A new day dawned as the sun rose over the peaceful town of Magnolia. Feeling mischievous, the bright yellow star chose to shine its rays through the white curtains of a room located on the second floor of the Fairy Hills dormitory. The determined light ray pierced through the curtains, finding its mark on the face of a smiling blue-haired girl.
Her eyelids twitching at the warmth of the sun's ray, Juvia turned over and opened her eyes. Yawning she slowly rose up from the softness of her pillow and looked down at the plushie of Gray cradled in her arms. The scowl. The messy dark hair. The fact that the cotton doll was also missing a shirt. It was indeed a perfect match for its inspiration. Juvia smiled and lovingly kissed the doll on the forehead, the stitched cotton tickling her somewhat dry lips. "Good morning, beloved."
This was how Juvia Lockser started her mornings.
After fixing her bed – taking extra care to place her Gray effigy in between her pillows, which also had Gray's face on them – Juvia made her way towards her bathroom, but not before blowing a kiss to the poster of Gray hanging next to the entrance door of her room. After she finished cleaning her body in the shower she dried herself off, put on her signature coat and hat, and exited her room. A noticeable spring in her step, Juvia practically jumped downstairs, where the rest of the residents awaited her.
"Good morning, Juvia." Erza greeted with a smile.
"Good morning~!" The rain woman sang in response.
"You're in high spirits this morning."
"Yeah, I don't think I've ever seen you smile like that." Levy commented with a smile of her own.
"Am I really smiling that much?" Juvia blushed, covering her red cheeks. "I hadn't noticed."
"Why the joyful mood?" Cana asked. "Gray finally give in and agree to take you on a date?"
Juvia blushed even harder. "What?! Oh, no. Nothing like that." Though she desperately wished that were the case. "It is just such a lovely day outside. I have a feeling something good may happen today."
"Well that is certainly a good feeling to have." Erza nodded in agreement. "Wendy went on job this morning so we have some leftover food. Come and have breakfast with us. We can all leave for the guild together."
"Ok." Juvia nodded happily.
Upon reaching the guild hall with her fellow residents, Juvia's mood quickly soured. To her lament, the object of her affection, i.e. Gray, was nowhere to found. Her good mood withered away even more when she was told that he had gone on a job…with Lucy. Curse my love rival! Juvia thought. She was probably waiting for the perfect opportunity to be alone with my Gray! Her happiness now completely snuffed out, Juvia dragged her feet to the bar. The only thing keeping her from completely sinking into sadness was the promise of his return later in the day.
Sitting on the stool closest to the barrels of alcohol, she pouted.
"Why so down?" Cana asked. She was already sipping from her morning libation. "Is it because Gray's gone?"
Juvia answered with a short nod complete with a dissatisfied huff. "He went on a job with…her." She refused to say Lucy's name aloud, but the simple pronoun she used to substitute for the offending blonde was laced with enough venom that it would kill on contact if Levy used it in her script magic.
Cana looked around the guild hall. "Since both Lucy and Wendy are gone, I'm guessing 'her' is one of them. Most likely Lucy." She took another sip of alcohol and Juvia's mood darkened even more at the mention of the blonde's proper name.
"Cheer up." Cana said. "He'll be back later. You can jump his bones then."
Juvia continued to pout.
"Just relax and try to enjoy the atmosphere." Cana advised. "Go on a job on your own or something. There's much more here to look at then Gray you know."
While Juvia was not too happy with Cana's candid remarks about her beloved, she took the brunette's advice and decided to look around the guild hall. Surprisingly it was nowhere near as rowdy and raucous as it usually was. It was the perfect example of a "slow day".
To Juvia's immediate right was Mirajane, happily humming to herself as she and Kinana cleaned the bar mugs and glasses. It was a simple task, but both of them seemed rather content with the tedium of it. A bit further down from the pair of barmaids sat Erza, gleefully biting into a piece of her strawberry cake. Juvia saw the steam billowing from the top of the mug next to the knight's cake plate and was close enough to catch the aroma on the fringes of her nose. Oolong tea. With just a hint of honey.
Moving her attentions away from the bar, the rain woman directed her gaze to the rest of her guildmates spread out across the spacious hall.
At table closest to the stage, Macao and Wakaba discussed women and "good ole days" while Romeo rolled his eyes in exasperation. Not too far from them sat Lisanna and Elfman, conversing on whatever it was siblings talked about in their free time – Juvia was not really knowledgeable about those sort of topics, though she could have sworn she heard a certain dragon slayer's name escape the lips of the youngest Strauss sibling.
Searching for a more familiar face, Juvia spotted Gajeel close to the guild entrance along with Pantherlily and Team Shadowgear. The Iron Dragon was currently holding a mini concert for the exceed and Shadowgear – the latter most likely attending at Levy's urging. From what Juvia could discern from the looks on his audience's faces Gajeel was not performing too well, but you couldn't tell by the satisfied look on his face. The scene roused an amused chuckle from the rain woman. She remembered when Gajeel would ask – or rather forced - her to listen to new songs he had written when they were a part of Phantom Lord. He still had the same amount of "talent" back then as he did now, but Juvia always encouraged him to keep going. You can do it, Gajeel.
Juvia continued to scan through the guild. It was an oddly calm feeling. She never noticed her other guildmates much because of Gray's constant presence in her mind - in fact this was the longest time since joining Fairy Tail that she had gone without thinking about the ice wizard. As she watched her guild with these fresh eyes, she could not help but smile at how picturesque the view of them was.
Laki working on odd wooden sculptures. Reedus serenely painting the cityscape as he sat by the window. Nab standing stone-like in front of the job request board. Max and Warren discussing how best to market Fairy Tail's female members in order to drive up merchandise sales – something that Juvia was not too pleased about. Alzack and Bisca carefully listening as Asuka explained the importance of ladybugs. Even the Thunder Legion were not immune to the doldrums of the day as Freed, Bixlow, and Evergreen casually talked amongst one another while waiting for Laxus to return from a job.
So many different people with various different personalities and hobbies doing so many different things but still managing to come together as one guild. It all astounded Juvia, filling with a small warmth that she didn't know she could feel without Gray around. It wasn't that she didn't like her guildmates, far from it. She just never really got to know them. Though just taking in all of this scenery before her made her feel she was one step closer to closing that gap.
As her wandering gaze fell to a table a few meters away from the bar, Juvia's mood soured once again. The table earning her irritated glare was currently occupied by Natsu Dragneel, who was blissfully sleeping away the day as Happy ate fish at his side.
Natsu Dragneel. No matter how hard Juvia tried, Natsu was the one man she could not seem to like. It wasn't that she hated him, in fact she acknowledged his strength and knew full well the impact he had both on the guild and people of Magnolia. Juvia respected Natsu. She just didn't like him.
He was a loud, obnoxious, cocky, invasive, thick-headed, rude brute; but those were not the sole reasons she disliked him – Gajeel had these same qualities and Juvia got along with him just fine. No, she disapproved of the pink-haired trouble maker because of his constant bothering of Gray. Her Gray. Every day Natsu would pick a fight with her beloved over the most trivial of reasons and in turn all the ice wizards time would be preoccupied with dealing with him. It irritated Juvia to no end. Natsu was simply jealous of Gray according to Juvia. She had long since wanted to put an end to this behavior, and now was the perfect chance. If she did nothing, her darling Gray would never have a moment of peace.
Juvia got down from her stool and marched to Natsu's table.
"Hi, Juvia!" Happy chirped as she approached.
"Hello, Happy." She replied with a warming smile. Though she didn't care for Natsu, Juvia got along just fine with his aptly named companion.
"Gray's not here."
"I know. I actually wish to speak with Natsu."
"Good luck. He's been sleeping since we got here. I tried waking him but it's like he's dead to the world. Want some of my fish?" He offered her the half eaten salmon in his paws.
"No thank you." Juvia politely declined.
Happy shrugged. "More for me."
As the tomcat returned to his meal, Juvia turned her attention to Natsu's slumbering form, casually listening in on his groggy mumbles.
"I had to tell her…" he mumbled. "I can't talk to you all the time now can I?"
Juvia was most confused by the scene beneath her, whatever Natsu was dreaming about it must have been very vivid. Who is he talking to?
"Go back?" he muttered. "Fine…see you later…" he trailed off and exhaled deeply through his nostrils. His eyelids twitched a bit before fully opening. When his onyx orbs were fully revealed to the world, the first sight he saw was the rather tense form of Juvia Lockser. "Hey, Juvia." He yawned. "What's up?"
She said nothing to him for a few seconds. She was trying to find the right words to say. Should she just come right out and say what she thought of him? Or should she cushion her words so they were less harsh? It was an interesting conundrum she found herself in. She had to be firm, but at the same time she didn't want to come off as crass or callous. Though at that same token she didn't want to be too passive, otherwise her request would be ignored. Natsu was starting to get worried about her silence.
"Um, Juvia? You ok?"
Juvia exhaled, having finally come a decision. "Please leave Gray alone." She requested.
Natsu was caught completely off guard. "Huh?"
"You constantly pester him, make fun of him, and challenge him to meaningless fights. He is clearly upset by your behavior so I ask that you stop and please keep your jealousy to yourself." She said, this time with a bit more force.
Natsu had no idea what to say. Jealousy? Why would he be jealous of Gray? Gray had nothing that Natsu wanted, and even if he did Natsu resolved that he would find something much cooler to replace it with anyway. While at a loss for words and confused of his supposed "jealousy", Natsu still felt guilty for some reason. Juvia asking him to stop fighting with Gray was much different than Erza or Lucy requesting the same. Erza had been playing the role of referee between them for years so they were used to her chiding – as well as her beatings - and Lucy was more indifferent to their brawls as long as they only injured each other and not others - which never went according to plan.
Perhaps it was because this was the most Juvia has ever said to him at a given time that made Natsu feel bad. This - for all intents and purposes - was the first time Natsu and Juvia had really spoken directly to one another without the others as a buffer, and she basically told him off. Did I mess up somewhere? He thought. Am I really that much of a bother to Juvia? From the stern look in the rain woman's eyes it seemed that was exactly the case. Why do I really care? Nonetheless he conceded to her request out of respect for Juvia as a guildmate – not that she saw him as a friend.
He nodded in acceptance. "Alright. I'll stop messing with Gray."
Juvia bowed her head. "Thank you." She then looked down at the table. "Please clean up your drool."
"Hm?" Natsu looked down at the translucent liquid on the table's wooden surface. "Oh!" he grabbed a nearby napkin and quickly wiped it up – along with the trail running from his mouth. "Sorry about that."
Juvia turned on her heel and walked back to the bar, the earlier spring her step seemingly back. I did it! She cheered internally. That went perfectly well. If only that was as easy with my darling. Now that my beloved Gray will no longer have to worry about Natsu's constant fits of jealousy, he and I can spend more time together. She practically bounded back to the bar as she fantasized about all the things she and Gray would do since they no longer had to worry about Natsu.
"What did you do?" Happy asked Natsu. He was taken aback by how stern Juvia was.
"Beats me." He shrugged. "That was weird. Think she hates me?"
Happy took another bite of his meal. "Probably." he answered with full cheeks.
Juvia returned to her stool, humming happily to herself at a job well done. She slowly fell into uneasiness when she noticed the questionable – and slightly disapproving - looks she was getting from those at the bar. Chiefly from Erza, Mirajane, and Cana.
"That was a little harsh, Juvia. Don't you think?" Cana asked.
Juvia was genuinely confused by the brunette's inquiry. "Did I do something wrong?"
"Don't get me wrong I'm glad we won't have to worry about those two brawling all over the guild hall for the foreseeable future, but you didn't have to be so hard on Natsu."
Juvia looked back to the young man in question. He and Happy were laughing and talking at their table. Nothing seemed wrong to juvia. In fact it looked as if her conversation with the dragon slayer never even happened.
Before she could respond to Cana, Master Makarov descended the stairs with a piece of paper in his hand.
"Heads up, brats, we have a special job request." He announced.
"A special job request?" Erza repeated. Her cake and tea now finished, she gave Makarov her immediate attention, as did the rest of the guild.
"That's what I said." The old man nodded in confirmation. "I need to see Natsu and Juvia right now."
The summoned wizards promptly appeared before Makarov.
"Yes, Master?" Juvia asked.
"What do you need, Gramps?" Natsu added.
Makarov handed the paper in his hand to Juvia, who proceeded to read it to herself. "The client specifically asked for the two of you to take this job." he said.
Both Natsu and Juvia eyes widened in shock. "What?" they said in unison.
Their friends echoed their surprise.
"Natsu and Juvia on a job together? That should be interesting." Laki commented.
"Nobody tell Gray." Max teased.
"I never expected I would see them on a job together." Mirajane said. She knew that Juvia had no romantic interest – platonic either if the pair's earlier exchange was any indication - in Natsu, but the barmaid couldn't help but feel a bit of jealousy at the fact they were going on a job alone. It seems like everyone can go on a job with Natsu but me. She cursed her diminished abilities.
"Well this won't be awkward at all." Cana commented sarcastically. She was currently on her third mug of alcohol, and showed no signs of stopping anytime soon.
"You two are to go to the village of Geranium and aid them in the construction of their new hot springs." Makarov explained. "The mayor of the village said they will pay a rather large reward for our assistance."
That added bit of information made Natsu and Juvia realize exactly why Master Makarov was so adamant about them accepting this job.
"Surely they are better wizard's than us that can fulfill the request." Juvia argued. It was obvious to anyone watching that she was looking for anyway to get out of going on this job with Natsu. Not only would she be going with someone she had no business wanting to work with, but she would also be gone when Gray returned.
"They asked for a fire wizard and water wizard, and last I checked you and Natsu were specialists in those elements."
"Yes but, Master-"
"When do we leave?" Natsu interrupted. He didn't want to go with someone who didn't like him either, but Natsu thought it best to get this job over with as quickly as possible.
Makarov handed Natsu a map with directions to the village. "You will take the train to Hargeon, then it is about a three hour ride west by carriage to the village."
"Can't we just walk?" Natsu groaned. If he knew there was transportation involved he wouldn't have so readily accepted the job.
"That would take too long and they need you there by the end of the day. So you're just going to have to suck it up, Natsu."
"Fine." the dragon slayer huffed.
"Juvia, please keep an eye on him." Makarov requested. "If he gets too hot cool him down and we'll deal with it when you return."
Juvia understood the metaphor and nodded reluctantly. "Yes, Master."
"Excellent. You will both leave on the next train, so I suggest you hurry and grab your belongings."
"Right." They both nodded.
Natsu and Juvia went their separate ways to get ready for the job. As she watched the dragon stuff food into his bag, Juvia sighed in frustration. First Gray leaves with that blonde homewrecker and now I have to go on a job with him? Could this day get any worse?
"Is it really a good idea to let them go on a job by themselves?" Cana asked Erza. "I mean it's not like those two really get along."
"I see no problem with it." Erza replied. "Natsu and Juvia are more than capable of handling themselves if trouble should arise. Besides this will be good for them to get to know one another better. Juvia will realize that Natsu is nowhere near as bad as she thinks."
"Are you ok with that?" Cana asked ominously.
Erza sat in silence for a few seconds before getting up from her stool. "I'll go check and see if Natsu needs anything to aid him on his trip." She quickly walked to his side, her cheeks red.
Cana then briefly looked to Mirajane, who responded with a suspicious gaze. The barmaid knew Cana's game and held out for as long as she could, but she too succumbed to her inner emotions.
"I'll prepare Natsu something to eat for the road." She ducked into the kitchen and began cooking.
Cana chuckled as she took another sip of her drink. Seriously those two are way too easy.
Natsu and Juvia sat opposite one another on the train. Well to be more accurate, Juvia sat in her seat while Natsu laid lethargically on his stomach on the seat across from her. He groaned in pain, cursing his motion sickness.
"Why did we have to ride this stupid thing?!" he whined.
"Please stop complaining." Juvia requested, her patience wearing thin. "It will not make the train go any faster." She sat back in her seat and stared out of the window in frustration. I can't believe that I have to go on a job with this person. She fumed. There must have been someone, anyone, else that he or I could have gone with. This is completely unfair. Now Gray will be saddened when he sees that I won't be at the guild to welcome him back. She looked to Natsu, who had – thankfully - fallen asleep. Though his face was still twisted in pain.
A few minutes later the train made a complete stop in Hargeon station. After debating whether or not to leave him on the train, Juvia chose to wake her sleeping comrade. "Natsu." She shook his shoulder lightly. "The train's stopped. It's time to get off."
"It is?" Natsu answered groggily. "About time."
"Please hurry." Juvia advised firmly. She had already retrieved her bag from the overhead compartment.
"Ok. Ok." Natsu replied with a curtness of his own. "I'm getting up." Natsu stood up, grabbed his own bag from the overhead compartment, and followed Juvia out of the train. When the Fairy Tail wizards arrived outside of the station, Natsu looked around at all of the people walking about town. He was always surprised at the amount of people in the port town. Some were residents, but most were tourists who aimed to explore the country of Fiore as a whole.
"We should make our way to the carriage depot." Juvia suggested. "Otherwise we will have to walk to the village."
"I don't have a problem with that." Natsu voiced with a smile.
Juvia ignored his opinion and walked further into town.
"Juvia, wait up!" Natsu called. He soon caught up to her, but made sure to keep his distance. He knew that this was not the ideal situation for either of them, but Natsu wanted to at least make their first job together a positive one. Conversation was usually a good place to start. "So…It's pretty hot out today, huh?"
"I like the weather." Juvia replied curtly.
Strike one. Natsu tried a different approach. "Erza told me that they were building a new cake shop in the market district back in Magnolia. That makes what? Four now? It's like cake is all she thinks about." Natsu laughed.
"That's not very nice to say." Juvia retorted. "Erza is a very diligent individual. She can eat what she wants."
Strike two. "Yeah I know. I was just saying." Natsu shirked back. Man, what's her problem? He wondered. I'm just trying to be friendly but she keeps shutting me down. "This isn't fun for me either, ya know, but we're stuck with each other for the time being." Natsu reminded the cold rain woman. "So instead of moping about we should-"
Juvia stopped walking, almost causing Natsu to bump into her. "Here's the depot."
Natsu looked at the small building that was set off by itself on the city's edge. "Well, we should go in I guess." Natsu said in defeat. He had struck out, and his stomach gurgled again.
Juvia's face was once again twisted in discomfort, Natsu's groaning had returned in full force. As the horse drawn carriage trotted down the dirt path, each bump caused Natsu more stomach pain. Juvia had lost count on how many times he had almost thrown up.
"Your friend ok in there?" The driver asked, hearing Natsu's death like moans.
"He has a severe case of motion sickness." Juvia answered with a dissatisfied sigh.
"Sorry to hear that. Well we should be reaching the halfway point soon. Had to take a bit of a detour."
"Why is that?"
"Bunch of bandits have been seen taking people out of the woods lately." The driver explained. "Makes it hard for guys like me to earn a living. You two are my first passengers in almost a month."
"Well you no longer have to worry." Juvia said proudly. "My travelling partner and I are wizards from the Fairy Tail guild. If these bandits do show up, we'll take care of them."
"Yeah." Natsu weakly agreed. "We'll kick-"his cheeks puffed out as he held back more vomit. He managed to swallow it back. "Their asses."
"Is that so?" the driver smiled. "I feel safer already." He looked to the horizon, it would be night soon. "You two should get some rest. We still have a little while to go."
"Thank you." Juvia nodded. She closed her eyes and drifted off the sleep, dreams of her sweet ice wizard awaiting her.
As soon as she fell asleep, the driver turned the horse towards the forest.
At the Fairy Tail guild things hadn't gotten much livelier since Gray, Lucy, and Wendy returned from their job. It was still just a lazy day.
"Wow, I can't believe someone picked Juvia and Natsu to go on a job." Lucy said.
"Do they not get along?" Wendy asked.
"It's not really that they don't get along…" Lucy trailed off.
"Juvia's just not the biggest fan of Natsu." Cana finished.
"Yeah. That's it." Lucy agreed.
"But why?" Wendy asked with genuine curiosity. "I know Natsu can be a bit rowdy but he's a really nice person."
"I don't really know actually." Lucy admitted.
"It's mostly Gray's fault." Cana pointed.
"How is it my fault?" the ice wizard retorted.
Lucy and Wendy looked at the ice wizard for a few moments before nodding sagely. It was if they had an epiphany.
"What's that look for?!" he shouted at them.
"There's no need to shout." Carla chided.
At the bar, Mirajane and Erza were feeling a faint uneasiness taking root within them. Cana felt as well. They couldn't really explain it, but they felt something bad was going to happen to Natsu. As if to confirm their suspicions, Master Makarov came down the stairs with a somewhat perpelxed look on his face. Erza was the first to approach him.
"Master, what's happened?"
"I just talked to the mayor of Geranium village. He said that Natsu and Juvia haven't shown up."
The words hit the three girls like a ton of bricks.
"What do you mean 'haven't shown up'?" Cana asked. "The village is only a couple hours away from Hargeon right?"
"Perhaps they stopped along the way." Mirajane suggested. She was trying her best to keep her mind off of the worst case scenario.
"No." Erza denied. "It's not like Natsu to get distracted before he takes a job."
"Juvia either." Cana added.
"What's going on?" Lucy asked. She, Gray Wendy, and Carla overheard the commotion. Lisanna and Happy joined them as well, the latter having stayed behind at Natsu's request.
"Natsu and Juvia haven't arrived at their job site yet." Cana answered.
"Maybe they got hung up somewhere." Gray suggested.
"That doesn't sound like Natsu." Lisanna argued.
"I hope they're ok." Wendy fretted.
"Aye." Happy nodded.
"We shouldn't worry ourselves." Carla reasoned. "Natsu and Juvia are perfectly capable of handling themselves if they must."
Everyone agreed with the tabby and relaxed.
"You're right, Carla." Erza said. "I should put more faith in them."
"Yeah." Cana igrinned. "With Natsu leading they probably just got lost."
Mirajane nodded in agreement. "That's completely possible."
"I'll contact the mayor and tell him to be on the lookout for them." Makarov said. "We should know if they made it there by morning."
Everyone nodded and Makarov went back to his office. The others all looked at one another with hints of worry. Despite their words, they could all feel that something was not right.
Natsu awoke to the sounds of bugs making noise. "Are we there?" he mumbled. He rose from his seat and saw Juvia still sleeping across from him. Upon looking outside the carriage, Natsu was confused to see nothing but trees. Even the driver was gone. "Is this the village?" he heard people talking and followed the sounds to a nearby bush a few meters away from the carriage. His eyes went wide in shock when he saw the driver accepting a handful of money from large man with dark gray hair and what looked to be a tattoo of a falcon on his shoulder. "What the hell?" Natsu focused so he could listen in on their conversation.
"Another job well done." The large man said.
The driver didn't look too happy despite the praise and large sum of money he just received. "Please, I can't do this anymore. Tricking all of these people and abducting them is just wrong."
"You just do what we say, pal, or your lovely wife and daughter are going to be on the next haul. Got me?" He pushed the driver down and began to laughing.
Natsu clenched his fist. That jerk sold us out. I have to wake Juvia. Natsu ran back to the carriage, but his rustling of the bushes was heard by the two men.
"Looks like one of them is awake." The big man grinned. "That'll make this fun."
The driver looked down to the dirt in shame, picking up the cash that was strewn along the ground. "I'm sorry. Forgive me." he muttered.
Natsu reached the carriage. "Juvia!" he shouted. "Juvia, wake up!"
The rain woman stirred awake. "Natsu? Have we arrived at the village?"
"That driver is working with the bandits! We have to go! Now!"
"What?" Juvia was still tired. "What do you mean-"a violent shaking of the carriage and frantic neighing of the horse forced her completely awake. A giant hand then broke through the top of the carriage, grabbed her by the arm, and pulled her out.
"Juvia!" Natsu looked to the top of the carriage and saw that the man from earlier was standing on top of it. He grinned maliciously at the dragon slayer as he held onto Juvia.
"Let me go!" The rain woman struggled about in the massive man's grip.
"You can't leave yet." he said. "Party's just starting."
As he said this more bandits arrived. There were at least fifteen of them holding various weapons. Some had knives, some had swords, others had staffs. It was rather harrowing situation, but Natsu knew they would all fall the same way no matter how many weapons they had. In all honesty he was excited, he hadn't hit anything all day, and he had plenty of pent up aggression thanks to his non-conversations with Juvia. He turned to face his attackers, his fists igniting as he smirked in anticipation.
"Hold on there, hothead." The large bandit said. "I wouldn't be so hasty to fight if I were you." He placed Juvia's right arm behind her back and held his forearm to her throat, lightly choking her. "You be mean to my friends, and I can't guarantee I'll be very gentlemanly to your girlfriend here." He tightened his grip, choking her even more.
Natsu briefly looked back to the man before refocusing on his friends. He wasn't bothered by his threat at all. "She's not my girlfriend."
Juvia's body began to melt and she loosed herself from her captor's grip, turning into a puddle before him.
"What the hell?!"
Juvia reconstituted herself and drew back her hand.
WATER CLAW
Juvia swung at the large man with a claw made of water, slashing his arm and forcing him from the top of the carriage and down to the ground. She looked down at him. "That will teach you to keep your hands to yourself."
The burly man grinned and looked at the blood that was on his forearm. "Wasn't expecting that."
Natsu fended off his numerous enemies with ease. He dodged the swing of a sword and answered with a punch. He then turned his body, narrowly avoiding a stab from one the knife wielders before countering with and elbow to the face. Jumping in the air to avoid blasts from the magic staff wielders, Natsu gathered flames in his right and left hands.
FIRE DRAGON BRILLIANT FLAME
He threw the massive fireball down to the ground, burning the assembled bandits and sending them flying in all directions. Once Natsu landed back on the ground, he looked around to make sure all of his opponents were down for the count. A bandit that managed to avoid the massive blast rushed him with his sword, but Natsu effortlessly knocked him out with a backfist without even looking at him. "Now to help Juvia." He began to move, but stopped when he noticed a small purple ball roll to his feet. "What is-"
It exploded, unleashing a plume of black gas into the air. Natsu covered his nose and mouth but the foul mist invaded his body before he could protect himself. "What is this stuff?" he coughed.
"Natsu?!" The momentary distraction allowed Juvia's enemy to get the better of her.
"Keep your eye on the prize, girl!" his arm somehow extended and his massive fist collided with Juvia, knocking her off of the carriage and into the mist along with Natsu.
"Juvia!" Natsu called through his coughs. "Are you alright?"
The rain woman struggled to her feet. "Yes. I just…" she then fell to one knee. "My body…what's happening? I can't…turn to water…" Juvia's eyelids slowly fell and soon she had fallen unconscious onto the ground.
"Juvia?!" Natsu reached to her, but fell onto his stomach as well. "What is this stuff?"
"Anti-magic particles." A voice answered.
Mustering what little strength he had left and looked up. Standing over him was a tall man with slicked back black hair and wearing what appeared to be a lab coat. He also wore some sort of mask over his face. Natsu surmised it was blocking the mist from entering his body. "Who…?"
"Well to be more accurate they're pseudo- anti magic particles." He explained to the groggy dragon slayer. "They aren't nearly as potent as the real thing, but still effective enough to keep your magic from being a problem for awhile. Good thing I brought them."
"What took you so long, Doc?" the big man asked. He too was wearing a mask, but his only covered his mouth and nose as opposed to the "Doc" whose mask covered his entire head. "I was starting to think I was going to have handle this on my own."
"Heaven forbid." Doc said with an amused smirk.
"Laugh it up, jerk." The large man bent down and picked up the unconscious Juvia, slinging her over his shoulder. "Up you go."
"Let her…go…" Natsu weakly demanded.
"Oh there's no need to worry about her." Doc said to Natsu. "You're coming as with us well."
Natsu's vision began to blur and his other senses began to fade. He looked to his guildmate one last time. "Juvi…a…" the world then went black.
The sound of slow dripping water roused Natsu to consciousness. Inhaling sharply – filling his nose with a most foul stench - he slowly opened his eyes. "What's going on? Where am I?" As he became more aware of his surroundings Natsu took notice of the wooden door with an iron bar window not too far from his face. He sat up, looking down at the wooden stocks on his wrists, as well as the metal shackles around his ankles. No doubt about it, he was in a prison cell. "Great." He sighed. "Those jerks caught us." Grumbling at his own weakness, Natsu suddenly remembered his partner. "Juvia!" he shouted. "Where is she?" a low moan of pain was the answer to his frantic question. He turned his head and upon seeing the rain woman lying on the ground not far behind him, he sighed in relief. "Hey, Juvia." He called.
She sat up and turned to him, her eyes half-lidded due to exhaustion. "Natsu? What's happened?" She looked around the cell. "Where are we?"
"Looks like a prison cell." Natsu answered. "Those bandits must have brought us here after that gas knocked us out."
Juvia looked at her wrist stocks, and her ankle shackles. "What is this?" She tried to get out of her restraints, but it was no use. "I can't turn to water." She said.
"Yeah, I can't burn my way out either." Natsu stood up and walked to the door. The hallway was empty. "That gas we breathed is blocking our magic, at least that's what that Doc guy said."
"Doc?"
"This jerk in a white coat. He's one of the bandits. He's also the one that used the gas on us. I don't really know if that's his name, I'm just repeating what that big guy called him." Natsu slammed his bound hands against the door in anger, startling Juvia. "That carriage driver sold us out! When we get out of here and beat these jerks, I'm going after him next."
"How do you plan on getting us out?"
"I don't know."
"Of course you don't." Juvia sulked. Oh my beloved Gray. If you were here surely you would have found us a way out.
"Someone's coming." Natsu said. He peered out of the barred window again and saw a portly man walking down the hall. Natsu spotted the keyring on his waist. He deuced that he was the guard for the cells. "Hey! Let us out of here!"
The guard heard Natsu and approached the door, a superior smirk on his lips. "You're finally awake, huh?"
"Who are you people? Why did you kidnap us?" Juvia asked.
"We're just a group of merchants from Bosco." The guard answered with a sneer.
"Bosco?" Natsu had heard that name somewhere before but he couldn't quite place it. Thinking as hard as he could he remembered the first day he met Lucy in Hargeon. When he focused on Bora and his men, his eyes widened in realization. "You guys are slave traders!"
"Slave traders?" Juvia gasped.
"Whoa, words hurt." The guard said facetiously. "I told you we prefer the term merchants."
"You bastard." Natsu snarled. "How many people have you sold?"
"Telling you would be bad business. Now be a good boy and keep quiet." He opened the door quickly, slamming it in Natsu's face and sending him crashing hard to the ground.
"Natsu!" Juvia moved to his side. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah." He groaned, sitting back up. "I'm fine."
The guard locked the door back and laughed again at the dragon slayer's frustration.
"Why are you doing this?" Juvia questioned the guard.
"Because we all have to make a living don't we?" The robust man answered with a cocky smirk. "See you around." He laughed again as he walked away from the cell.
"Wait!" Natsu shouted. He ran back to the door and looked out of the window at the guard. "Get back here! Hey!" the guard ignored him and disappeared down the hall. "Dammit." Natsu sat back on the ground.
"How are we going to get out of here if we can't use our magic?"
Natsu looked at the stone walls of their cell. "I don't know, but I'll think of something."
Juvia - not at all convinced by Natsu's answer - once again thought of Gray. Hoping that he would find a way to come and save them.
The next piece is put into place and I decided to do things a little bit different this time around. Like I said on Cana's chapters, she was the hardest for me to write character-wise. Juvia on the other hand is going to be the hardest for me to write relationship-wise. If you couldn't tell she is still very into Gray at this point and it is going to take some maneuvering to get her to see Natsu in a similar manner. As such, her story is going to be three chapters. This doesn't mean she's more important than the previous three girls, she just needs more time.
I decided to add a little action and suspense to her story as well since I feel it not only fits for how I want her character to shift, but also because the story was sorely lacking in that department up to this point. Yes Natsu and Mirajane fought one another, and Natsu and Cana chased the thief in Crocus but those scenes weren't really all that suspenseful. Exciting and fun (depending on how you chose to view it) but nothing really too unexpected. So I am going to try and add some of that to Juvia's story. I think it all comes together nicely, but you guys will be the final judges of that.
As always leave a comment/review with your thoughts, and thanks for reading! :)
