AN: Here we are! Be sure to read the bottom AN!

This chapter was betaed by the amazing Ratiqu! Thank you!

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Far Longer Than Forever

Chapter One – Stand Tall

"If I can't meet you still, forever
I don't know what will be happen to me now
I know that it something most important now yes that is you
Even if slow compared with other one, it doesn't matter anymore to me
It is a timely encounter of destiny it's never too late" CNBlue – Never Too Late

#

Juvia looked around and finally could see that the other people sharing the jail cell with her were other girls; they looked scared and curious about her. She could see that they were young, maybe fifteen-years-old?

"Where…?" The blunette tried to say, but her mouth was dry and that had never happened before. She was a Water Mage, for goodness sake! She wasn't supposed to be dry.

"You were caught yesterday." The woman who appeared to be the older one of them all spoke. Her hair was a dirty blonde, emphasis on dirty. All the girls were dirty and some had bruises on their bodies, Juvia noticed. But she was a little out of it yet.

"Caught?" Juvia was still dizzy. "By whom?"

"We just call them The Guards." The girl who spoke before told her. "Or S.O.B's, your choice." She shrugged. The blunette took a good look at the woman, who seemed about twenty-five years old or so. Definitely the oldest woman there.

"Where are we?" Juvia tried to stand, but found her legs to be a little too shaken up to do so and settled in an awkward sitting position, her arms in front of her for some support, the handcuffs still on her wrists.

"Some little town. We don't know the name of it; the Guards never talk about it." The girl shrugged again. And when Juvia tried to get closer to her, the other girls shrunk in fear. "Calm down, girls. She's one of us now."

"One of whom?" Juvia managed to say.

"Sorry to be the one to tell you this, but we are going to be sold." Juvia's eyes widened with shock. "They are going to sell us in an auction in three days."

"What?" Juvia was trying to wrap her mind around it. Human traffic? Was that still a thing? She knew that a few hundred years back, it was an open thing to buy other humans to make them slaves, but she had no idea it was still going on. And why couldn't she feel her magic? As much as she tried, she couldn't gather it. She needed an answer; she had to get her magic back somehow. "I... I am a mage. With magic, Juvia might've been able to break us out of here, but…"

"We are all mages." Dirty blonde said, interrupting Juvia's rambling.

"Wha…? What?" Juvia looked to the six girls she was sharing the cage with. The youngest of them all was about thirteen, had light green hair and reminded Juvia a lot of Wendy, which broke her heart. The others, with the exception of Dirty Blonde, were no older than fifteen. If they were really mages, they were almost newbies.

"Do you remember what happened to you?" Dirty blonde asked and Juvia shook her head, feeling the nausea return, now with a headache. "Don't worry. It'll come to you later. You need to rest right now; you are feeling nauseous and achy because you were drugged. Try to sleep for a moment. When you wake up, I'll explain the rest."

Juvia nodded, really tired and nauseous, like the woman said. And she was in no state to be focusing on anything at the moment.

"What's your name?" Juvia asked, lying on the dirty floor and not really caring if it wasn't exactly sanitary. She just wanted to rest for a bit.

"Laura Birdsong from Harpia Wing." She answered. "You?"

"Juvia, Juvia Lockser from Fairy Tail," The blunette closed her eyes. She was drugged, that was for sure. There's no way she would just sleep in a place like this if she wasn't. But her body was forcing her to do it. And she was sure that she was going to need as much strength as she could gather.

Before falling asleep, she could hear the girls whispering about Fairy Tail. She didn't mind it; all she could do was let her body heal.

#

Gray was bored.

Natsu was engaged in some fight with Gajeel and he didn't want to join them just yet. He would, eventually, like all the other times, but not at the moment. He was bored of being bored. Why on earth did he want a free week? It wasn't like he had much to do in Magnolia. He had cleaned his apartment, bought some non-perishable food, did his laundry (actually, he left it with the old lady he paid to wash it) and now he had nothing else to do. Maybe he should've gone on a mission.

"Problem, Gray?" Mira asked, smiling kindly while putting his beverage in front of him, ice cold as he liked. "You seem to be thinking a lot today."

"Everything's fine, Mira." Gray mumbled. "I told myself that I would take the rest of the week off, but I am bored. And it's just day one."

Mira giggled. "Maybe you should've gone with Juvia on her mission, like she asked."

"Oh, you heard that." Gray groaned.

"Everyone heard that." Her smile didn't falter. "She always asks for you to go with her. It's sweet."

He snorted. "'Sweet.'"

"It is." Mirajane started to leave. "One day you'll see and maybe one day she'll finally have the courage to give you more than a kiss on the cheek." Gray's head snapped towards the woman that held the nickname of 'Demon' as she winked and left. Sometimes she really was a demon.

But it sure made him stop to think about the Water Mage. Not that the subject was foreign to him, actually. She had been more and more in his thoughts and he just couldn't put his finger on what was happening inside his mind.

Juvia Lockser was a strange girl, he kept telling himself. She always complained about being gloomy, about rain falling down because of her, but Gray had yet to see that side of her. He had seen her unhappy when she was still his enemy, but besides that, she actually looked more cheerful than most people he knew.

There was just something about her that just sparkled, even when she was angry.

For him, it was actually funny (later, of course) whenever she got angry because even though he was aware that she was strong enough to be an S-class mage, Gray always wondered how such a small person could get so angry.

And she didn't really get angry with him, not since the rescue of Lucy from Phantom Lord. Au contraire; she had gotten fonder of him, really. That much he'd gathered. And of course, later on he would see that it was more than just that. Her feelings were deeper than he'd thought.

'Thanks, Mira.' Gray thought and frowned. 'Now my mind is going to dangerous territory.'

Gray had known even before the Games. He'd known it and refused to face the facts about her feelings, and even more importantly, his own.

It was really silly for him to deny that he didn't feel some shadow of something for the girl, but what could he call it? What did it mean? What could be the consequences of it? Because Gray was not as careless as Natsu, who would just put his emotions out there with no plan whatsoever.

No, Gray was careful and he would need a plan to deal with that situation. To tell the truth, he was pushing the moment of decision off as long as he could. Things could get messy and in his heart, Gray knew that Juvia would wait for it.

But Lyon wouldn't.

Gray groaned again, letting his head fall towards the table with a big 'thud.' The pain in his ass that he was, Lyon Vastia would never leave them alone. Especially Juvia, even though she had made herself very clear that she was not interested in him.

But Lyon was not a man to give up, that much Gray knew. And if Juvia could grow in Gray's heart, maybe the white haired man could do the same with her?

He slammed his head on the table again. He was being ridiculous. Juvia was his… Juvia. She wasn't going to stray away from him. Not after everything they'd been through. Not after Gray had finally noticed that she was more than just a friend.

A loud crash close to him made his mind focus once again on the fight that now involved not only Natsu and Gajeel, but also Elfman and somehow Loke was there as well.

So, Gray pushed his decision off again; he went to join the commotion so his mind was away from Juvia and feelings. He'd rather punch someone. He had time.

#

When Juvia regained consciousness, the blonde girl, Laura, was now beside her, with a glass of water. She helped Juvia sit.

"Here." Laura said and Juvia took a gulp. She couldn't remember the last time she had been that thirsty. "Easy…"

"Thank you." Juvia said and she noticed that she was feeling much better. Not ideal, but the nausea was gone.

"Don't worry." Laura shrugged. "We only have each other now."

Juvia shook her head. "No… Fairy Tail…"

"They will receive a letter saying that you are dead, killed during the mission. That's what they did concerning all of us. Our guilds believed it and didn't search for us."

"Not Fairy Tail." Juvia said stronger this time. "They won't believe it. Trust me."

Laura nodded indulgently, sighing. "Okay. Having hope is all we've got now."

"It's not hope; it's a fact." Juvia tried to stand and the blonde woman helped her. "If Juvia could just talk to anyone from her guild… Anyone, they would come. Juvia knows." Laura looked to her with pity and Juvia felt that the woman did not believe in her words. "Juvia knows because she was part of rescue missions."

"We can talk about it later." Laura dismissed what Juvia was saying with a wave of her hand and Juvia noticed that she too was handcuffed. The blunette eyed the other girls and all of them seemed to be in the same state as the other two. While she was staring, Laura continued talking. "Juvia, you must prepare yourself. Now that you are awake, they will come for you."

Juvia's head snapped towards Laura. "What do you mean?"

"They do it to every girl they bring." The blonde waved to the girls. "Those bruises didn't just appear out of nowhere."

The little color that Juvia's face had was drained. Were they beaten? Why? They were children! And Juvia was sure that they didn't resist much.

"They are children." Juvia murmured to herself and Laura eyed her with curiosity. "What kind of monsters would…?"

"Juvia, I mean it. They are coming for you. Do you understand?" The blonde woman was concerned that the blunette didn't understand what was going to happen to her. "They will…"

"Yes, Juvia understands." Even in the darkness of the cage, Laura could see the determination in Juvia's eyes. "Don't worry. Juvia has been in S-class missions; she's used to getting hurt."

Laura was about to say something, but stopped herself. After a moment of silence, she spoke quietly so the other girls couldn't hear. "They do it to show us that we can't escape. That they have the power, I guess. To break us."

Juvia's eyes softened as she moved closer to Laura. She had green eyes, Juvia could see now. Using the same quiet voice, Juvia said, putting a hand on the other woman's shoulder: "But they didn't break you. You still have hope deep inside. Don't give it up. We'll come up with a plan to save all of us." Laura didn't understand why, but she nodded. And she did in fact feel more hope than she'd felt in a very long time. What was with this girl? "Tell Juvia… Do they do it here?" Laura shook her head.

"They take us to a room and then…" She swallowed nervously as Juvia nodded.

"Good. The girls don't need to see any of it."

"You just met us, why do you care about them all of a sudden?" Laura asked.

The blunette shrugged and then smiled at her, against all odds. "You said it yourself: Juvia's one of you now. And Juvia takes care of her friends." Laura frowned. This was one strange girl. "You said that they will come for Juvia, right?" The blonde nodded. "Okay. Juvia remembered how she was captured, but not why she can't do magic. Once Juvia returns, could you tell her what you know about this place?"

"Yes. But…" She was interrupted by a door opening and light invaded the room. Juvia could see now that her cage wasn't the only one. Across it, beyond the bars of her cell, there was another one with more girls. This was getting out of hand.

"It seems that we found a Fairy…" A disgusting male voice echoed through the walls of their little cage. "Here Fairy, Fairy, Fairy." Juvia could see the shadow of a man approaching.

Laura noticed Juvia stiffen and her once soft eyes had gone steely cold. She had seen eyes like that in battle and the woman in front of her was preparing herself for it.

"Don't fight back. They don't like it…" Laura whispered as the steps got closer. She shrunk back and went to go stay with the girls.

When the man came into view, Juvia was standing tall, chin raised and prepared to take whatever that man dared to throw at her. She was a Fairy Tail mage and she was going to take it like one.

#

Back in Magnolia, Gray had already stopped fighting and was thinking of what to eat for lunch. It had been awhile since he'd had Franks Caramades. Maybe he should…

'When Juvia returns, she'll find you, Gray-sama and… maybe we can have Frank's Caramades again? Just… us?'

He stopped and his mind returned to Juvia. He had said yes, hadn't he? They were going to eat it together when she returned from her mission. She was so excited. Gray chuckled when he thought of her. But then it returned.

The bad feeling.

He never felt that way when she was away before. He was never that nervous. He was never that preoccupied. Juvia was strong, she didn't need a babysitter, and he certainly didn't have reason to worry. From what he could gather, it was an easy mission.

Then why did it seem like someone was squeezing his heart?

#

AN: Well, Harpia is the Portuguese name for Harpy. I liked Laura. Don't know, I think Juvia needs an ally and a friend between all the bad stuff.

xScarletxMoonx0 drew the scenes from the Prologue and I shrieked and woke up all my roommates so they could see it! It's awesome and it's exactly like I imagined. Check it out! The link is on my profile, but either way, here it is: xscarletxmoonx0. deviantart art/Preview-of-Far-Longer-Than-Forever-360655249 (Without the spaces!)

Special thanks to: CoolCat19698, WiseLoad43, YamixTeaLover, Sarapyon, Darkhope, Ratiqu, Guest, Summer Eclair, Lavi-hime 4E -3, Essence97, monkeyrawr, Yukistar, animatype, xScarletxMoonx0, Ushiio, me ga mawaru, animegirl115, Chibi Waru-Chan and cybercorpsesnake! You are the best.