Juvia hummed to herself as she combed her hair while looking into Erza's mirror, she was never vain but she wanted look her best in front of her new friends especially Gray. After she was finished with her hair she went out on the deck. It was a cool evening and the wind wasn't blowing so hard, she liked it when the night was like this.

Just then she saw three fair heads poke out from the ocean's surface. She recognized them as her second, fifth, and sixth oldest sisters Sherry, Risley, and Beth the least violent and malicious of the other mermaids. With their voices they sang a sad song to their youngest sister with words only her own kind could understand, a song which told her of how much they missed her and wanted her to return to the sea.

When they finished she sang a song back to them which told them that she was alright and that someday she would come back. She also told them in her song not to harm those who were aboard the ship. Though they did not understand her desire to keep the humans alive they agreed to abide by her wishes and prevent their more violent sisters from harming her human friends. They each have her one final sad look before disappearing beneath the waves.

"Was that you singing out here?" Gray asked walking next to her.

"Yes." She answered.

"You sure do like music huh?"

"It's my favorite thing in the world. Mine and my sisters, music is like a secret language to us. If you ever hear a voice singing vocally in the waves it's probably us sending secret messages to each other. Like tonight, my sisters were singing to me."

"Your sisters were here?" He said getting nervous.

"Only three of them."

"Oh crap! I gotta warn Natsu!"

"Don't worry they're gone now, they only wanted to make sure that I was alright and they won't hurt anyone on this ship. I told them not to."

"You did."

"Yes."

"That's awfully kind of you especially since we captured you and all.'

"Yes you did steal me from my home in the sea but I believe there's no truly evil intent in any of your hearts."

"You know you're really amazing. I mean your sisters and every other mermaid in the world pretty much wish every human would die but you don't. At all."

"Well I've always felt fascinated by humans but it wasn't until that very special day..." She trailed off.

"What day?" He asked.

"I was seven years old and my sisters had finally allowed me to go to the surface. Before then all I could do was listen to their stories about the world above and imagine what it was like. The first thing I saw was the glorious sun shrouded in a reddish-golden light. It was as majestic as I had always dreamed it would be. After that I took notice of the blue sky and the white clouds followed by the green trees and the yellow sand of the shore. I saw birds flying through the air, perching on tree branches, and singing sweet melodies."

"All that impressed you?" Gray said.

Having been born and raised in the surface world he didn't understand how exciting it was for her who had spent most of her life under water.

"In the evening." She continued. "I watched as the sun set over the horizon giving off a pinkish-yellow color. Before long the sun vanished, the moon rose up, and the sky darkened, filling up with sparkling stars. It was incredible and I was just about to return home when I saw a ship floating on top of the sea. My sisters had told me to stay away from ships because of the humans who rode aboard it but I just had to know what humans looked like."

"Let me guess you swam to the ship."

"I swam close up and sat on a ledge that allowed me to see the deck but was low enough to keep me hidden from the humans on board. The first human I saw wasn't at all what I expected it to look like."

"What did he look like?"

"For one thing he was very small, a child and he had dark hair. I found him to be quite adorable and thought about making him my playmate. So I sang to him, he heard me and he looked for me, I almost let him see me but then several bigger humans showed up so I got scared and stayed hidden. I heard him tell his mother that he heard my voice but she and the other humans dismissed it as not being real."

What she was describing seemed very familiar to him.

"Later I saw him playing with his mother and his father laughing and cheering. They held each other and looked at each other in a way that I had never seen in all my life. That was my first time seeing what love was like. In that moment I realized if these creatures were capable of love and family then they all couldn't be as monsterous as my sisters said they were. But shortly after that I saw how evil some humans can be."

"What do you mean?"

"It just after they finished embracing that I saw fire and stone being shot at the ship and watched in horror as these more wicked humans came aboard the ship and kill that couple. I had never seen anything so awful. Next thing I know there was this explosion and that small boy was thrown into the sea."

With each word she spoke, Gray felt himself once again flashback to the night his whole world tell apart. The fire, the blood, the dead bodies of his parents, the cold and dark ocean waters. He couldn't breathe.

"Gray are you okay?" She asked. "You're starting to look very pale. Do you want me to stop? Is it too horrifying?"

"No...No keep going. What did you do next?"

"Well I...I just couldn't let him die. He was so young and innocent, so I grabbed him and kept him above water. He was unconscious, I begged him not to die and kissed his forehead to give him strength. For a brief moment he woke up and he looked at me but then he passed out again. I saw another ship coming and spotted some nearby drift wood, I put his body on it and sent it out in sight of the humans on the ship but I didn't leave until I knew for sure that he was safe."

Gray felt a memory play in his mind. He was eight again and in the sea but he was above water, looking at a pair of blue eyes which he now realized belonged to a little girl with equally blue hair, very white skin, and a fish tail.

"Oh my God." He felt himself become dizzy at first but then he regained himself very quickly. "It was you."

"Huh?"

"It was you."

"What was me?"

"The one who saved me from drowning twelve years ago. That was you."

"You...You were that little boy?"

"Yes."

"Then that means...Oh." She came to the horrible realization that if Gray was the boy she had saved then that meant it was his parents who had died that night. "Oh you poor thing."

"Look it's not big deal. It was a long time ago."

"Still it must've been so traumatizing. No wonder you're so frightened of the water."

"What?! Who told you that?!"

"Natsu."

"He's lying!"

"Gray." She said looking at him in disbelief. "You don't have to be scared to tell me anything. I won't laugh or think less of you."

Gray was about to deny his fear but her eloquent eyes pleaded with him to be honest with her.

"Okay so I might be...A little scared of the water." He confessed.

"It's nothing to be ashamed of. Aquaphobia is a very rational fear."

"It's just that." He sighed. "When I'm in the sea I feel like it's that same night again. I'm a little kid again and I'm watching my parents die right in front of me. It's like the sea is a trigger for that damn memory."

She gently grasped his hand in a comforting manner.

"Do you want to talk about it?" She asked.

"I'd rather not. In fact I...I'd like to be alone."

"Alright."

She released his hand and started to walk back to her quarters. She had just reached the door to the lower deck when she heard Gray say:

"Thank you for saving me. Twice."

"You're welcome." She said with a smile.

Hint for the future: There's a particular reason why Juvia is different from other mermaids and it has something to do with Lucy's mother.