It was dark and cold when Juvia woke up. She opened her eyes to find herself on the floor in a pitch-black room. Sitting up, she felt bars around her and realized she was in a cage.
"Gray!" she shouted, clutching the bars. The last thing she could remember was falling asleep in Gray's bed, wrapped in his arms after a wonderful night in Hargeon. How did she end up in a place like this? "Is Gray there?"
A light flickered on, and after adjusting to the sudden brightness, Juvia saw that she was in a small tent about twelve feet in diameter. Standing at the flap of the tent, was Makarov. "So, you can speak," he said gloomily. "You know, when you and Gajeel left," he continued, walking toward her, "I wasn't sad because I had lost two of my best freaks. I wasn't sad because it was no longer raining on the Wet Carnival. I was sad because while I can be strict, I'd always wanted Carnival Umidus to be like a family. I wanted everyone here to be close to each other and rely on each other. So, you can imagine, how much of a failure I felt like when two of the children decided to leave the family."
Juvia wouldn't look at him. Family? If he wanted Umidus to be like a family, he had certainly failed. Was it just her lack of domestic experience or did families normally not keep the children locked up?
"You don't have anything to say?"
Juvia still stared at the ground, too disgusted by the fact that even after she got out, he'd still trap her here again. Some family man.
"Look, Rain Woman, I know you can talk now, so I know you're just being grouchy. You'll have to communicate sooner of later, you know."
When Juvia still wouldn't give him any kind of reaction, he sighed and left the tent, leaving her with only the sound of the rain pounding overhead and her thoughts.
It was only a few minutes later that she began to cry. Juvia wept fat salty tears that left dark spots on her shirt. She looked down, and it occurred to her that if she never sees Gray again, the clothes on her back would be all she had left of him. Of course, this made her sob even harder. The rain thundered down in torrent, beating the tent with dangerous force.
But what did Juvia care? Let the rain fall as hard as it wants, as hard as she involuntarily makes it. Let it destroy that wretched carnival. The blue-haired girl found as comfortable a position as she could, lying on the floor of her cage, and she unleashed a waterfall of tears. How dare they steal her away from her Gray, how dare they?
One of the support rods of the tent snapped close to the top and fell, dragging the fabric down with it and tearing a two foot-long gash.
Rain flooded in through the gash, pushing it slowly larger. It clattered on the roof of her cage, roaring like a lion who'd fallen into a ditch and been left by its pride.
Help me out! it seemed to cry. Come help me, please!
But no one came to let Juvia out of the cage. The Carnival staff simply endured the rain and its damages, intending to wait out her sorrow. No one came to help her.
Uncomfortably dry as he stood outside Lyon and Gajeel's apartment building, Gray rang the doorbell that read "Gajeel Redfox." He'd been here a few times before to speak with Lyon about things, but now, he had to talk to the Iron Dragon.
In his hand, he held the letter he'd found on his desk. The one supposedly written by Juvia as a goodbye. He'd read it over a hundred times, and each time, he felt more and more like there was something wrong with it.
"Gray?" Gajeel wondered when he answered the door. "What're you doing here?"
"Juvia's gone," he said. "I found this letter, but I don't think she wrote it. I think Umidus kidnapped her."
Gajeel glanced at the letter and sighed. "So, what do you want me to do about it?"
"Okay, now, I'm not trying to make any accusations here, but I do find it a little bit odd that she disappeared the night after she sees you, a fellow carnival person, again. I was just wondering, did anyone still with the carnival try to get information from you? Did you give it to them?"
"Hey, buddy, I'm the one who helped Juvia out of that place. I'm not about to drag her back to it," Gajeel snapped. "Someone from Umidus did come here last night. They said they'd been watching me and had seen you and Juvia. They wanted to know some weird shit about her like how she talked, what her real name was, etc. I said she didn't talk, even on the outside, but they'd seen her, so that was out. They just couldn't hear what exactly she or any of us were saying, so they wanted to know if she had any odd speaking habits. I said no. I also told them that I didn't know her name. She'd never told anyone, even you."
Gray was stunned. Gajeel'd really tried to protect Juvia. Looking back at the letter, he was positive it was from Umidus to cover up the kidnapping. They'd wanted to know if she talked in any particular way: third person. Ever since that first night at her trailer, she'd always communicated in the third person. And her name: the letter was signed "Your Rain Woman." Since Gajeel'd told them she never disclosed her real name, they must've assumed she went by her stage name.
On top of that, Gray thought back to those first couple nights when he snuck out to meet her and she'd communicate through note. The handwriting of the letter was very close to hers, but in the little details—the loops on her y's, the dots of her i's, the swooshes of her s's—he could see that it was fake.
Seeing the look of realization on Gray's face, Gajeel felt really bad. Not that he'd even done anything to feel bad for, just bad as in he's stuck out here with Gray, who is really upset, when he really should be upstairs in his apartment getting ready for a date he may or may not have planned for later that night with someone who may or may not have called him on his cell, which only one person besides Lyon may or may not know the number of.
"Hey, Gray," he said, "I'm really sorry about all this, but I do have some stuff I have to take care of, so…"
"Oh, no, right. It's okay, I just came by to see what you knew. I'll leave now."
Gray turned to start walking back to the train station, but Gajeel stopped him.
"Wait, Gray! Um, Umidus invited me back. They said that if I didn't want to stay with them I didn't have to, but they did mention that their location after Onibus would be Oshibana, right next to the canyon. I think that rescuing her their, especially if they've just arrived and people are distracted, you'll have a better chance of success."
Gray smiled. "Thanks, Gajeel."
Gray got off the train in Magnolia and walked back to his apartment with purpose. Now, he knew exactly where he could find Juvia and he had a plan already forming in his mind.
He'd take Gajeel's advice and wait for the carnival to move to Oshibana. Within the next couple days, he did want to go the town so he could wait for them to arrive and really strike while the iron was hot. He could take what time he needed off of work. and if that was a problem, he didn't care, it was a crappy job to begin with.
Sitting at a bus stop near his building, he saw Jet and Droy, who didn't look to happy.
"Hey, guys."
"Hey, Gray," Jet responded. Droy nodded.
"What's got you two looking so gloomy?"
Droy sighed. Jet told Gray, "Well, you see, we sort of felt like getting out of the house and taking our minds off Levy."
"Why would you need to do that? She's in Hargeon, isn't she? Is she okay?"
"Oh, she's perfectly fine," Droy said, his words drenched in sarcasm. "She just called us earlier for some dating tips."
"Ouch," Gray winced.
Jet nodded. "Ouch indeed. See, she's got a date with that Iron Dragon guy from Carnival Umidus. I guess he quit and lives in Hargeon now."
"How convenient," Droy added.
The two of them just sat there on the bench, looking put out and disappointed, so Gray gave them each some parting words of encouragement and continued to his apartment. He thought Jet and Droy were great guys, but personally, he did think Gajeel and Levy made a cute couple.
A/N: Sorry if this a little short, but you know. It was a bit rushed, since I won't be with my computer for a while, and I wanted to update before that. the next chapter will be longer and better plot-wise, I promise.
And oh my gosh, you readers are just too smart! Figuring out the letter thing before I even wrote it. :)