The guildhall felt more alive than it had for years as the Edolas guild rushed inside and greeted their doppelgangers. There was a look of both amazement and horror written across the master's face as doubles of so many of his beloved brats went up to their otherwise known friends and family, laughing and cheering at the differences and more than a few embarrassments at the behaviour of someone who otherwise seemed so similar. The new Strauss siblings held closely onto their lost sister, Lisanna's eyes wide and filled with tears as she was once again reunited with the friends that she had spent two long years beside. She was overwhelmed, running from sister to brother to comrade to nakama and giving the biggest of hugs, unable to shield her confused happiness. However, not everyone reacted so lovingly to the intruders. Cana threw a drink in her sober reflection, rolling her eyes as the Edolas woman complained loudly at the alcoholic stink. Edo-Lucy and Edo-Levy were fighting so violently that the entire guilds had to step in to stop the pair from tearing each other apart, leaving Earth-Lucy and Levy in despair as they desperately promised each other that they would never ever fight.
"I take it that this is of your doing, Mystogan," the master said under his breath to the familiar heavily cloaked man.
"It has been a long time since anyone has called me that, Master," Mystogan's eyes settled back onto the old man, bowing his head and ignoring the shocked look from Knightwalker as he called the small aging man "Master". He was supposed to be a king, a master to no one, but he would always have respect for the man who had helped him through a dangerous new world. "I promise you that my people will not disturb you for long."
Knightwalker stalked forwards, feeling her cheeks growing hot at the sacrilege. She could not stand to see her king beneath anyone. "Your Majesty, this is our world! It should be them promising us that they'll leave!"
Mystogan's eyes softened as he shook his head. "At first, I believed that this was our world, too," he said, watching as her expression slipped into surprise and he gathered the attention of more of his old guildmates and his new citizens. "There is definitely magic in this world, however, and I believe it is that magic that is changing our perception to believe that this is our world. I can't tell if it's an illusion or something far greater, but something wants us to believe that we are already home."
The words were filled with discomfort, but there was at least some hope within them. "Do you think the others who we couldn't find in the lacrima are still in our world?" Knightwalker asked hesitantly. She had her king here, but neither dragon slayer had been able to find a single one of her own nakama or the rest of the royal army, and she had yet to find even a copy of them within the earthland guild walls. Working alone suited her well and she couldn't even pretend to feel overly concerned, but guarding King Jellal was not a task that she wanted to face alone. If she was perfectly honest with herself, he wasn't someone she wanted to face alone, the very thought bringing a blush to her cheeks that rivalled her jagged hair.
Mystogan could no longer say as he thought. Royalty had robbed him of honesty, but hope was the most powerful weapon that he knew any army could ever wield. "I think that it's possible, but we can't discount for the possibility that there are more lacrima in this world that have not yet been found. We must make sure that we have found every one of them before we can even think about returning home, though I suspect that we may find some of our answers along the way."
"So count me in." Mystogan and Knightwalker turned suddenly, seeing the third dragon slayer walking straight towards them pointing to himself with his thumb, giving a wide and toothy grin. "I can't stand the idea of those kids stealing all the thunder. If there's more of those lacrima to break, then I'm your guy."
Levy peered from behind Gajeel also, nervously waving and trying desperately to ignore the fighting between her other-self and friend. "I want to help as well," she said, stepping forwards and putting her hands together, telling herself that she wasn't just going because Gajeel would be by her side. "I think that I should be able to find some seeking spells to help us find any lost lacrima, or if there is anything more from your world. I've been researching a lot on other worlds recently, you see, and I've learnt of quite a few interesting amulets and spells that might help us locate foreign materials, like these lacrima."
With a new exciting plan in place and the promise of hope, Fairy Tail drank and laughed and fought until the small hours of the morning. The initial confusion faded away into newfound friendships, talking about fond memories and the strangest of contradictions that came from them. No moments of sadness were mentioned ever again, no one dared hold onto any possible grudges that they may have had. While Lucy Ashley insisted on turning up her nose whenever a dragon slayer came to speak to her, she was at least responsible enough to try to enjoy the rest of the night with the others.
"Juvia wishes that she could see two Grays," Juvia said, slipping next to the man of her affections.
Gray hadn't said much during the evening but he had soaked everything in. Nights like this were perfect to see everyone's reactions, the memories adding to his collection as he knew he was one step closer to finally perfecting the part. Not only was he now able to see what he was supposed to be doing, he could see the reactions of what could have potentially been his greatest giveaways. And he truly had been under the impression Lyon was winding him up about the stripping thing. "They said that they hadn't found everyone yet," he answered with a disinterested shrug, trying to work out why Edo-Juvia was rolling her eyes so heavily as she turned away.
"Juvia would be so happy. But Juvia doesn't want Edo-Juvia to steal Gray-sama away!" she said, mostly to herself since Gray clearly wasn't listening. "Would Gray-sama be more interested in Juvia if Juvia dressed like Juvia-san?"
Gray raised an eyebrow. "You realise I can hear you…?" he asked, though he had absolutely no idea what she was saying.
Juvia jumped, looking back at Gray and realising that once again she had been saying her inner musings out loud. A ruby red crossed her cheeks, though this was mostly because she was imagining the possibility of wearing such a revealing outfit. Well, if it made him happy… "Don't worry, Gray-sama. Juvia can will be perfect for you. Juvia 2.0!" she said, diving to hold onto his arm.
"Since when are you a mach-hey, watch it!" he flinched suddenly, feeling a static electricity crackling suddenly as she tried to grab onto his shirt. It had been sudden and so violent that it had been audible, and instinctively he rubbed his arm.
Juvia blinked, suddenly leaning back. The crackle had raced through her fingertips, the warming feeling rushing through her veins in a way that she had never known a simple static shock. It raced up her arms, twisted through her chest and rested against her heart and there it began to fill her with a sudden feeling of emptiness.
Gray frowned, watching in curiosity as something seemed to fade from her eyes as she stared forwards. "Juvia..?" he called to her gently, feeling strangely protective of her. He still struggled to make sense of exactly what the Ice Maker thought of the water witch, but in his own world they had kept as distant as possible, but either way he would never attempt to hurt her. "Are you alright?"
"Juvia… isn't sure…" she admitted, glancing up at him and staring into his deep dark eyes and see her own reflection back in them. "Juvia feels strange. Juvia… Juvia thinks that its late now," she said, slowly slipping back onto her feet.
"Do you need me to take you home?" he offered gently.
She shook her head. She could hear a voice inside of her, screaming 'why would you refuse such an offer from Gray-sama?!' but for the first time since she had first laid eyes on the ice maker she felt that the voice was ridiculous. "Juvia will be fine, thank you Gray-sa..n," she said, her familiar address halting on her lips and turning into a more familiar one. Before he could question further, before she could get the entire guild staring at her in disbelief, she walked into the darkness of Magnolia's streets and made her journey home.
Her steps were slow. Her heart felt heavier with every inch forward. She put out a hand slowly, feeling the tiniest of raindrops dance against her palm. Clutching her fist gently and feeling her element feeding into her skin, the pitter-patter of rain began to fill her ears. She didn't have her umbrella and she was inclined to agree with everyone; the rain was miserable. "Drip… drip… drip…" she breathed with a sigh, remembering how she had so commonly whispered the haunting words when a part of Phantom Lord. In the dark guild, you were expected to be creepy, you were expected to have a heavy heart and you were expected to be miserable. She hadn't felt like this for a long time and there was truly no reason for the sudden break in emotions. It was if a happy spell had suddenly been broken.
The rain soaked into the floorboards of Fairy Hills as she stepped inside. The rooms were all quiet, as she had expected, as she was sure she had seen almost everyone who lived here at the guildhall bonding with Edolas, the few absent no doubt out on a job while the boards were still flooded with new requests. Times were good for Fairy Tail, spirits were high, and she found herself with the smallest of smiles. There was at least one familiar feeling of happiness, she understood, knowing as she closed her eyes and saw the faces of her new nakama she felt warmth inside of her chest. The rain didn't matter if she had her guildmark, she decided, though she still didn't understand why the world just seemed a little dimmer than it had done before.
She opened her room door and for the first time she could see obsession.
She stepped forwards, spinning on the spot as she saw image after image of the man that she loved. It was on pillows, posters, drawings, furniture, plushies. A thousand eyes staring at her that used to fill her with happiness. The happiness she could no longer feel.
She stepped towards her bed, picking up one of the smallest of soft toys. It had been a raindoll, just like the ones that she had made as a child in a desperate attempt to appease whatever deity had cursed her with her rain and with it held all her promises of a sunny day. Except she had turned it into her actual good luck charm, twisted it to resemble the man who had truly freed her from the rain. She remembered the day with softness in her smile, but a burning realisation of embarrassment.
"How could Juvia not have realised that if Juvia was to bring Gray-san home he wouldn't want to see this?" she asked herself as she picked up the nearest bin and began to pull down the nearest of her collection. She didn't understand most of it. She knew that he was handsome and brave and he had chased away her rain, and for that she had idolised him. What she didn't understand was what had changed in just a few short hours.
As she cleaned she mulled over her strange life-choices and when she had first began to realise that things weren't right. It hadn't simply been the last few short hours as she had previously thought. There had been opportunities long before this day where she usually would have rushed to his side, but instead she had kept her distance; she had opted for going to her photoshoot instead of joining Fairy Tail A team in finding the boys, she had felt strange around him, she had watched from afar. And as she remembered looking into his eyes after the static shock, she realised it had felt as if she was looking into the eyes of a stranger. Albeit, a stranger with the body of a god. Because even though she had a sour taste in her mouth now as she thought back to her obsession and the hauntingly Gray room, she knew that it was perfectly reasonable for her to like him in other ways. She knew that he had always been a good friend to her, a kind soul, and even without the strange infatuation his eyes still made her feel like melting.
She jumped as a sudden thunder boomed across the land outside, a crackling hiss of rain as it beat heavily down. She dropped her bin, rushing out to the window and looking out to the rivers of rain that were pouring down into hills and valleys, amazed at the dark skies above. "Has Juvia done all this…?" she questioned to herself, wondering why her magic would have had such a violent reaction. She still felt happy and what was more she actually felt more loved than ever. Now that the fog of hopelessness had been lifted she was finally able to see her friends and appreciate each one of them and the mutual bonds that they shared instead of dwelling on the one person who refused to see her the way she wanted him to. She felt as if her skies should be clear, that the sun should still beam down on the earth. She was certain of it.
But her rain hated the Fire Maker.
OK, I should explain a little...
This story very much suggests that people are largely influenced by the magical elements that they use. If Maker magic influences people considerably, it makes sense that someone like Juvia who can literally turn her body into her element would have an even stronger reaction when against her elemental opposite (fire vs water). We already know she clearly has a thing for Ice Makers *yes, both*. I generally like the idea that while Juvia clearly idolises Gray, its actually her magic that is attracted to his, and this makes her a little... strange.
And just to add to this... an observation. Juvia does not interact with Natsu.
Let that sink in for a moment. Everyone knows that Natsu is pretty much the life and soul of Fairy Tail. Even if people spend half their time scolding him or fighting him, he's generally a very well loved guy. Which is why its so strange that Juvia, one of the most popular non-Team Natsu characters, has absolutely no interaction with him, no friendship, nothing. I don't doubt they're still comrades, but I have never seen these two so much as look at each other.
So, this is my weird chapter. I'm kind of interested to see if you agree/disagree with my theory? And if you don't like it, its not as if this storyline is following canon anyway (sort of) haha
Oh and I almost forgot to mention! OWOZ now has over 1000 views and has officially beaten my record for most reviews on a single story! Wow guys! You rock! (especially for a sequel haha! Thanks if you're still here and putting up with my constant rambling!)