Author's Note: I appreciate the responses to the most recent chapter! I'm glad my intention of the intensity of the situation is coming across. Prepare yourself! We are just getting into the thick of things.
Seas of Change
Chapter 10: White Devil
"How does the ledger look?" Gray leaned against the dock, handing the book of estimated repairs and the payment made by Natsu to Levy.
The man across him kept a smug appearance on his face, hand wringing together. Gray wasn't sure if it was because he had handed the charges to someone everyone in Torenju knew could sniff out their bullshit, or because of the way Gajeel snarled anytime the man so much as looked at Levy. He stood behind her like a steel sentinel, ready to pounce. Levy adjusted the hyper-reading glasses she wore, skimming the information in a short amount of time before she closed the book.
She handed the record back to Gray. "Looks to be in order, if they had actually done any work up until this point."
"Why you-" the man sputtered and moved to swipe the document from her; Gajeel's hand about his wrist stopped him instantly. "Of all the—"
Gray took the book, flipped through the charges, then glanced toward his ship. "I would appear the Frozen Banshee is entitled to some weaponry upgrades for charges like these."
"I don't see a Master Gunner here to work on the selections." The contractor stated, feeling smug.
"That's me." Gajeel answered with a smirk, twisting the man's wrist by way of threat. "And I know exactly what we want."
"Gajeel…" Levy warned under her breath, crossing her own arms.
He let the man go, and turned to Gray. "I think I'll stick around with this lot for a while, make sure the ship is up to expectation without any more cost."
Gray's lips upturned slightly as he bowed his head, pushing off the dock rail and turning away from the contractor with Levy beside him. He waved off to Gajeel. "It's in your hands. Make it worth your time."
It was only a few moments later as they left the dock and turned onto the dingy harbor boardwalk that Levy caught up and began walking at his side. He could sense the disapproval in her actions as she placed her glasses away and gave once last look back to the brute of his crew. It had always been strange to Gray the connection the soft spoken, logical Levy had with a hard head like Gajeel.
"He doesn't always have to do everything with force…"
"He enjoys it."
She huffed. "A perfect trait for a pirate."
"We only hang on in a world this rough by having something we are especially good at. What have you uncovered?"
Levy slowed a bit, calculating the safety of the conversation and how cryptic she should be. They were out in the open with pirates of all sort tumbling their way back and forth form meeting shops, brothels, weaponsmiths and taverns. The sun had yet to hit its high point in the sky.
"There have been a few men poking around our ship. They know where you are keeping her, but I don't think anyone know what she looks like." Levy answered finally, motioning with her hand for Gray to key his eyes on the east side of the pier.
He directed them right, twisting through a familiar alleyway and off the main street.
"Cobra spared no time sharing about her. Although Captain Gray… why exactly are they so concerned with her?" she mouthed Juvia's name, but refused to speak it aloud. The look in her eye was calculating as she monitored his face.
He chose not to respond. Levy nodded.
"Lyon is in town, though I haven't been able to pinpoint exactly where he is staying." She continued, stepping over the legs of a man sticking out from trashed box as he snored his drunkenness away.
Gray shook his head. "You don't need to. We can use Ultear for that. I just need to reach out to her."
There was not a moment that someone did not sit guard outside her door. Juvia could hear them switch shifts, had calculated the timing and learned who was there for each. Lucy spent the morning hours with Juvia, entering the room to bring her a meal and offer company. The afternoon was spent with a visit from Erza or Levy, with a guard outside the door that preferred not to speak to her. At night was Cana, who spent most of her time outside the door drinking but would join Juvia for dinner and tell her all sorts of stories that Juvia was sure she didn't need to hear. It had been this way for days, and Juvia had come to the conclusion that if she were to escape, there was only one way.
Cana.
The woman was friendly enough, with a no-nonsense type of attitude. She obviously allowed herself to enjoy all sorts of revelry, and was not ashamed of the fact her father Gildarts was one of the most notorious rakes this side of the Fiore Sea. He was a good man she said, just with a broken moral compass that kept him from committing to anything other than doting lavishly on his daughter to the point it sickened her. Cana knew a lot about everyone in Torenju and shared with Juvia the gossip she said she could not share with the other women of the ship.
Juvia learned the names of the safest places in the city.
She learned the names of the people who would supply her with weapons, fare, and could smuggle her out of Torenju and off to Crocus.
She heard of the seemingly illict relationship between Erza and Jellal that both thought no one knew about but everybody knew about and laughed about behind their back.
She learned of pirates who were independent of alliances, groups like the Raijinshuu who were more questionable than Gray with their motives and could fit into any mold they were placed in. She learned that Natsu and Lucy had been childhood friends and Cana was positive there was more there but Lucy denied it. Juvia heard the stories of Gajeel and Levy. She heard about Loke and how he once tried to hook Cana up with the Copper Barnacle's bartender Bacchus.
At this point, Juvia knew the bra sizes of every woman aboard the Titania, their preferred methods of attack and what frightened them most.
There was a part of Juvia that wondered why Cana would bother to share so much with someone she barely knew. The amount Cana would drink had to be a part of it; it seemed to turn off any filter she would have had. However, what she had learned of Cana was how fiercely protective she was of the people she loved and how selfish she could be when it came to her own desires. She was a complicated woman, but just the type of person at the time of day that Juvia needed.
"So tell me, Juvia-chan…" Cana poured herself another glass of wine, and dashed it with a shot of rum. "… what exactly is it that is going on between yourself and that infamous Captain Gray?"
The way Cana watched her over her glass reminded Juvia of a cat stalking it's prey. In this case, her prey was the knowledge of whatever she suspected was going on between Juvia and Gray.
"We are enemies." Juvia kept her response curt and short.
"Oh?"
"He attacked a ship Juvia was travelling on, and took her hostage. For whatever purpose Juvia does not know."
Cana's index finger pressed along the rim of her glass as she watched Juvia intently. "Has he… defiled you in any way?"
"Juvia would rather die!" she could feel the heat rising to her cheeks at the thought.
The woman across the table laughed and tossed the rest of her drink down before reaching for another. Cana offered the jug of wine to Juvia, who turned it down with a bristling shake of her head. She could feel her frustration rising as Cana seemed to have detected the confusing emotions inside her when it came to Gray.
"Don't kid yourself. He is a handsome man, and I've heard quite the lavish lover as well. Anyone who denied they would go for a tryst with him would be lying." Cana took a deep sip of her drink.
"What does that have to do with Juvia?"
"Nothing I guess, but isn't it interesting? A man as cold as him… making women feel like their bodies are on fire."
Juvia's mood soured quickly, a mixture of anger and jealousy welling up within her. "It sounds as if you feel like you're missing out."
"I'm not picky, but he isn't one I would touch." She finished the glass, and turned to drinking directly from the jug instead. "He's dangerous."
"Can Juvia borrow one?"
Cana stopped mid-drink, pulling the jug from her lips with a quizzical expression. "Borrow what?"
"Your hair pins. Juvia has a stray strand…" she pulled on the strand in the center of her face.
Juvia watched with some hesitance as Cana put the drink away and pulled a few pins from her hair to hand to her. She moved with slowed motions and deterred dexterity that showed the amount of drink she had consumed. Cana handed the pins to her, and Juvia quickly pinned back the hair she had mentioned while Cana adjusted her clothing and stood with the jug of wine.
"Thank you."
"Don't mention it." Cana waved off the compliment and pulled a deck of cards from her back pocket. "Let me tell your fortune instead."
Juvia glanced over the deck of cards as Cana shuffled them in one hand, taking another swig of the wine that was slowly beginning to make her stumble a bit as she stood atop the table to sit with her legs crossed and spread the deck flat. The cards were face up, then face down, then face up once more before Cana drew them all together and split them into piles, flipping them over again.
"Pick a card form each stack and hand them back to me."
Cana set her chin in her palm, elbow on her knee. Juvia could judge form her posture that the effects of the drink were beginning to work their way through her body. She reached forward delicately to pull the cards from each pile as Cana had dictated, handing them back to her in a straight line one by one until 6 were lain face down on the table. Cana took another drink of the jug before she reached for them and arranged them in a circle before her.
"The card closest to you represents the past. The card closest to me represents the future. The four cards to either side are love, life, family and dreams." She flipped the card closest to Juvia. "We'll start in the past."
It was two hours before midnight, Juvia pulled the hair pins she had borrowed and began picking the lock. Gajeel had shown her a few tips on how to trick locking mechanism on the Frozen Banshee, for no real reason other than he had accidently locked them on the gunner deck once. Her hands were slowly and studious, feeling for the changes in the lock and adjusting the tilt to trip each safety net that kept the door sealed.
She twisted the handle once, twice. The door stuck.
Juvia turned the hair pin, and the telltale click of an unlocked door came in response.
Adrenaline pumped as she waited for Cana's response to the noise from the other side of the door. Juvia's body shook as she eased the door open, waiting for it to be slammed shut or stopped by the woman who was meant to guard it. Instead Cana slept soundly, half a bottle of rum hanging in her grasp where she leaned on the wall. Exactly as Juvia had planned.
Now the predictable parts of her escape were conquered, Juvia eased her way along the ships interior and toward the main deck with renewed caution. She could monitor and figure out who would be outside her door at what hour, but the rest of the ship was a guessing game she would have to make up as she went. Juvia knew better than to believe Erza would leave her ship guarded by one person who was dedicated to sitting outside her door.
The main deck was nearly deserted when Juvia made it out of the cabins and strongholds. Two crew members lounged in the crow's nest high above the blood red masts, another set finished scrubbing the furthest corner of the deck. None of them were people Juvia recognized, and in the darkness she had to wonder if they would have known her to be someone who should not be leaving the ship. All moonlight was sheltered by clouds and the city's glow cast in the direction opposite of where she stood.
Blood pounded in Juvia's ears as she edged her way along the edges of the ship, diving behind crates and piles of rope and supplies. Each motion brought her closer to the end of the deck, far from the ramp that led to the dock. That would put her in plain sight and she had decided earlier on that she would need to find another way down that kept her shrouded in the darkness provided by the cloud cover and out of sight of the Titania's crew.
Gathering rope in her hands, Juvia took her last sprint to the railing and tossed it overboard.
Her fingers stiffened as she moved to lift herself over and take first hold of the rope. She could easily be sending herself falling; she hadn't the chance to see if the rope she chose was attached to the ship in any firm way that would support her weight. The crew would be turning soon and she needed to be below the rail and off the deck before they caught sight of her. Perhaps she would fall straight to her death—perhaps they would capture her again, her body broken from the fall.
Juvia took a deep breath. Anything was better than doing nothing; if she didn't work for her freedom now, she may never have it. She would have to spend more time with the insufferably handsome Captain Gray—the captain who had kissed her, and yet garnered the attention of Lucy, the affections of Erza—a man who had no use or want for her.
Anger bubbling within her once more, Juvia took hold of the rope and allowed herself to scale the ship's hull. It took all of her concentration and effort not to lose her footing or grip; Juvia kept her eyes on where the rope rubbed against the ship, swinging along with her movements, until her feet hit the wooden planks of the deck.
One foot, and then two. Juvia let go of the rope, and then ran into the city.
"Quite the gentleman you are." Erza smiled, arms crossed. "My crew doesn't need an escort."
Gray huffed. "I have other reasons for bringing Levy back."
She waved of his strained attempt at bravado, circling her desk to meet him on the opposite side. "We've received word from the Christina, and Demon Soul has docked. Balam won't try anything right now; we have too many allies in one place."
"They'll find a way to tip the scales."
"The only thing they are trying to do is place you in a position to leave our rank." Erza answered coolly. "Otherwise they would not be using Lyon to play you."
"Lyon can take care of himself. He's not the one who's in danger."
Silence filtered between them, Gray's eyes focused directly to the floor. He could feel Erza watching him with an expression that read everything he was trying to decipher for himself. She set a hand on his shoulder and squeezed lightly.
"I won't assume why she is so important. You can tell us all when you're ready." Her voice was soft, the teasing tone from earlier gone.
What was there to tell? Gray wasn't sure he knew what made her so important. Juvia was a unique handful that he had struggled to balance and realized he never could. She was powerful with her words and sensitive in a way he couldn't quite grasp, enticing with her beauty. She was everything she didn't appear to be, and somehow despite their different worlds there was an attachment he felt that he couldn't describe. She should have been nothing more than a prisoner and yet he was taking every measure possible to keep her safe.
Cobra seemed to think she meant something; the way the Balam were sniffing around to learn more about her told him that much.
He just wasn't willing to admit it to himself.
"Come on." Erza snapped the door to her office open with a loud crack; Gray felt as if he should have been standing at attention. "Let's go check on her."
She left without giving him a chance to refuse, door remaining open as a way to beckon him to follow. Gray pressed his fingers against the bridge of his nose and followed as expected. He had been able to keep his cool the last few days and remain aloft because he had not seen her, but he couldn't deny there was something in him that wanted to. It was a longing, much like his desire to go back to sea after spending an extending period of time on land, which he had tried to ignore.
Sometimes it worried him how easily Erza could read him.
They continued into the lower decks of the Titania, weaving through the halls that Erza had fashioned. Hers was the most cruise-like pirate ship Gray had ever seen; for as functional and practical as Erza could be, she did have a hand for the frivolous and it showed in the modifications she had made to her ship. They wound through the floors and levels until finally getting to the floor in which Juvia was being held.
"Cana!" Erza's voice held surprise and concern.
Gray's could see ahead of himself the door—the one that should have been shut—was wide open with Cana passed out drunk beside it. He did not wait for Erza to push forward and instead pushed past her himself to check the room. The same pounding in his chest that occurred only a few nights before during his standoff with Cobra echoed throughout his body. She wasn't in the corners, she was not at the bed, she was not behind the door waiting to ambush them.
Juvia was gone.
There were no signs of a struggle; the door had not been blasted in, and Cana was not the worse for wear. Whatever solace he should have taken at knowing no one had come for Juvia was lost to the fact she was probably somewhere in the city surrounded by people who would do her any kind of harm to undermine him. She had led herself directly into their trap.
"Dammit!" Gray's fist landed on the door frame, a snarl about his lips.
Damn her. Damn her and the fact that he cared, and that fact that it mattered. Dammit, dammit, dammit.
Everyone was eyeing her. Juvia kept her eyes focused on the pathway in front of her and her search for the familiar names of pubs and taverns that Cana had listed off and Juvia had figured she could trust to get her out of Torenju. It was slowly beginning to dawn on her that those who would work with Cana and Erza or Gray may not be as welcoming to a stranger such as herself. What did she know about bargaining with pirates?
Mud slopped on the pristine hem of Erza's gown, and Juvia could feel the instinctive guilt of ruining something that did not belong to her. It took her a moment to remember that at this moment, that was the least of her concerns. Paranoia built up in the back of her mind as she wound through the streets, too cautious to ask for directions and too smart to stop.
They knew she wasn't from her. She didn't have the air of a pirate or destitute appearance of the prostitutes she passed. She walked with the awkward gait of someone who was unaccustomed to sea-to-land transitions after months on the ocean, held her skirts high enough to be considered a lady but not a lady of this port.
"Doll… not often we see someone like you 'round here."
Juvia kept walking.
"Hey! I'm talking to you."
Her hand swiped along her leg where she had stored her knife from dinner; it was the only weapon she had brought along with her.
"That's no way to treat someone who's payin' ya a compliment." A hand took hold of her wrist, pulling her backward. Juvia lost her footing. "I just wanted to talk to a pretty lady and—"
"That's enough."
Juvia regained her footing, knife in hand, turned and poised to attack, when the hand holding her released. Another man with silver hair held tight to the arm of the person who had assaulted her, a calm yet demanding expression in his eyes. He said nothing but stared the man down until he backed away. The man let go of the other man's arm, and Juvia could feel the chill that his expression gave off. It was a threat without need for explanation.
Soon enough the other man understood the silver-haired man's intent, spat on the ground and walked away.
"Are you alright?" he asked, his voice softer and expression lightening as he turned toward her.
He was handsome, in a way that reminded her of Gray but yet completely different. His movements held a ferocity and gentleness that contradicted one another and yet she found herself falling at ease. "Yes. Juvia thanks you."
"Juvia?" he asked. "You are definitely not from here, are you?"
She shook her head. "I'm trying to get back to Crocus."
He offered her his hand. "That's a long journey, but I couldn't bear to let a lady walk around Torenju in search of something like that alone. I think I may be able to help you."
Juvia gaged his motions, watched for any sign of threat in his face; there was none. He seemed just as distant to her as she was being toward him. Yet, he had jumped in to assist her and the other pirate had left without so much as a scuffle. How many others would try a similar thing? How long could she fight them off on her own?
"How can Juvia trust you?"
He smiled and lowered his hand. "You are as wise as you are pretty. No one in Torenju is completely trustworthy, but I mean you no harm. We can speak more over a meal."
"Juvia doesn't even know your name."
"Nor did I know yours when I came to your aid." He countered. "At least do me the honor of dinner, and you can decide then if you still wish to know who I am and accept my assistance."
She hesitated, but this man was her best chance at the moment to get out of Torenju before a member of the Frozen Banshee or the Titania found her wandering the streets of their pirate city. It would be safer to travel with a companion. He had not yet done anything forceful.
"It is a bit late for dinner, but Juvia will go with you."
He smiled and motioned behind her. "There is a nice tavern just around the corner called Calypso, we can eat there."
"And who is Juvia eating with?" she pressed the question once more.
"My name is Lyon."