelligent and often well-behaved. Unfortunately, she was determined to impress Wyrm Dragneel, and nothing impressed a Dragneel quite like pointless, fiery destruction. Even worse, Wyrm had figured out early on that adding powerful winds to powerful flames made for bigger and better explosions. Through some unknown method, he had convinced her that she actually needed to practice. On the guild. Fairly frequently.
The end result being that Gray and Juvia had secretly been forced to put several guilds out of business and steal their treasuries, just to keep up with Fairy Tail's reconstruction payments. It was not really difficult work, so long as they picked off a small guild, but it left a bad taste in Gray's mouth, and didn't seem to bother Juvia one bit. Of course, she was used to such things, and she loved Fairy Tail so much where anything done to support it was fine with her.
Gray wasn't worried, though. Not too much. Within a few years, the two would fall in love, and soon after that, Aura's growing debt would become entirely Wyrm's business, which meant it would actually become Natsu's business, and Gray could think of no better gift for his old rival. He would of course need to steer clear of Lucy for a few years, but the idea of Natsu suffering because of Aura was worth the danger.
End of Chapter 2.
Endnotes:
I suppose any child of Gray and Juvia should technically inherit water or ice magic, if not both. But neither is known for enhancing fire, which would defeat my evil purposes. So wind it is. But no one's saying for sure that she can't use all three.
To be clear, I have no definite plans to continue this. I hesitated for years just about posting this part. But something keeps pulling me back in. I think it was the joke about Juvia's water breaking.