AN: Hi~ I hope everyone is having a nice day. And to clear up any misconceptions you may have, about the time, they didn't get to the ritual site at an hour till the ceremony- the lake is in the middle of the forest, and the forest is rather large. They were still a good five miles from the ritual site, possibly more, since they were only getting to the entrance of the forest then. So, it's not like they just sat down and had a picnic before carrying on! They were stumbling over tree roots and ice and it was hard to get five miles through that. They sent Happy up to look for Juvia, but the tree coverage was too thick to see anything, and they got lost a couple of times.

Also, about Aquamarina, the Good Queen, she died a long time ago. I don't think dragons are immortal, and also using that seal to put Tempest inside of Lily took a lot out of her- she only lived for 250 years after that, and as close as she was with the Locksers, she preferred to spend it mostly alone. She took visitors occasionally, however!

And I'm glad I surprised you with the fact that Tempest was released! Really, were you all so naive to think that they would make it in time? Where's the good story in that? Haha. Anyways, please keep enjoying the story~

(I'll also tell you Toto-lovers that he's going to play a role again in the story soon...)

RITUAL SITE

Juvia breathed heavily as they chained her in, trying her best not to look at her guild frantically trying to break through the barrier. Gray and Gajeel were screaming, and her fragile heart broke at seeing two people so strong completely unravel. They were her rocks. Her rocks were breaking.

One last time, one last desperate time, Juvia pulled against her chains until she felt she was trying to drag her bones from her flesh. She almost screamed in pain, but kept pulling and pulling and pulling. Jose pushed her back and pulled a knife from his belt.

"What's that for?" Juvia asked, shifting her wrists. They were rubbed raw.

"Your blood is needed," he said, holding the knife to her lower arm.

Juvia bit her lip as the blade ripped up, tearing from the middle of her forearm to her shoulder. Blood emerged and dripped down her arm, over her twitching fingers, and down onto the bright green glass, an eerie red glow cast on it from the moon.

Gray screamed. Juvia bit back her sobs.

This was it. For all her strength, for all her fighting, for all her suffering, this was it. Juvia was powerless now, unable to do one thing. Not one damn thing, and it infuriated her. Was there anything she could've done to make things different, right? As Jose began to chant his spell, she came to the conclusion that no, there wasn't anyway, except if she had been stronger.

Her robed captors chanted along with Jose, magic filling the area like a low fog. It smelled like a thunderstorm, and Juvia didn't quite like it. Ozone, heavy rain, and sadness. That's what it smelled like to Juvia. She grimaced and pressed back against the white stone, clenching her blood-dripping fingers.

Jose finished up his last chant, then yelled the name that sent panic through her, racing through her flesh and sending complete terror up her spine. One last time, one last desperate time, Juvia screamed at Jose to stop, to take it back, to cease the madness. One last time, she looked at Gray. She looked at Gajeel. She looked at Fairy Tail.

"Juvia is so sorry."

"-Tempest!"

Her innards exploded. Her head tossed back and she screamed in pure agony while the dragon sensed her freedom. Tempest swirled inside her, screaming herself, but in joy rather than pain, and magic stirred up inside Juvia, pulsing out. Some of the robed chanters were tossed back, some just fell backwards, and others stayed on their feet.

As water rose up and formed a swirling and howling cyclone about her, Juvia couldn't see Fairy Tail anymore. Any sort of comfort seeing them had given her, any speck of it, was dashed as a figure formed in the swirling water. Wings formed, then legs, a head with dark eyes, and the dragon thrashed, roared, spread its wings.

All of Juvia's strength was gone as she fell against the tall white obelisk. Weaker than she had ever felt, even after fighting Meredy, after fighting the dragon offspring, even after fighting Tartaros, she collapsed and groaned, her eyes rolling up into the back of her head. The world was out of focus, and any sound she heard was distant.

With heavy eyelids, Juvia blinked and looked around as far as she could, since she felt much too weak to bring her head back down from its tossed-back state. Jose's arms were raised to the dragon, who looked down on her in smug contempt. Robed clansmen were dashing about in panic and excitement. Juvia couldn't see Fairy Tail, but she heard something.

"Juvia!"

Her name. That was her name, wasn't it? She felt much too exhausted to remember anything, nor did she want to. But was someone concerned for her? That's how it seemed, that's how the voice sounded.

"Dammit, Levy! Open it quicker."

Ah, she liked that voice. That voice that was gruff and nonchalant. It was friendly and familiar, though she could not quite put a face nor name to the voice, much like with the previous one that had called out the name.

"Juvia! Juvia, don't worry, I'm coming!"

She didn't care.

"Juvia!"

Not at all.

"Juvia! You'll be okay, I promise!"

Gray.

Her eyes flew open and she gasped for breath, then screamed in agony at the movement. Everything was like lava, all her innards and blood and flesh, and then the pain dulled, leaving her limp against the chains again. Her head was in the right position to do so now, so she lifted it to look at them. Look at her guild. Her family.

Gray was pressed right up against the barrier, a look of disbelief and agony on his face. He saw her look at him and he adjusted his hands, swallowing and looking more worried than anything. The look didn't suit him, Juvia thought, no, not at all. It wasn't a very Gray Fulbuster-expression, was it?
Her eyes closed again. She felt like sleeping for a very long time.

"Th-that's it?" Lucy asked, taking an unconscious step back. "That's the thing that was inside Juvia?"

The Prussian blue dragon was swinging her head, looking around. Her wings stretched, as though becoming used to a wide space. Gray didn't know how much room she had inside of Juvia, but he could assume it wasn't much.

And without warning, one of her legs moved to the side, snatched up a robed man, and she tossed him down her gullet, swallowing and licking her lips with satisfaction. Lisanna covered her mouth and gasped. None of the other robed members moved, as though they were unphased.

The dragon was a half the size of the mountain, making her still very large, but considerably less so than Gray had expected. Her legs were thinner than Acnologia's and other dragon's he'd seen, and her feet were tipped with claws that looked like diamond, and they matched her teeth. On the very tips of her wings were hooks made of the same substance.

She looked less terrifying than Acnologia, but still gave off an air of immense power, and when she looked down at everyone in the clearing, her eyes had a massive amount of intelligence. She looked smug, powerful, and terrifyingly joyful. Gray swallowed and his hands slid off the barrier, arms hanging limp at his side.

"How do we fight?" he heard someone ask. A second later, he realized it was him, but he felt no shame, so he repeated it. "How do we fight that huge thing?"

Nobody answered. Everyone clearly felt as helpless as they had when Acnologia attacked, when the dragons came while they were in Crocus.

Natsu spoke up, sounding genuinely encouraging. "We have, what, four Dragon Slayers? Beating that ugly-ass thing should be a cinch!"

Gajeel whirled his head around so fast it almost collided with Natsu's. "Moron! We couldn't lay a hand on Acnologia, all four of us, so what makes you think we can fight off a thing that comes a close second to 'im?!"

The pink-haired young man's enthusiasm died down considerably. "Gray's right, then. How?"

"You don't fight it!" Jose shouted. He must have heard Gajeel's shouts. The madman lifted his arms to his precious dragon, eyes filled with half-insane wonder. "You don't fight it, my friends. You only embrace her and her destruction!"

Tempest seemed to notice Jose only in that moment as she looked down from her fourth snack. Gray smiled and pressed against the fading barrier when he realized: the monster had eaten one of the robed clansmen keeping it functioning.

"Stand back!" Laxus shouted, drawing back a fist. "I'll blast it down. Gray, move!"

Natsu grabbed the back of his coat and yanked him along to the ground as the powerful blast of thunder boomed over their heads. It connected with the barrier and crackled all along the invisible dome, until it all finally met together at the center. The Raijinshuu cheered as the barrier exploded, blasting them all with a wave of pulsing magic.

"Get Juvia!" Gajeel shouted, but Gray was already running.

"Get back here!" Makarov yelled, taking a step towards Gray. "You'll be killed, Gray! Killed!"

He was going to die anyone. He wanted to die trying to save Juvia, holding her in his arms, whether she was dead or alive. That was his wish, his truly sappy wish that he wanted fulfilled more than anything at that moment.

"Let him go, my Queen," Gray heard Jose said. "Just let him go to the Child."

"As you wish," came the rumbling, grating and echoing, almost. A cracking sound came as she sat and folded her wings. "After all, they'll all fall eventually."

Her voice frightened Gray. Ice entered his blood system and latched onto his cells and his breath hitched. The voice was too calm and lovely, too much like waves breaking against the shore, and his brain couldn't possibly connect her voice with her body, what she was. He became confused, and he stumbled to the ground, splashing in the shallow lake.

Someone leapt over his head and he came up gasping, floundering to get back up and get to the fallen ameonna. He blinked water from his eyes, then wiped it away, staring and blinking at the figure struggling with Juvia's chains. Robed and masked people were trying to fight Gajeel off, but he knocked them all away with an iron column, then proceeded to struggle with Juvia's chains.

"Gajeel!" Gray stumbled up, dripping wet, and froze a couple of women who were charging Gajeel with mean-looking spears. He stood guard while Gajeel pulled on the chains. "They're metal, right? Just eat them. You get a snack, we get Juvia, we get out of here."

"And go where, exactly?" Gajeel grunted. He sighed and slumped forward, weakly pulling at the chains. "I can't eat 'em. They're not metal. It's more like some sort of unbreakable stone."

Gray sighed irritatedly, turning as the number of assaulters thinned. "'ere, let me." He placed his hands on the chains and stared at the limp woman. Her wrists were red, he saw, from hanging off the chains and pulling against them. Blood dripped in a frighteningly steady stream from her mouth and from her nose. He'd never seen her bleed so much, if at all. He put a hand to her face and uttered a swift apology. "Sorry, I don't know if you'll feel this, but it's gonna be cold."

Frost crackled over the stone chains, worming into every link and crack. An arrow flew towards them, but Gajeel caught it midair and chomped off the head, crunching it slowly between his teeth.

"Iron Dragon's Roar!"

"Oh?" said an endlessly amused voice. Tempest was talking again, and Gray fumbled in his freezing. "A Dragon Slayer? Ah, yes, Gajeel Redfox. You're that one man that Juvia is so impossibly fond of. Her brother of sorts, she thinks."

"Don't talk about my best friend!" Gajeel snarled, sending a barrage of iron daggers at her. Gray turned briefly to watch, horrified as they hit dead-on and melted into her scales, no trace left behind that they had ever been there. "Why, you-"

A crack told Gray that the chains were completely frozen and frosted over. "Come grab her!" he shouted to Gajeel, holding one side of the chains. "Hurry, metal-face!"

Gajeel knelt down and grabbed Juvia about the waist, pulling on her. Gray pulled with all his might on the left arm chain. Unlike when Gajeel had tried, it was starting to give. Like Gray had hoped, the ice had weakened the stone, and it snapped under the pull of his muscles. Juvia's left arm fell limp, whacking the Dragon Slayer in the face. He grunted and pulled on her leg shackles until they fell off.

"Isn't this funny, Jose?" Tempest asked as she watched.

"Very, my Queen," he agreed. "Foolish aren't they? After all, there is no use in rescuing anyone, especially not a dead woman."

Gajeel snarled and growled, and as Juvia fell against him, her last chains broken, he smashed his ear to her chest, hostility fading as he listened. "No good!" he shouted to Gray, and his heart stopped for a beat. "I can't hear over all this magical interference!"

Now that Gray stopped, the howling and whispering and crackling in the air wasn't the cold, or the wind or the water. It was magic. Raw magic that was actually audible. The ice mage had never heard of an audible magic before, unless it was Sound Magic.

"Run along, young men," said Tempest. Gray watched, weary and terrified, as she lifted her long tail and swung in towards them. "Back to your little friends."

Her tail collided with Gajeel, who screamed, and he and Juvia flew into Gray. They skipped along the surface of the shallow water until their bodies remembered their gravity and fell, rolling to a stop yards away from their friends.

"Gajeel!"

"Gray! Juvia!"

The only reason they were intact, Gray realized, especially Gajeel, since he had taken all that brute force to the spine, was because the man had turned his body to his hardest iron scales. Still, though, they were cracking and he looked completely in pain.

"Can you hear better?" Gray shouted, water pouring from his ears. Blood was streaming from his nose and onto his dark green shirt. The straps running crisscross across his broad chest were scratched up and tearing. "Can you hear her heartbeat?"

And before Gajeel could answer, Juvia stirred with a moan. A smile broke out amid their faces, despite their blood and everything else.

"Juvia!" Gajeel shouted, smashing her face in one hand and directing it towards his. "Oi, oi, can you hear me? Juvia Lockser, hey!"

"Wha-" she asked, blinking open her dark eyes. Her thick lashes stuck together from cold and wet, and she struggled to move her eyelids. "What's going- on… oh."

"Yeah, oh," Gajeel said, sitting down and resting her body on the shore of dirt and grass. "Sorry. We came… way too late. Tempest is- Hey, you said you'd die after Tempest was removed from your body!"

They got their answer when Juvia coughed a spray of blood and choked on the stuff remaining in her throat. Gajeel flipped her over and pounded her back while she retched and swallowed and vomited. Dirt was getting on her ceremonial garb, though Gray doubted that anyone cared.

"Oh?" Jose shouted as he approached. "Is she alive?"

The Raijinshuu appeared in front of him, guarding their guild from the menace.

"Not. Another. Step," Bickslow said. "Or we will not hesitate to blow your head off."

"We're not as nice as our guildmates," Freed explained, drawing his sword and swinging it right until it stopped at Jose's neck. "We're not lying."

Ever's eyes narrowed, and her magic pulsed in her fist. "I will have your head, Jose Porla."

Jose smiled and shook his head enough so that Freed's rapier didn't penetrate his flesh. "I should have known that they wouldn't die immediately, the Locksers. They're a sturdy people. But still, Juvia undoubtedly has-"

"-minutes," the cerulean-haired woman gasped. "Juvia undoubtedly has mere minutes."

Her face crumpled and she covered her eyes with one hand, fingers stretching to cover them. "What has Juvia done? What?"

Gajeel picked her back up bridal style and she hung limp, sobbing pitifully into her hand. Gray grabbed her one that was hanging limp in Gajeel's grip, not even daring to squeeze it, she looked so physically fragile.

"This is all Juvia's fault," she wailed. "Juvia's, Juvia's, Juvia's! I should be dead," she screamed at Gajeel suddenly, lowering her hand and showing them her swollen and angry eyes. "Why did you save Juvia?! Tell her, why? Juvia should be dead, Juvia should have died in that tower, then none of this would be happening! YOU SHOULD HAVE LET ME DIE!"

"Stop that," Gray shouted, but Juvia wasn't listening.

"Dead, dead, dead! This wouldn't be happening if Juvia was just dead!" All the strength left her and she fell back in his arms, covering her face again and sobbing. "Gajeel-kun should have let Juvia freeze and die in that tower!"

"But I wanted-" Gajeel started.

"What Gajeel-kun wants doesn't matter!" Juvia yelled. "Not in this situation. In any other situation, yes, your opinion is everything, but in the matter of the world, what he wants is the least important thing!"

"Juvia," Lisanna cooed, stroking her cerulean hair. "Shh shh shh…"

Juvia cried harder while Jose and the dragon looked on, amused. "She's sorry, she's sorry! Juvia shouldn't have said that to Gajeel-kun, she's sorry! But really, please, you should have left me!"

Gray bit his lip and turned his head away while Juvia broke down and sobbed messily, gasping and panting and sobbing like a completely broken person. This, this was how he had cried when Ur had sacrificed herself, and when Lyon had screamed at him and then abandoned him there in the snow and wreckage, faced with a frozen demon and the blood of innocents.

And even with all that, Gray couldn't understand fully how Juvia was feeling. Juvia hadn't just made a foolish mistake and provoked a demon, hadn't just gotten an entire village almost completely murdered; Juvia wasn't to blame, but she was still the source of the apocalypse that was about to raze the entire world.

Rocks broke and crumbled as Tempest stood. A wave rose from the shallow lake and crashed limply at the shore, spraying them all with mist. Mirajane wrapped her arms around Lisanna. The dragon stood tall and mighty, glowering down at them with contempt and amusement.

"Should I eat the brave little soldiers first, to regain my full strength?" she asked, peering down at the three man team still standing in front of Jose. "They all seem to be quite powerful mages."

"No!" Juvia screamed, clenching her fists and flailing. "Evergreen-san! Freed-san, Bickslow-san!"

"You're friends," Tempest cooed, leaning her head down to observe them on ground-level. "That makes it all the better, Juvia."

The Raijinshuu did not move from their position next to Jose. They did not lower their magic, their weapons. They did not make a sound. If they were scared, and Gray was certain they were, they were not showing it.

"Fall back!" Laxus shouted, calling his team to him. He sounded almost like he was begging. "Now!"

"No," Evergreen said firmly. Saffron magic whipped around her, sending water flying in its wake. "No, Laxus! The three of us will fight while you all come up with a plan!"

"Evergreen!" Elfman shouted, taking a step forward. "Wai-!" Mirajane grabbed his thick arm and shook her head.

Laxus scowled and shook, clenching his fists. "Master."

Makarov looked scared stiff, not of the dragon, but of his grandson. "Laxus, no-"

"Lightning against water. I like my chances." Makarov grabbed his grandson's coat, but Laxus shrugged out of it. "And those three, that's my family out there! Over my dead body am I gonna let them sacrifice themselves without me!"

Lucy and Erza covered Wendy as lightning raged in the sky, coming down and striking Tempest. She grimaced (or at least Gray thought she did. Dragon's facial expressions were confusing), and swung her tail, almost crashing into the Raijinshuu. Evergreen sprouted her wings and rose into the sky, perching on a tree branch, while Freed did the same and Bickslow mounted his puppets.

"Lightning? You think that because I'm water, lightning will help you?" she said, seething. "Jose, stand back. These four have offended me too much for me to allow a pawn to take care of them. Dragon Slayer, little soldiers, prepare to meet your end."

Gray turned his head away from the scene, but he could still hear the fight. Juvia was still shaking, and he wrapped his hand more firmly around her's. She didn't react, and that worried him. As much as he disliked fangirl Juvia, he'd rather have her then a broken and scared Juvia who was blaming everything on herself and still muttering about how she should've been left behind, left behind to die with Totomaru.

"No," he muttered so no one could hear him. "Don't say that."

A roar and a pained scream brought almost everyone's attention back to the Raijinshuu.

"Ever!" Freed shouted, sliding on the surface of a particularly shallow patch of water. "Are you okay?"

The fairy was on her knees, teeth grit while she held her blood-red left arm. The water behind her was steaming, and Gray assumed that she'd been hit with lava-hot water, not unlike the kind that Juvia had once attacked him with. Except, with those burns, it must have been much hotter, less restrained and held back.

"Fine!" she shouted, struggling to stay on her feet. Blood began to burst from the burn welts on her arm and she looked like she might scream in pain. "Keep- on- fighting!"

Juvia froze up in Gajeel's arms. Her mouth was slightly open, and though no one could see her eyes, they could guess that she was looking horrified or thoughtful, or maybe both. She struggled to stand, and Gajeel yanked her to her wobbly feet. Her body seized up as she tried to hold in another cough, but her hand fisted Gajeel's shirt and she doubled over, half-vomiting, half-coughing up another mouthful of blood and stomach acid.

"Juvia-san!" Wendy yelped, grabbing her hand. "Let me treat you, I-"

"No point," Juvia said, taking a step forward, unaided. She nearly fell forward, but caught herself and straightened up. Her blue sash was hanging limp on her hips, and the lower part of her white dress was dirty and ripped up. The ribbons in her hair were coming undone, and Juvia reached up and unwove them quickly, tossing them to the ground.

She looked stunning, in both a horrifying and beautiful way. Juvia looked like some sort of dying, blood-covered goddess or priestess. She was starting to radiate power along with death and despair, and everyone took a step back.

"Juvia has mere minutes to live. This means"-The rain woman narrowed her eyes and clenched the fabric over her stomach-"that Juvia has mere minutes to do everything in her power. With death this close, Juvia has no restrictions."

"Juvia, what do you mean?" Cana asked, grabbing her hand, dark against pale. Juvia slid it out of her's easily.

"One normally doesn't use up all of their magic. Magic is linked to one's life force, and if every last tiny drop was used, serious consequences would follow. Handicaps, inability to fight or move for the rest of one's life, mental illnesses. Death." Juvia stepped closer and closer to the battling Raijinshuu, all of whom looked to be in awful shape, even Laxus. "But Juvia has no restrictions. She-" Juvia fell to her knees and coughed, scarlet gushing from between her fingers. Before anyone could rush to her, she was back up, new red spots on her white dress. "She has mere minutes to live. There is nothing holding her back from using her whole power."

Fear was pounding through Gray, and his legs were iced down to the ground, it seemed. His body was unwilling to move, no matter how much his brain screamed at it to do so. His entire physique was in a state of rebellion against his mind as he watched Juvia march to her death.

"Nonsense!" Makarov shouted, swinging an arm back. "Your magic is drained! You're weak right now, Juvia, and you can't even harm a dragon! You're a human, not a Dragon Slayer."

"They never took Juvia's magic," Juvia said, walking forward. She pushed Bickslow behind her and raised a sheet of ice. Freezing cold water that Tempest had conjured up sprayed around it, freezing into ice as it flew. "Only Tempest. All that did was leave Juvia physically lacking. Somehow, somehow Juvia will stay standing to fight!"

"But you're not a Dragon Slayer!" Bickslow shouted, trying to pull her back. "So shut up!"

"Juvia doesn't need to be," she murmured. Gray had to strain to hear her now. "She isn't saying that she can harm any dragon, because she can't. But this one, this one is special for her. I am her weakness. I am a mortal that can wound her without being a nonhuman. It's all from her being bonded to my family, my soul, for all these centuries."

Evergreen fell back, almost passed out from the pain in her arm. Juvia stumbled forward and caught her, and they leaned on each other. Juvia took Evergreen's unburned hand, squeezing it and holding it up to her mouth, lightly pressing her lips against the fairy's slightly calloused skin.

"Go get treated, Evergreen-san. Just know, please, that Juvia is grateful for all the things you told her. About your past, about your sadness." Juvia passed the mage onto Laxus with outstretched arms, and he grabbed her shoulders, steadying her. "You made Juvia feel much less alone."

"Juvia, come back, please!" Gray shouted, finally moving forward. Erza and Cana caught his arms and held him back. "This is insane, you damn moron!"

"You heard the doll!" Cana shouted, tightening her grip as he pulled. "She can hurt that thing and you can't! You're just a human! If anyone rushes out there, it should be Wendy or Natsu or Gajeel!"

"All of our elements would be near useless next to Tempest, and Laxus-san is already exhausted and wounded," Wendy said quietly, healing Evergreen's arm, tears filling her dark eyes as she heard the hisses of pain from the woman. "Gajeel-san's iron would rust, Natsu-san's flames would be extinguished, my air would do minimal to no damage. It hurts to feel so useless, Gray-san, but…" Her eyes firmed and she looked Gray dead in the eye. "We must stay behind and leave this to Juvia-san! Juvia-san is the only one who can fight this threat right now, and we must be the fighters when she-" Wendy swallowed, the full force of her next sentence hitting her. She lowered her voice. "When she falls."

Gray's eyes flew back to Juvia, and the two women let him go. He felt weak and useless, like a little boy again, always letting someone else protect him and do the fighting for him. Again, a person he cared for was going to die, and he was going to have no say in it.

Juvia stopped right in front of Tempest, her hair blowing out in the harsh wind coming from Tempest's frustrated exhales.

"We've been together for eighteen years," Juvia started. "We know each other quite well. Juvia knows your weaknesses, and you know Juvia's. Her insecurities, her happiness, you know all."

"This is true," Tempest said. "We know each other better than anyone else does."

"But Juvia will not let you have your way," she said, clenching her fists. Gray swallowed and watched. "You will fall by Juvia's hands. She is going down, but rest assured. You are going down with Juvia!"