Chapter 14: Regrets
In the last chapter because of Josette misleading everything Gray have done a horrible mistake and hurts Juvia's feelings resulting for our water mage to leave him without leaving a trace. Without knowing the plan Levy and the others have set to counter Ivan and Josette's evil plan will Gray ruin everything? Here is chapter fourteen, enjoy!
GRAY WINTER
Chapter 14: Regrets
Despite the scene that Gray and Juvia make in the guild bar yesterday, everything looks normal. It is still full of guild members busy looking at the request board, some just eating, drinking or chatting like usual. As for the guild master, Makarov, he was unusually silent since morning and just stayed inside his office. Must've been thinking about Gray and Juvia since he see them as his children. But she could careless, after this night she would be gone and would never come back any way.
Josette silently scanned the whole bar as she served the guild members their ordered drinks, 'Gray isn't here yet. Where is he?' she was thinking about what he would say to Gray in order to make him go with her and didn't notice she'd stumble to someone, "Oof! I am so sor-"
"Out of my sight, bitch!" Gajeel roared at her, Wendy whom is with the Iron dragon Slayer didn't even smiled or greet her like the kind girl usually do.
"Y-Yes!" she quickly walks away, from the two and met Natsu on her way who just glared at her. She can't get what this guy is thinking, she thought she finally had his trust when he believed her yesterday but now he is acting indifferently again. Hoping she would not encounter the celestial mage and the younger Strauss again, she entered the kitchen. Those two didn't even hesitate to show their hostility to her this morning, where was Gray when she needs him?
"Josette." Called the beautiful voice from the former S-Class mage Mirajane, "We're out of vodka and fire whiskey again, can you check our inventory in the cellar so that we'll know how many will I order?" she requested,
"Yes," she answered. Right, there's the chance to get the potion from Mariana. She walks out of the bar counter to go check the cellar, her hand inside her pocket, checking the teleportation orb and didn't even notice the demonic stare Mirajane had given her.
Using teleportation orb is very convenient, slipping out of the guild without any of the mages knowing it boost her confidence. It made her feel like she is smarter than all of them even though she isn't a mage. Now walking in the street into the port of Magnolia where the potion shop is located, she pulled the hood of her cloak over her head, casually looking at the people on the streets for caution. When she is two blocks away from the shop, it was only the time she noticed that it was eerily silent in the street, she glance to her right and saw some people walking, to her left a man boarding a mage vehicle but none of them she heard talking. She continued to walk to the potion shop's door, still looking at her background, a sweat dropped on her forehead as she unconsciously pushed the shop's door.
"Welcome! Please do come in!" said an old woman's voice,
Josette went inside and scans the room full of different potion bottles with different labels, behind the counter seated an old woman with wrinkled skin, small eyes and stretched earlobes. Her grey hair tied up in a bun, and she wears a simple grey garbs.
"I am looking for Mariana." Josette said straight forwardly,
"Mariana, eh? What is your business with her, if I may ask?" asked the old woman, her bony hands caresses the yellowed paper of the shop's log book.
"Bleeding Chrysanthemum." She spoke,
"Ooh… so it is you." Said the old woman, her small eyes widening menacingly, "Such a simple looking lady, I wouldn't have guessed how wicked you are." Leaving the counter and entering a door at the back.
"Give me what I am asking, old woman. I am not here to be called wicked by some old hag like you." She murmured. A strange gust of wind can be felt on level of her legs; the feeling of being watched is unnerving her. She gets the teleportation orb from her pocket and is too astonished to see it not shining. The old woman gets out of the door, grasping a bottle containing a ruby red liquid.
"What is the matter, dear customer?" the old woman asked, placing the bottle over the counter.
"What is this place, old hag? I cannot activate any magic in here." She said, pulling a dagger under her cloak,
"Of course, silly girl." The old woman scoffed, "this shop is has a nullifying magic effect, you wouldn't think I'd operate such dirty business transactions unprotected right?"
What the old woman says made a point. This mission is making her paranoid. She grabbed the bottle, "The payment will be deposited in your account." And make her way to the shop exit, pulling the hood to hide her face. After leaving the shop, Josette quickly entered a public restaurant and locked herself in the comfort room, checking again the teleportation orb and sighed in relief as she saw it shining.
"Mirajane-san, here are the lists." Josette politely handed the inventory sheet to the barmaid,
"Oh, that was quick. Thank you." Mira smiled and gets the paper, and went to the mage telephone to do the orders. Silently observing Josette work efficiently behind the bar counter, and is very aware that the non-mage girl is scanning the whole guild bar while doing so.
Gray entered the guild bar, his dark blue eyes searching for a certain blunette. He went straight to the corner of the bar, stopping in front of the table that Lisanna, Lucy and Levy were occupying.
"Have you seen Juvia?" he asked, Lisanna didn't even look at him,
"Why didn't you show up at Cana's yesterday, Gray? There are important matters we needed to talk to you about!" Levy angrily scolded Gray,
"Levy, now's not the time. Please answer me, if you see Juvia." Gray said,
"No. We don't." Lisanna finally answered,
"Gray, there is something we needed to discuss to you, please follow me to Cana's place." Lucy pulled Gray's arm,
"Lucy, you don't understand," Gray pulled his arm back,
"Where the fuck did you went all this morning, ice prick?" Natsu shouted, "Come here, you dumb ass!" walking to Gray alongside with Laxus.
"Guys, I'll listen to every single thing that you will say later, I just need to see Juvia now." Gray walks fast and exits the guild bar,
"Oi, Fullbuster get back your ass in here!" Laxus shouted,
"Gray!" Josette ran to Gray when he is in the outdoor café of the guild,
"Josette, have you seen Juvia?" he asked, Josette hide her annoyance to his question perfectly, and shook her head, Gray nodded. "Then, I'll go now." Turning to walk away,
"Gray!" Josette grabs his arm, "Why are you still looking for her? That woman cheated and tricked you."
"I know." Gray answered, feeling a stinging pain in his heart, "but because of this anger I have done something so horrible to her, and she left."
"Why don't we just leave this town and go back in the Northern Mountains?" she asked which make Gray face her again, "Let's start a life there, like the old times." She paused, "Gray, Let's go home."
"Josette." Putting a hand over hers that is grabbing his arm, "Whatever Juvia have done to me, I could forgive her. I will accept it even if it pains me, or breaks me, if that is the only way I could be at her side." Removing her hands from his arm, "I'm sorry but my home is wherever Juvia is." He walks away, never looking back.
Josette watches Gray's descending figure from where she is standing, tears falling from her eyes.
Checking the last place he had in mind where Juvia could be at the moment, the magnolia park. But he didn't see her there. Sitting on a bench in front of the fountain, Gray curses and brushes his hands through his black spiky hair.
He gets the white ring box inside the pocket of his coat, his thumb caressing the big crack on it. He lift the broken lid of it, staring at the ring he had imagine a hundred times wore around Juvia's finger.
When he got home last night and just drops his things in the foyer, the box hit the marble floor and rolled into the corner. The morning when he realize Juvia left the house, he sat for a while and think, repeating the hateful scene last night where he became a monster in his head and regretting everything. Just then he remembered the ring and gets his coat only to find the house key with a little teru teru bozu key chain on its pocket and not the ring box. Deciding to go out and search for Juvia, he saw the white ring box lying on the corner of the foyer. How could he be so stupid?
"Dammit! Dammit all!" remembering the last time he looked at her last night. He stands again and continues his search, "I need to find her. I need to talk to her."
But his search is fruitless, he still can't find her. Looking up at the clock tower, it is now eleven o'clock in the night. It's just then he realized the time, it was really late. He decided to go back to the guild in hopes he would see her there.
He arrived at the guild, seeing his nakamas sprawled out on the tables or the floor after drinking and partying, loud snores can be heard at the back ground. The usual scene you can see at the end of the day for Fairy Tail. Everyone is now in lala land except for one he saw walking to Master Makarov's table, Josette. He thought he would just ask the non-mage girl again but someone grabs on his ankle, looking down he saw Elfman looking at him, faking sleep.
"Get down, Gray. Pretend that you're sleeping." He whispered,
He is confused by this, but still does what he said, laying his stomach against the floor and pretending to be asleep. "What is happening in here?" also whispering,
"The Raven Tail's spy is now making her move." He answered,
"Raven Tail's spy?" Gray is now looking at Josette who just pulled a suspicious bottle from her apron. "Josette is the spy?"
"That is your fault, for not attending the general meeting yesterday like a man."
"General meeting? I didn't see anyone leave the guild yesterday."
"Freed uses his runes to…" Elfman tried to spill the details,
"Shush." Erza scolded them,
"Where did you hide the Fairy Tail's Darkness?" The voice of Josette talking to Master Makarov tears his gaze from Elfman.
"At the back of the guild…" Makarov started talking, "Near the biggest tree at the pool side, hidden by the bushes a trap door leading to the underground…" He paused again, "inside the chest draped by my beloved guild's flag stored the Fairy Tail's greatest secret."
Josette smirked and left the guild master, walking to the bar counter and uses the mage telephone, contacting someone, "I now know where it is hidden." She informed and opened the door to the swimming pool area.
Gray clenched his fists, freezing the floor around him in anger. He is very angry at Josette for betraying not only him but the entire Fairy Tail guild! But he is angrier at himself for believing Josette, for not believing the woman he loves.
Josette is swinging her dagger on the bushes, cutting them down to reveal the trap door. It is just then Ivan and many others came using a magical item transporting all of them at the same time. She pulled the trap door, the magic torches at the wall lit when the door is opened and revealing the concrete stairs that leads to the undergrounds.
"Here it is, Ivan-sama." Josette said with a wicked smile,
"Well done, Josette-chan." Ivan said with his psychotic grin plastered in his face, walking to the trap door and stopping in front of Josette, "You will be awarded as promised, your freedom, plus a sum of money, a land in the north and lastly Gray Fullbuster."
Josette's smile widen from hearing Ivan. "Thank you very much, Ivan-sama!"
Looking over his shoulder, Ivan looks at his men, "Obra and some others, follow me," climbing down the concrete stairs of the underground.
Nullpudding quickly marches forward, pushing Josette aside, "Out of the way, bitch!" but Obra, the extremely tall, blue skinned man block his way.
"You are not needed, Josette follow me." Said Obra who rarely talks,
"As you wish, Obra-san." Josette stands up, dusting her clothes and smirking at Nullpudding who just gritted his teeth in anger.
Finally reaching the underground, Ivan let out a laugh from seeing the chest draped with a cloth that is printed with the Fairy Tail's Symbol surrounded by trophies and other things held so much value and proof of the guild vibrant existence. But to Ivan all of it aside the chest were just junk.
"At last, I will see with my own eyes what darkness this pitiful guild hide for ages!" pulling the cloth off the chest, revealing a golden majestic looking chest. Raising a hand and casting a magic, the chest opened, showing the thing he wanted for the longest time… The unusual hats?
"Josette-chan, what is this?" not even bothering to face her,
Josette was also in the state of shock and can't utter a single word, she was sure that this is where Makarov had told her where he hid the Fairy Tail's Darkness when he is drugged.
"Josette-chan!" Ivan shouted and Josette flinched, Obra who is standing behind hugged her, lifting her body from the floor.
"I-Ivan-sama, I-I just followed the directions Makarov had given me when I drugged him! AH!" Obra's grip on her body tightened,
"Ah, yes, and he directed you to this room of JUNK!" he shouted, facing her, "You fool! That drug you gave him doesn't have an effect, he is just faking it!" Josette gasps, horrified, "your fleeting life ends here, I'll kill you the same way you had me kill your husband!"
"No, please! Don't!" Josette begged, crying.
"Stop right there, Ivan!" said the voice from the stairs, making the three people look at the source of it, Master Makarov,
"Makarov!" Ivan growled,
"Just give up Ivan. All of your men were now apprehended." Master Makarov stated and with that Lahar and Doranbolt descended from the stairs,
"Ivan Dreyar, we on behalf of Magic Council is arresting you and your men for causing harm in one of the Magnolia's legal guilds, for stealing private information and for the attempt to use prohibited magic potions."
"Shit!" Ivan gets the teleportation crystal ball he used earlier to escape, Obra throwing Josette on the floor and went to touch Ivan but the magic item didn't work. "It won't work!"
"I see that your shit of a son is having trouble here, Makarov." Said the old woman in the stairs, beside her is Yuka a mage from Lamia Scale who nullifies all magic elements in the area.
"You!" Josette recognizes the old woman to be 'Mariana' who gave her the potion.
"Makarov, this isn't the last of it! I'll come back and take back what is supposed to be mine!" Ivan shouted as he was being arrested, Makarov didn't answer and just watches them being taken away. Master Makarov thanked Doranbolt and Lahar who bowed to him and leave.
"Ooba, I could not thank you enough for Lamia Scale's help." Master Makarov faces her friend and guild master of Lamia Scale, Ooba Babasaama.
"No need to thank me, Makarov. All of this is because of that sweet water mage," Ooba giggled, "Maybe if she dates my Lyon, she'd transfer to my guild." She said her hands clasped together,
Makarov gave off a weak laugh, "Even if that child is hurt, she won't do that. She is a selfless child that will sacrifice her own happiness for others." Ooba nodded in agreement.
The whole guild watch as Ivan Dreyar with his men was being arrested and is boarding the Magic Council vehicle with shackles and chains. Cana put a hand on Laxus' shoulder, because she knows deep within the Lightning Dragon Slayer's hard exterior he still cares for his father. As for Gray, he stopped the officer from dragging Josette.
"Josette, why did you do this?" he asked,
Josette looked at him for a while, when Gray thought he wouldn't get an answer she spoke, "I sent a couple of strong mages to hunt Juvia, I ordered them to kill her."
Gray's eyes widen in shock, cannot believe to hear those cruel things from the girl he treats as his own kin. "What?"
"If you wouldn't be mine then you wouldn't be anyone else's." she said smiling evilly before being dragged away by the officer to the vehicle,
Somewhere in the woods from a town far away from Magnolia, the water mage is being pursued by seven dark mages. Juvia's body was covered by bruises, and gushes. The dark mages started attacking her as soon as she left the train station and search for an inn. Whoever they are, they know all her weakness and blind spots. Weakened, Juvia dived on the river and make her body transform into water following the flow without knowing where the current will take her.
On the river side near a house that is being built by labourers, a tall, dark brown haired man wearing a white shirt with folded sleeves and Brown slacks seated on a big stone, beside him is his helmet and scrolls containing the house's structure plan. He is currently taking a short break from work when something caught his amber eyes. Standing up, he ran to the woman he saw not so far from where he is seated earlier,
"Oh, heavens!" he turned the woman who had her face on the grass at the edge of the river. Automatically checking for her pulse, he put his fingers on top of her wrist. He sighed in relief, she's still alive. He carries her on his broad shoulders, running back at the site asking for help.
Some of the workers quickly assist him; the others call for an ambulance. Now inside the ambulance on the way to the local Hospital of Oak Town, he looked down at the woman. The woman was undeniably beautiful, even with her dishevelled blue wavy hair, and then his eyes went to the curve of her luscious body, quickly averting his eyes, blushing and feeling ashamed with his actions. She is covered by injuries. He wondered what in the world happened to her.
With Juvia being saved by Dylan Blake the flashback thingy ends. What do you think about this chapter? Please don't forget to review! See you guys on the next chapter!
Omake! Gavin Winter!
Gavin sat on the carpeted floor of study room, plush toys, crayons and colouring books scattered on the floor, he is currently staring blankly at the window, his dark blue eyes droopy and bored. He let out a sigh. Where is Mama? She told me not to go out. She said she'll give me ice cream if Gavin will be a good boy. He slumped on the floor, after a while he roll on the floor, and sighing again. But Gavin really is bored. He sat, taking off his Russian furred hat. And Gavin wants to play outside. He kick his shoes, and wiggle out his jacket. Maybe aunt Roda will help Gavin! His eyes twinkled at his bright idea. Standing up and kicking his pants as he runs out of the room.
"Gavin! Where are your clothes!" the maid exclaims after seeing a butt naked kid run off to her.
Thanks to all people who reviewed, I really appreciate them and encourage me to write!
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