Juvia sat curled up against the wall. Moments before, Westly had left the dungeon. She had no way of knowing how much time had passed, but she guessed maybe about ten minutes. She was suppossed to have met her beloved Gray-sama a while ago... surely he would notice something was awry? Frustrated and aching, she buried her face in her hands. If only there was a way to communicate with Gray-sama through her mind. But that was impossible. The only one who was able to do that was Warren back at the guild.
"Miss... are you ok?" the girl from before asked from somewhere in the darkness.
"Yes... how long has Westly kept you here?" Juvia asked.
"There are two of us here that have been held captive for at least a month. And now you and the other girl" the unknown voice said hoarsely.
"What does Westly and his sister do here?" Juvia asked, crawling her way towards the cell's bars.
"They rob us of our youth and energy" the voice said, coughing.
"Juvia doesn't understand" the water mage said
"You heard him... Saori saps people of their magic power and youth. She keeps it for herself and shares it with her brother. She's more dangerous than Westly" the girl answered.
Juvia remained silent. She hoped Gray-sama wasn't hurt. If he was, it was her fault. It was her fault for agreeing to attend this party and it was her fault for following Westly down to the dungeon. The minutes passed by in silence. Then Juvia heard voices. She was sure she could hear an arguement. She strained to listen.
"I don't know ok? He just left. He disappeared and nobody knows where he went. His room is empty. So is that blue haired bitch's room" Saori was saying.
"How the fuck could you lose him? I practically gave hin to you in a silver platter" Westly snapped at his sister. The voices were coming closer.
"Well, he's sneaky, ok? And my charms didn't work. He just didn't find me attractive" Saori huffed. The dungeon became lit by the light given off of the latern Saori carried. "Where is she?" Saori demanded.
"At the second to the last cell" Westly answered. "But don't be so hard on her... I really want her" he added. Juvia felt sick to her stomach. Saori came into view, standing infront of the cell.
"You stupid girl. Where did Gray-kun go?" she asked of the water mage. Juvia glared at her.
"Juvia will never tell you where Gray-sama went!" the bluenette snapped. Nevermind that she didn't even know where he was. Saori stepped into the cell with Juvia and grabbed her by the hair, pushing her head down so that Juvia was bent low, close to Saori's knees. The dark haired girl raised her knee, connecting hard with the water mage's mouth and nose. Immediately blood gushed out of her nostrils. Juvia struggled to get free but Saori did a sort of turning kick, surprisingly limber even while wearing her heavy dress. Juvia was knocked back against the wall, hitting her head on the stone.
"Lets get out of here. We need to find that ice mage before he ruins everything" Westly said. Saori fixed her dress and the siblings left the dungeon. Juvia slid down against the wall, holding her aching head. Where was Gray-sama? Gifted as she was with her Water Magic, she wasn't skilled in hand to hand combat. Her head pounding, Juvia tried again to use her magic to no avail. Once more, she heard footsteps coming down the stone steps. She stood up and prepared herself better by assuming a defensive stance.
"Juvia?!" he called out. Juvia sagged with relief.
"Gray-sama! Over here!" she said, rushing towards the cell's door and gripping the iron bars. She heard his running footsteps.
"What the hell happened?" Gray-sama asked, rattling the bars.
"Juvia is sorry! Juvia followed Westly and got herself caught. These cells have magic-cancelling properties so Juvia could not escape! And Westly uses Chain Magic" Juvia babbled, wanting to relay as much important information as possible.
"Let's get you out of here first" Gray said. "Stand back". He froze the iron bars to the breaking point, kicking them in and shattering them to pieces. The dungeon was momentarily illuminated by Gray's magic and Juvia ran to him, throwing herself against his chest and wrapping her arms around his neck. He stiffened for a moment before relaxing and wrapping his arms around her waist. After a few seconds, he gently disengaged himself from her.
"How many are here?" he asked, wiping Juvia's blood off with his sleeve.
"Four of us in total" Juvia replied.
"Get behind me... I'm going to freeze everything... everyone else here, stand back from the cell doors" Gray-sama said. In an instant, he used his Ice Make magic to freeze the floor and everything else. Again, his magic illuminated the dungeon so they were able to free the other girls quickly. Two of them, the ones that had been trapped for a month, needed help. They were too weak to walk on their own. Juvia helped shoulder one, and Gray helped the other. The five of them left the dungeon as quickly as they could.
"Thank you" the blond one rasped as they reached the top of the steps.
"We need to get them out of here" Gray said. Juvia nodded.
"Juvia will take them" she said, turning to the brunette. "Will you help me?"
The girl was weeping softly, but nodded and helped Juvia take the girls out into the hallway. She didn't want to leave Gray-sama alone, but she knew he would be ok. As they were making their way down the hallway, the maid that had helped Juvia before appeared. She gasped and dropped the tray full of plates from the party.
"Oh my goodness! Marin!" she cried, rushing to where the captives stood. She flung her arms around the blond's thin shoulders. "How? When did you escape?!" she asked the girl.
"It was Juvia-sama. She found us all and she and Gray-sama let us free" the brunette answered instead because the blond was coughing hard. The maid hugged the blond and began to sob.
"Thank you! Thank you so much! She's my sister, she's been missing for over a month. The last time she was seen, she had been out on a date with Westly-san. I knew she had to be here. Nobody dares question the Red Rose family though. They are the wealthiest here, and so hold all the power. I came to work here a little over three weeks ago to try and find out what had happened to my sister" the maid explained between sobs.
"What is your name?" Juva asked the maid, placing a hand on her shoulder.
"Yuzuriha" the maid replied, looking up at Juvia and wiping her eyes.
"Yuzuriha-chan... you must take these girls to safety. Take them to your room if you can. Juvia has to get back to Gray-sama. Can you do that?" the rain woman asked gently. Yuzuriha nodded and stood, helping her sister. The four girls left and Juvia was free to go help Gray-sama. She ran back to where she had left him, but he wasn't there. Juvia looked frantically for him until she heard a loud crash. She was sure it was her ice mage, so she followed the sound which led her to the ball room. People were filing out quick, taking no notice of the bluenette. Inside the room, however, a crowd had gathered and they were murmuring amongst themselves. Juvia stood on tip toes and peeked through the crowd of people. In the middle was Gray-sama who had Westly by the lapels of his shirt. Westly had a bloody nose and was gasping for breath.
"Tell them all how you're a piece of shit. Tell them about your dungeon and what you do there!" Gray-sama snarled.
"I don't know what you're talking about!" Westly sputtered.
"Bullshit! Tell them how you kidnap young girls and lock them in the dungeon!" the ice mage raged, tightening his grip on Westly. There was a collective gasp from the guests. Then Saori was next to Gray-sama and she places her bejeweled hand upon his shoulder.
"That's enough, Gray-kun" she murmured. In that moment, Gray-sama cried out in pain and released Westly. The ice mage fell to his knees as Saori sucked the magic right out of him.
"GRAY-SAMA!" Juvia cried at the top of her lungs. She could endure being beaten and hurt herself, but she would never let anyone hurt her Gray-sama. Turning to water, she rushed at Saori at full speed.
A/N: Hey guys! Hope you enjoy this chapter. Please review and leave me your thoughts! See you soon! xoxo