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…
Ultimately, Gajeel did not kill her, and it was probably a good thing. As long as Juvia was out of his sight and in a safe distance from the other bluenette, her presence seemed accepted enough. Levy seemed to recover quickly enough for him to appear slightly sorry, actually- and the water woman felt both thrilled and lost as she scurried around with various recipes and ingredients, all wobbly on her feet and cautious with her glances.
The dragon seemed to enjoy having moments of peace to spend deep in thought, and she was used to staying silent for long periods of time. As a result, they sort of clicked when the daily encounters went in those manners. It was actually funny that after a while the witch felt safer within the closed nest than a normal human tavern.
In the promised time Levy seemed stirring and that gave Juvia a sense of deeper comfort, cutting the rains into light drizzle that allowed the black dragon to make a round around his territory and view the damage. The sunlight, as much as it barely made it through the veil of clouds, seemed to please him – so, zooming to the current time, they both stood on the slippery expanse of the cliffs stretching before the entrance to his hive.
"I'll be back in a while. Watch over the shrimp while I'm gone, got it?"
And he was departing to run some late errands, such as a new heap of treasures, food, and whatever he decided he would take with him once he was returning.
"Juvia will."
"Good."
The transformation always hit Juvia as particularly fascinating thing about Gajeel, so she watched with great interest as his being expanded with a coil of magic - perfect synthesis with the element that left him in his true form. It was majestic, wings like the sails of royal ships, whipping up the breeze and kicking his entire form up and then into the sky. It made her feel kind of inadequate, all potion brewing and transforming into a water puddle, rain tailing her whenever she went.
Her little sleeping almost-lookalike made her feel weak in comparison, too. Not even counting how she seemed to have the beast wrapped around her little, delicate finger.
While being out like a light.
Actually Juvia sort of wanted to go and maybe train a tiny little bit. She had the time to do it right now, as she stood there and watched the dragon disappear. She just needed to check up on Levy and maybe get done some of her alchemy by the corner Gajeel set up for her.
Yes, maybe she needed to do just that.
…
Waking up hurt.
Levy's mind wrapped around that thought and prodded it around until she understood what it meant, before a wave of unbearable heat crawled from the tip of her head to the ends of her fingers like a horde of worms. Biting her lip and exhaling though the nose, the short woman wrinkled her forehead and twisted her face in a typical why does it have to happen AGAIN way, before turning to her side with a sense of practice and slowly, sloowly pulling herself in a sitting position, bare feet settling shakily against the stone floor and eyes remaining safely and absolutely shut.
She wasn't annoyed. Well, she was, but not quite. She just felt kind of dejected.
Disappointed.
Of course there was also the irony that this time she managed to remember what happened before she passed out.
She still didn't know where she ended up this time, though.
Probably home.
She hoped to god she was home.
Squinting and raising her hand to her face, the other bluenette cautiously opened one eye, before blinking once, twice - and looking around. Yup, she was in the cave, all tucked up until she woke up. Her body emanated fever and trembled, her head felt like someone hit her with a shovel and her legs were made of jelly.
Levy groaned. This was getting old.
The moment she felt the spinning fall at the back of her head as a continuous, somewhat unsettling buzzing, she reached out for the wall and propped herself up on it. The legs almost gave out and she squeaked, but managed to catch herself and not end up sprawled on the ground. Man, it was so cold, too!
Bare feet slapping softly against the stone floor, she carefully skipped onto the carpet and wiped her wet hands against the pajamas, wincing as she probably ruined the thing but gave it no more thought – the heavy doors at the entrance catching her attention. They were ajar, and flickers of light were seeping in through the cracks. Was it daytime? How much time has she lost this time?
Levy approached the door and reached out, pushing it forward a little bit. It was surprisingly light and moved silently on the hinges. She added a little bit more pressure and pushed it completely open, losing balance as it escaped from her - and almost bumping on the person on the other side.
"Sorry!" The girl cried out, expecting a strong set of arms to catch her, along with a gruff reprimand of running around while she should stay in the damn bed.
But the hands were definitely belonging to someone else, someone she couldn't exactly see once she got caught up in their securing embrace.
"You're awake, Levy-chan!"
There was a moment of pointed silence after that, a moment where Levy took her time to understand that the woman holding her was by no means her partner, and pulling away to look at her.
She was dressed in a slightly damp, decent maid outfit, and could wholeheartedly pose as her older sister. And also, she sort of knew her name.
"Who the hell are you."
Digging her feet into the ground, Levy pulled away and shook her head, pointing a finger at the lady.
"And where are you from."
The unknown woman looked sheepish.
"Juvia indeed had no time to introduce herself, did she?"
"Not really."
"Very well then. Juvia, Juvia was sort of trespassing, really. Juvia is sorry."
"Tresspassing?"
"Yes. Juvia arrived here before Levy-chan did. Juvia is happy to finally meet Levy-chan in person, too!"
Levy's brows furrowed. Juvia seemed far too bubbly to appear threatening. But something didn't quite fall into place in the situation. Meet in person?
"Where is Gajeel?"
"Ach, the Dragon? He just left, and won't be back for a while. We have plenty of time to..."
There was an abrupt click in Levy's head.
"You're from the town."
"Um, yes. That was Juvia's original destination, but- Levy-chan?"
Levy didn't listen anymore. She jumped away, eyes wide, and after a moment of doubt – dove back inside the cave, hopping to the chimney and latching onto the frame. She briefly fumbled with the stack of drying clothes over it before reaching for the heated rake, and turned around to wave it at the woman who obviously followed her inside.
"Not a step closer!"
"Levy-chan, there must be a misunderstanding!"
"You're from the town and you want me to go back, am I right? You think Gajeel is some sort of a monster and that we'll be better off running for our lives before he comes back, right?"
"No!"
"Well, I would love to inform you- wait, what?"
Juvia bit her lip, eyeing the weapon as it drew lazy circles in the air, ready to dig into an eye and cause a lot of unnecessary damage. Levy was on her feet, but the fever was evident on her cheeks and her eyes had dark circles underneath them. She seemed to be barely able to stand and seemed to be fixated on something. But this misunderstanding had to be resolved, and this overreacting had to stop.
"Please, put the weapon down. You have a fever and you're going to hurt someone accidentally."
"Did you just say I'm sick? Do you think I thought it all up-"
"No." Juvia's voice was stern as she carefully sidestepped to the left, avoiding a lazy jab in her collarbone. "Just put it down, please."
"But-"
"Juvia is not an enemy."
"I know you think that, but you have no idea what you're doing!" Levy cried out. "I don't want to go home! Nobody's hurting me in this place and I've spent what, a few months here? I don't know! Okay some crazy stuff happened and I got hurt few times but Gajeel – I mean, the dragon, he's always protecting me, and believe me – I sometimes want to go back and tell everyone I'm better than okay, I have a… a friend… a magical, shape shifting, dragon friend, and everything's nice, but I know they wouldn't have let me out of the village ever, ever again! And… And going back to the old, boring life… I can't really do it… It'll be weird."
There was a moment of silence where the smaller bluenette took few, deep breaths, and readjusted the hold on her poker.
"When did Levy-chan think up all of this?" Juvia asked, stepping limply from one foot to another.
"Um. Just now? You know, I'm being honest. I'm not making it up."
"Juvia doesn't want to take Levy-chan back to the village."
Levy dropped the poker and squeaked, stepping away and allowing the older girl to grab, and throw it back into the fire. Spreading out the rag in her hands, she evened it out quickly on the heated crumbs and sparks, and then stood up, reaching one hand around Levy's shoulders. Pushing the shocked girl gently towards her bed, she murmured softly to keep the other girl from silly ideas.
"Juvia's full name is Juvia Loxar. Juvia was hiding in this cavern during your absence, not knowing she was trespassing. Juvia had a slightly unpleasant encounter with your friend, and was allowed to stay by nursing you back to health. Juvia's corner is next to yours, actually." The whispers flew around Levy's head as she once again ended up in her bed.
"Unpleasant? He didn't hurt you, did he?"
"No lasting damage was done. Juvia never meant to take you away, either. It was all a giant misunderstanding…"
"B-But." Levy huffed, shivering. She propped herself up on her elbows and stared up seriously at her lookalike. "You won't go to the villagers and tell where I am?"
"Juvia believes they're searching for you anyway."
Levy bit her lip, before collapsing back onto the pillows and covering her face with her palms. "Grandpa. Damn it, thank you."
"Juvia has also encountered few of them while ascending."
"And?..."
"Juvia has not obtained any particular information. She isn't very talkative, and preferred to hide."
"You're plenty talkative now. You don't like men?"
"Sadly, Juvia was not accepted in any social communities she tried to join. Juvia's legs are the evidence."
"Legs?" Levy blinked tiredly, before twisting around the sheets to look. Juvia laid a hand on her shoulder with a shake of her head and a small, bitter smile.
"Levy-chan will see later, when she rests properly."
"Fiiine. Just, one more question."
"Go ahead."
"Why aren't you accepted by people? I mean, you're kind of nice. Is it the hair? You had the same disease as me going on?"
"No. My hair is normal where I came from."
"Then what is it?"
Levy's eyes were slowly closing over the course of the talk, and now they finally shut, so she couldn't see the tint of desperation and mischief pulling the smile up.
"Juvia believes she is a cursed witch."
And that made her understand Levy's reasoning more than anyone else.
This was instant friendship.
…
Och gog.
Och gog.
OCH GOG.
I AM.
SO.
FUCKING.
SORRY.
I basically just flipped the hell out the second an anon reviewed the last chapter TWICE, asking for more. I'M SO FUCKING SORRY, SAKURA! O
I think I should stop screaming now, too. Just, people. You believe in me so much. I'm so fucking touched.
I think a list would be best in trying to explain what in the world happened to me. A non-bold list to make things easier to read for you.
1. FANDOM CHANGE: to Dragon Ball
2. SECOND FANDOM CHANGE I WAS PREPARING FOR MONTHS: TO HOMESTUCK. Yes, Homestuck. Jegus. Let me tell you about Homestuck. About the weird plot shit and weird time shit and the mindfuck and THE TROLL AUTHOR, Andrew Hussie. Everyone dies, sinking ships, so much irony the screen vomits it at you and I had to throw the first version of this chapter into the shitter, it was both so ironic and sarcastic. Language upgrade (see the last few sentences), fourth wall breaking, references to everything from Faygo to the Bible, trolls, buckets, bucketsbucketsbucketslololol olo, inside jokes, and yeah,
All of this is pretty much my brain in a nutshell right now.
I just forgot about mentioning the most epic music and flashes you've ever seen in your miserable, short life.
I'm all caught up to it, too. The latest updates, I mean. It's over 5000 pages, so it took me a long while to accomplish. Also, I do fana- och that's for another point.
3. I HAVE A REAL, BREATHING, NON IMAGINARY BEST FRIEND. WOOOOOOO-HOOOOOOO. We have the same fandom (Homestuck, FT, etc. etc.) list, and met about a year ago but now we're inseparable (at least phone-connection wise, until we have no more cash on our phones from hours of talking). This was Eve from the OVA.
4. Speaking about my relationships, Eve sort of opened me up and I have a lot more real life talking going on.
5. DA. Just go search my username, HeartGold12, and see for yourself I'm spitting out Gale pictures(and recently drawing Karkat Vantas whom you don't know and I love). I hate my drawing style and change it all the time, what is good I guess because I keep growing as an artist.
6. TESTS. All the possible times to make an exam were fulfilled. For about a month in the future. I got the weakest semester grades in my entire life(not all that bad though, compared to some), and I'm going to try to work harder in the next semester. Especially on math. Yes, math. Yes, Skafe, I did it. I won and am not the slightest bit endangered, muahahahahaha!
7. Christmas: Meaning seats for dead family members, angst, family arguments, total hilarity ensuing after that, etc.
8. Forgetting how to write characters and getting out of practice because I was a lazy-ass: Yup, pretty much. Prepare for Levy getting a bit of an upgrade character wise because I just literally mocked myself in this chapter for making her a damsel in distress who always faints. Well. We both have enough of that.
Also we're in a bit of a boring point of the fic, an ARC 1 and ARC 2 intermission. Jerza ahoy.
And that's that. I think.
Don't choke me.
~HeartGold12
Och, I forgot. Writing dialogues for Juvia is HARD. For me, she sort of alters between 1st person and 3rd person in some unwritten pattern of sense-making.
I ALSO FORGOT that the new year's eve marks this fic's first birthday! Way to kick me back into writing, people! I love you guys for sticking around and reading this growing monstrosity! (And I will definitely write a new review reply note for that because it's needed! :D)