CHAPTER 4
"We cannot thank you enough!"
The chorus of villagers was all praise; they complimented Juvia's hair, wooed at Gray's prowress and smiled as the dream mage was toted off by the magic council. Within the few hours it took for the council to appear, the woman had refused to speak but also lost the youthfulness of her appearance. It hadn't taken long for Gray to realize she had been siphoning the life energy from the villagers to sustain her own.
He and Juvia truly had arrived just in time. For once, he didn't feel like basking in their thankfulness. He could have been lost alongside them if Juvia had not been there. This was not his success, it was hers.
"There must be something we can do for you?" the young woman Gray had seen sleeping with her child spoke up, turning her eyes toward the baby.
Juvia lifted her hands. "There is no need. Juvia and Gray-sama just wanted to help, and the reward is coming from the council."
"Nonsense!" an elderly man continued. "We want to show our gratitude ourselves. Without you, who knows if anyone would have come to our aid."
The murmur about the small gathering was one of agreement. Juvia again tried to assure the villagers that they needn't worry, but her efforts fell on stubborn ears. She glanced in his direction and Gray shrugged. Let the village treat them. Part of their reward was going to help repair the village square, anyway.
All the back and forth was just delaying the inevitable. They would leave and the village would go back to daily life without them until the entire incident became a distant memory of a time long past. A few more missions, and then Gray would split off on his own.
If today had shown him anything, it was that he needed to become stronger on his own if he wanted to protect anyone. He couldn't be waiting at the end of every difficult battle for someone to swoop in and take care of it for him. E.N.D was a demon strong enough to defeat the strongest black mage known to Fiore, and Gray had to be even stronger than that. No one else would fight that fight but him.
"Juvia feels bad..." Juvia murmured beside him, eyes worrying over the small crowd in front of them.
He shrugged again. "If it makes them happy, it'd be rude to stop them."
"Does Gray-sama think so?"
"Look at them." Gray gestured with a tilt of his head. "I doubt anything this exciting ever happens here. They've been asleep for months and they want to do something to celebrate that they're awake. It's as much about them as it is about us."
She smiled and nodded. "Then it would be wrong to stop them."
"I'm starving." he grumbled.
"Then please, come to the bed and breakfast! We'll make you something local and warm while we prepare your reward."
The deep chatter had paused almost instantly, everyone nodding with with bright eyed smiles. Gray felt almost as if they were looking through him, prying for the deepest secrets he could hold. The jumping feeling in his chest could only be the creeps. They were a decisive people, quick to action. He crossed his arms.
Why the hell did they have to prepare it?
"That would be wonderful!" Juvia clapped her hands together, moving forward toward the woman who invited them. "Juvia has always wanted to stay at a bed and breakfast!"
"Then you will love this one. It's nearby."
She spun toward him, lips spread wide in a smile. "Gray-sama will come too, right?"
His mouth opened to reject the idea. They needed to get out of here soon and continue looking for clues on E.N.D. The thought of sleeping over in the village caused his nerves to twist. The people needed time to orient themselves to waking life. He and Juvia were not a part of that process, as much as he knew she would be willing to remain and help.
"Yeah."
He was hungry. Gray tried to convince himself that was the only reason he agreed, but way she closed her eyes and tilted her head, the way she turned to lead the way with a swoop of her skirt—
He was becoming to aware of the things that filled Juvia's presence. Gray followed, but at a safe distance where he could watch her but not be tempted to pull closer. He had allowed her to come with him and with that action he had given her access to cross the invisible line he set for himself. She stood at it's edge now and he twitched with indecision, too afraid to push her away and equally as terrified at the temptation to pull her close.
Juvia was patient, she always had been, so he knew if he wanted he could break this budding responsibility he felt toward her if he wanted and she would still be waiting for him when and if he decided to come back. The problem was, that same responsibility reminded him that he had already wounded her enough. He was tired of hurting her. She was persistent and gentle and it annoyed him because he couldn't help himself from wanting to give her a reason to keep trying.
He had to keep the distance between needed to erase the image of her blood stained lips and the feel of her life escaping his hands by reminding himself and experiencing her life. The memory of the dream would flash for a moment then pass, but it stuck with him as if in warning. He couldn't shake it's ghostly fingers wrapped about his heart, tugging on his instincts.
Save her Gray, it whispered through his bones, save her before she tries to save you.
The bed and breakfast was as cozy as it was plain; the mistress of the house had one extra room with one bed she rented for 500 jewel a night. Gray shot down the idea before Juvia could propose it but agreed to a homemade meal. It was served on a low rise table in the center of a converted living room, next to the fireplace and across from the lounge space. Instead of chairs they were given patchwork pillows to kneel upon and the food came to them in courses, although their disjointed form proved they were intended to be served all at once.
Gray's stomach wouldn't shut up though, so the mistress brought out cold sliced cheeses and bread to start them off. It did the trick. His stomach settled, satisfied that more food was to come shortly if that was all it had been given so far.
Juvia chattered away with the woman's husband, learning in a few questions what would have taken Gray days to uncover on his own. The village had been there for hundreds of years, settled by nomads who wished to escape the threat of the dragons by living peacefully in the the forests shadows. The people traded for goods but grew most of their own food and hunt for their meat. Visitors were commonplace enough, though none tended to remain for long. People did come and go but most of the people living there could trace their ancestry back to the village's founders.
This man and his wife rented out the room in their home to traveling mages who passed by on their way to Crocus. They had a pet cat they had not yet managed to locate since waking. They both reported pleasant dreams and a hesitation to fall asleep that night.
Gray ate and listened and wondered how Juvia managed to put people at such ease.
"Gray-sama and Juvia will have to leave soon." she replied when asked what their plans were. "They are looking for clues for another mission."
"Sama, huh? Are you a lord of some sort?" the man leaned over the table, pointing his fork in Gray's direction.
He shrugged. "I'm just a friend. Juvia's just very formal."
"Gray-sama is more than just Juvia's friend."
Her eyes turned toward him, locking tightly with his own. Gray paused mid bite, waiting for the natural response; she would confess her love, take hold of him and profess of how they would get married, have thirty kids and grow old together. His tongue prepared the sharp remark he would need to gain back control of the situation and waited for the focus in her eyes to fade to that of wonderment.
It never did. Juvia didn't begin touting off nonsense, she didn't smile. She just watched him and waited for his response.
Gray found he didn't have one.
"Seems complicated." the mistress tutted her tongue and laid out a warm pie. "As all things worthwhile in life are."
Juvia turned her attention back to the table, proclaiming the beauty of the pie's structure and the tastiness of its smell. Gray was sure he saw a flash of disappointment in her face before she had turned her welcoming expression back on the couple, but he couldn't ask. Even if he wanted to, he didn't know how he would.
He took his slice of pie and sat the rest of the meal in silence, praying for a knock at the door that would be the villagers with their prize. Then they could go and put this sleeping town, it's people, his nightmare and the awkwardness of the last moment behind them. Juvia continued her conversation with the gentleman, digging up morsels of information on the town and their personal lives. Gray pretended to listen.
The conversation went well beyond the end of his pie slice, verging off into the best plants to go during certain seasons and something about the mildness of their weather. He had lost track when the matron began cleaning the table; she had to say his name twice before he realized he had set his elbow on the plate. Juvia turned her attention back to him with a questioning glance.
"It's late. You two should stay."
"We can't." Gray answered quickly. "The sun is still out, we need to get going before it turns dark."
"Don't leave yet!" the door to the bed and breakfast flew open, followed by a rushed apology for slamming it into the wall. Three men stood there, covered in dirt and grime but smiling wide.
The man at the table stood tall in greeting. "It's ready?"
"Yea. Our wives are finishing it up, but we can bring them now."
One of the men entered the room, offering his hand to Juvia to help her up. She took it shyly, the motions of her body telling it was not a gesture she was accustomed to. Gray tried not to care as they pulled her to her feet and the mistress handed them their bags. Her expression had warmed.
"Just remember, when you see what we've prepared for you, that it comes from the deepest parts of our hearts. We are so thankful for what you have done." she laid a hand on Juvia's head shortly, as a mother to her child.
Gray pulled himself up from the ground and strapped both of their packs to his back, a signal that it was time to go. The three men who had come to the door urged them to follow out and down the street to the edge of the village where the homes became sparse and the space between them grew. The sun began dipping to the west and the sky changed from blue to a combination of pink and purple.
It was beginning to occur to Gray that he might not like what they had to show him, and that perhaps this battle wasn't yet over. Why did they need to bring them so far from the center of town to present their reward of gratitude?
The men assured them it would be just a bit further before veering left through a small trail in the thicket. They couldn't walk side by side, so Gray lagged behind and told Juvia to go ahead. He had the best vantage point from the rear. Muscles tensing with suspicion, he calculated the range of movement he would have should this turn into an ambush. Maybe three on two was not the best odds, but split them up in a space where they could only move single file and the odds increased.
No attack came in the first minute they walked, nor did one come in the subsequent ones. Instinct gave way to reason, and Gray dropped his guard. His eyes focused on Juvia's hair as it swayed in front of him instead of the woods around him or the shadows that had grown as the sun dipped behind them. In this light the blue of her hair was a shimmer of twilight, not quite dark enough to be considered night but too deep to be day. He hadn't noticed before how it shifted colors in the shadows.
Gray also didn't notice they had walked out off the trail and into a clearing until the group stopped. He stumbled to keep from bumping into Juvia's back.
"Here. This is it. Please accept it as a token of our thanks. You took us from the dream and back to our home. We'd like for you to have one as well."
Juvia's hands had jumped to cover her mouth, eyes wide. "Gray-sama and Juvia's... home?"
Oh hell no.
Gray stomped his way around her, his eyes moving along the rest of the path, past the crude wooden gate made of tree of limbs, to the steps that lead to a door. The door was attached to a wall, and the wall was topped with a roof. He didn't need to see the rest, the lightness of dread building in his gut already told him what he needed to know.
A house. The village had given them a house.