Enjoy!

20 | The Meeting

Juvia

Gray and I made our way towards the room where I would meet the others.

At first we were worried that I wouldn't be allowed to bring Gray with me, but apparently each contestant gets to bring one person with them.

And obviously Juvia chose Gray-sama!

I looked over at Gray who had his eyes trained solely on the path in front of us.

He's worried.

"Gray-sama?" I ask softly.

"Yeah?" He responds, not even bothering to look at me, tugging me along, his hand in mine.

His hands are cold, more so than normal, and his eyes keep flitting around.

"Gray-sama what's wrong?" I ask, my voice filled with slight concern.

"Nothing," He responds curtly.

He's shutting me out.

I feel my shoulders deflate, and my spirit fall down slightly.

"Juvia knows something is wrong," I say firmly, going between first and third person.

Gray lets out a long sigh, running his fingers through his hair, "I'm just scared Juvia," He finally says, finally turning to look at me.

"I know Gray," I say, looking at his dark eyes that are filled with concern.

He's worried for me.

I feel my chest fill with warmth and the love I have for him builds even more.

Suddenly, Gray lets out a soft chuckle, "I'm still getting used to hear you talk in first person,"

"You are?" I ask, curiously.

I hadn't realized he'd even notice.

Gray looks at me, a mischievous smirk on his face, "I'm not gonna lie, you talking in third person was pretty cute,"

I feel my face heat up, "G-G-gray-sama thought Juvia was cute?" I squeak out.

Gray lets out a loud laugh and plants a quick kiss on my forehead, causing me to blush even more.

"Of course, not you aren't cute now," He said, winking at me.

Gray-sama's awfully forward today.

"Gray-sama's awfully flirty today," I say, voicing my thoughts.

"Well maybe I woke up a little different this morning," He says, intertwining his hand with mine, and not even giving me a chance to respond, as we move our way towards the room.

Only a couple more feet.

Suddenly, the door opens to reveal a man whose face immediately brightens up at seeing us.

He starts clapping and jumping up and down, "Oh goody you're finally here!"

I look at Gray, who looks at me with one of his eyebrows raised.

I give him a shrug to say 'I don't know'

Who would put a man like this in charge of a meeting like this especially with people like the Shadowalkers.

Nonetheless, Gray and I make our way into the room only to find two other people in the room.

They're not the Shadowalkers so they must be the other team.

"Hello," I say, my voice coming out gentle, "My name's Juvia and this is Gray," I say, immediately wanting to figure out what kind of people these are, "And you must be the other contestant?" I ask.

It's hard to tell what they are like with their long, black cloaks on but from what I can tell, they're female...unless that is one very short man.

"Yes," A voice responds, equally as soft as mine.

"Great!" Juvia responds cheerfully.

Surely she isn't too bad.

"May Juvia ask what your name is?" I ask, wanting to find out more about the mysterious figures.

"My name is-," She starts to respond before the figure, who's a little bit taller, bumps in.

"Not important," The figure says with a gruff but very much feminine voice, "All you need to know is that she's your contestant,"

Ok then.

"Hey," Gray steps in, his face contorted in slight anger, "Back off, she was just asking a question,"

"Whatever," The girl immediately responds, crossing her arms and leaning back into the dark corner of the room, almost as if she were blending in with shadows.

"I'm sorry for my companion's behavior," The shorter girl says, bowing in apology, "She's not very talkative," She says, her face still covered by the cloak.

"It's alright," Juvia says, offering her a smile.

Before the girl can even open her mouth to respond, the door slams open to reveal the woman who's called 'Ameonna' and if memory serves right, the man next to her is named 'Rakurai'.

"Oh," Ameonna said once her eyes flitted over to the girls in the black cloaks, "Look who decided to show up, Rakurai," She said, her eyes flitted in amusement.

Ameonna knows them?!

My eyes meet with Gray's whose eyes are filled with the exact same shock as well as curiosity.

So I'm not the only one.

"Of course we're here," The taller of the two girls says, "Couldn't miss out on all the fun could we?"

"I guess not," Ameonna says, "But how can we have any fun with those cloaks of yours covering you,"

"Well that sounds like your problem," The girl responds bitterly, causing Ameonna's face to turn sour.

"Well played Ali," Ameonna says, and before you know the girl has her pinned against the wall, her black cloak falling back revealing her face.

I could only see the back of the girl, and I definitely couldn't see the front of her face because there was so much black, unruly hair that covered her head.

"You lost the right to even call me that when you betrayed us," The girl snarls viciously at Ameonna.

If Juvia was Ameonna, she'd be terrified right now.

However Ameonna wasn't, in fact, she was smirking.

"Now there's the Ali we all know and love," Ameonna says, "Why don't you just throw me across the room like we all know you want to," She says, her eyes filled with challenge.

"Ali don't," The other girl says, "She's just trying to trick you,"

"Sylvia," Ameonna spits, a sick smile on her face, "You've finally gained a face...and half a brain,"

"SHUT UP!" The girl who has her pinned says, slamming Ameonna against the wall as well as dropping her on the floor afterwards, "You don't know a damn thing Ameonna!"

Suddenly Rakurai intervenes between the two, "Save it for the battle dragon," He says, before helping Ameonna up, who has a dark smile on her face, barely a scratch.

"Better put your cloak back up," Ameonna says, "Wouldn't want anyone to find out who you really are..." Ameonna says, before taking a step towards Ali, whose face I still couldn't see, and whispers into her ear, "Murderer,"

Not skipping a beat, Ali retaliates, but before she can even make a swing, the other girl, Sylvia is in front of her, "Ali, I know it's hard but you need to forget everything she just told, you know none of it's true. Put your cloak back on, and let's go, we've met the other contestants and that's all we needed to do,"

I hear Ali's harsh breaths coming from her.

She's strong. Juvia can feel the magic radiating from her.

Without even a second passing by, Ali's hood is back up and she's out the door, Sylvia not far behind her, leaving the Shadowalkers smirking as well as Gray and her in complete shock.

Right after they leave, the man from before comes back in cheerful as ever, completely oblivious to what just happen, "Oh, where did the other two with black cloaks go?" He asks, his face filled with confusion,"

Surprisingly, it was Ameonna who answered, "They did all that they needed to, and decided that they wanted a little more training before the match,"

"Oh goody!" The man says, once again clapping his hands, "The better they are for the battle!" He says, as if training meant that their magic would somehow be increased after a couple minutes of training.

"We'll be taking our leave as well," Rakurai says, then walks out the door, Ameonna following close behind.

"See you in the battle Juvia," Ameonna says, faking a smile.

If Juvia didn't know any better, she would have been just as kind to Ameonna...she's a good faker.

"Well then," The man says, "I'll just let you two be on your way then, can't wait to see your performance Miss Lockser," Then exits the room just like the others.

Gray and I were silent as we walked back to the others.

"What am I going to do?" I ask Gray right before we take the final steps to the others.

Without warning Gray engulfs me in a tight hug, resting his chin on my head, "You listen to me Juvia, you'll be just fine against them, you will come on top," He says, his voice filled with concern.

To say the least, I understood his concern, because for the first time in a long time.

I was terrified. The Shadowalkers were playing just to win the Grand Magic Games. After seeing what happened in that room, they were after much more than that...

A:N

Hey My Lil Donuts!

So I know this isn't great, but I just need a couple chapters to get back into the crazy universe that is Fairy Tail!

Anyway, what'd y'all think of this chapter?!

Post your thoughts the comments below!

Thanks for Reading!

Buh-bye my Lil Donuts!

Rissa