*insert kappa face*

edited 1/12/2017


~Lyrics are from 9 Crimes by Damien Rice x Lisa Hannigan


/

leave me out with the waste
this is not what i do

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A BRIGHT LIGHT SHINES ON HER FACE, SCARES AWAY THE GAPING MAWS OF DEATH AND BLOOD.

She squeezes her eyes closed further still, not yet ready to face the harsh reality of her existence. There is still so much to do, so much to save, so many words yet to say. The slick ground beneath her is near freezing and it almost feels like an embrace to her feverish mind. Of course, she knows it isn't Gray-sama—

Gray-sama is lost.

It is that thought that sends her scrambling onto weary feet. She stumbles the first time, falls the second and barely manages to pull herself upright on the third. She knows she is crazed and acting purely on instinct. But she cannot help herself—

kings never die, after all.

Jose may be gone but his plans are still set in motion. Gray's life is still as much at stake as it was when that bastard was alive. She must find him because he is out there somewhere, waiting upon orders that will never come, and relying on an army that fled long ago.

As frantic as she is, she is not unaware of the murmuring voices some metres away from where she scrambles to stand. Gajeel's voice is there, as is the rest of Element Four. But there is a stranger, whom she cannot place.

"The Seven Kin of Purgatory is on the island as we speak, searching the area for Zeref. Hades and Bluenote are somewhere in their airship surveying the area for any unwanted guests — word is that the Allied Forces intend to send a squad down to obtain Zeref and Hades."

"I thought I told those old bastards to stay out of it?"

Gajeel's irritated voice fills the small area and Juvia is forced from her thoughts by the sheer volume of it. She doesn't need to open her eyes to see him glaring at his clenched fists, heavily booted foot tapping against the ground irritably. It is another reminder that she needs to get up because there are people that need her—

(and an unwanted reality she has to face).

"When have the Allied-fucking-Forces ever stayed out of our business? You were so stupid, taking on that job from Makarov. Now he, and his little Council fuckbuddies, know too much."

Totomaru's low growl.

"Jose miscalculated by assuming the entire Alliance would convene on the one island to chase a rumour. Tartaros certainly wouldn't get involved in such business, and are smart enough to calculate for a betrayal within the community that they control — which is the only solid fact we have in all this."

The nameless man.

"And what word do we have from Oración Seis?"

Aria.

"They have no intention, or desire, to involve themselves with matters regarding the Alliance. Midnight himself informed me that the bargain they struck was a truce between those under the Alliance, not a contract binding them to service."

"So at least we have two damn things we can trust to not go wrong."

Totomaru again.

"We need to move out. Sol and Totomaru, I need you two to try and locate Hades' airship, see if you can pass on this information and recount the events that led up to this. They need to know that we're not the enemy. Gajeel, you and the Rain Woman will be accompanying me."

Aria's carefully controlled voice.

"And I'll make my way back to the mainland, then. I cannot guarantee it, but I might be able to delay the Council, if only shortly. It should grant you enough time to find Avatar and leave."

"Thank you for all your help, Jellal. I will be sure to pass on this information to Jerome as soon as possible."

The nameless man — Jellal — moves through what Juvia can only assume to be a back exit through her cracked lids. Totomaru and Sol leave next, and she is left alone in the tent with Gajeel and Aria.

Juvia has already made up her mind. She will wait quietly for Aria and Gajeel to leave the room before running into the dense jungle of Tenroujima, where she will search tirelessly for her Gray-sama.

He needs her—

(and she needs him just as much.)

He is her breath,

the air in her lungs,

the chaotic beats of her heart,

the lump in her throat,

the blood in her veins,

the waver of her voice,

her trembling hands,

her reckless love,

her hurt,

her cold,

her storm.

She will always be nothing without him; Gray's-sama's Pale Lady forever and ever and ever.

"Why the fuck are we staying behind? We should be out there, trying to figure out what the fuck we can do with all this."

Gajeel's voice comes to her through a tunnel, and she can only suspect the blood loss. Her thoughts are mindless noise, a confused hum in the back of her head. Consciousness is there and then it is not.

Elusive.

Slipping.

Gray-sama.

"We have a …important assignment."

"Ex…plain."

"It seems this war… wasn't Jose's only… plan. I'm sure you've noticed how… close our Rain Woman has become to a certain… Gray Full…buster."

Gray-sama…

Gray-sama...

Gray-sama…

"What's some… crush got to… with all this?"

"Gray's promotion to Avatar… not luck… planned meticulously. Avatar… always going to betray Phantom Lord… Tartaros…Arlock always believed in… world Zeref… bring… after all. Who better… trust than…Tartaros?"

"Get…point… old man."

"Very… last job Avatar did… Jose… overseeing the cartel relocation…they were there on… island… watching exchange…they…never ordered to complete… follow-up at Hargeon… despite… Jose says."

"Stop talking…riddles… get to… fucking point."

"The point is… Jose lied…Gray…sent the boy to Tenroujima… oversee Zeref's retrieval… away from Avatar….that period… Avatar made… shift… Gray… traitor for… with Jose."

"They want… kill Gray?"

The inky blackness freezes so suddenly, so violently, that it crashes and shatters into millions of colourful shards at her feet. Juvia is awake and running out the tent quicker than she can think, much less make sense of her surroundings.

Jose was right after all—

kings never die.

She can hear Gajeel tearing through the trees and overgrowth behind her, screaming all her names to the trembling sky. Rain woman. Crazy lady. Where are you going?

Did you really think you could hide from me? Run from me?

I am everywhere.

No, no. Something is wrong. That isn't Gajeel's voice or his words. Flashes of green and sand obscure her vision—

(I'm here to stay.)

Roaring and swirling—

(Here to stay.)

Blood and ice—

(Stay.)

Rain and cold—

(Gray-sama.)

Juvia is barely able to brace her fall. Her palms sting and burn, droplets of scarlet mingling with the rain falling against her skin.

(You're fucking insane.)

Her head slams into a rock as her knees slip from under her. Warm, sticky blood drips from her brow into her lostlost eyes and everything is red. Red like the bruises on his knuckles, red like his eyes when he thought she wasn't awake, red like the blood bathing him in sin.

(You're all mine, baby, all fucking mine.)

Black.

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it's the wrong kind of place
to be thinking of you