Chapter II: blue skies
He narrowed his eyes at her, observing the way her blue tresses fell just in front of her breasts, covering what was necessary. Her eyes were set in an expression that was very well set on the goal she had previously mentioned. He raised an eyebrow at this.
"I save your ass from bad men and you want to kill me?" He asked, crossing his arms above his chest in an attempt to postpone her foolery. "What makes you think you can defeat me anyway?"
"Juvia is Juvia of the Great Sea," she proclaimed, pride rising in her tone. "Within the sea's reach, Juvia is unbeatable."
"Oh yeah?" He taunted, readying his stance. "I'll take your word for it, but it won't mean that I'll easily killed by you. Why aren't you wearing any clothes, anyway?"
"Clothes?" The girl repeated, and for a moment he caught her off guard. She looked genuinely surprised and a little bit confused, her emotionless expression contorting into one that was actually a little bit—cute. "What are . . . Clothes?"
He chuckled at this, but resumed his straight face once she glared at him. "Clothes are—well, these," he placed his hands to the sides of his neck to pull on the collars of his trenchcoat, only to mret open air once he had closed his fingers. Once he glanced down, his very much naked-except-for-his-underwear body stared back up at him, and he grimaced. "I lose mine a lot. Guess I'm not one to be talking." He turned around then, trying to locate where he had flung his clothing off to.
She tilted her head to the side, and he watched her out of the corner of his eye. Her arms were elevated slightly beside her, and weren't hanging off her body like a normal person's would. She seemed to have a lot of trouble keeping her balance, for she kept sinking her toes underneath the sand, as if begging her legs not to give way under her. With her stance, her unusual ability to keep steady, and her lack of knowledge about normal human things that were needed to survive—
"Are you even human?" He asked her then, grabbing his coat that was hanging from a tree branch (how the fuck did that even get there? He couldn't have thrown it that hard).
Her eyes widened slightly, and raising her hand without warning, she summoned a wave by her side, avoiding the salty waters. He dodged her attack, surprised at being caught off-guard. "Hey!" He shouted in protest once he landed, slipping on his piece of clothing and securing it over his shoulders. "I wasn't ready!"
"Does Juvia look like she cares?" The blue haired girl asked him then, and he found himself avoiding another flurry of waves. "Water Lock!"
In an instant, a sphere of water appeared to encase Gray, and sucking in a deep breath, he found himself submerging inside. He opened his eyes, but the boy immediately regretted his decision, for the salt water definitely stung like a bitch. It was then when he decided that he had enough of shit. He slammed his fist into his palm, ice immediately forming and erupting from the collision. The ice spread out into the water, covering it—and when he punched the sphere, it exploded, and he found his feet meeting sand once more.
"He broke out of Juvia's water lock by himself?" The girl muttered, astounded. "I thought humans were incapable of magic . . .No matter. Water Slicer!"
Knife-like strands of water escaped the tips of her fingers, and Gray found himself dodging again, watching as the water jets hit a nearby tree, effectively slicing it in half. He glanced back at the girl, whose hands were raised experimentally, daring him to do something.
"My turn," he sneered, sliding his foot against the sand as he landed. "Ice make, lance!" Upon his command, sharp and pointed icicles attacked from his magic circle, heading on towards the girl. "Try to avoid that—"
She made no move to dodge, and merely stared on as the sharp ice weapons headed her way. His eyes widened ever so slightly as he saw his ice impale her—through the stomach, shoulders, legs—before hitting a tree behind her.
What surprised him was to see her body start to regenerate, the holes his attack had created starting to connect through streams of water, to disappear from sight forever. In mere seconds, she was as good as new, and it was as if the direct attack he had cast upon her was nothing but a mere fantasy.
"Physical attacks do not work on Juvia," the former mermaid announced. "Gray-sama has to try harder than that if he wants to stop her from killing him."
"Gray-sama?" He shuddered at the added formality. Did she know that he was royalty?
The formidable prince of Fiore, disciple of Ur, son of Silver and Mika Fullbuster. His parents had long gone, and it was the humble countess who had taken him in in the North, training him and teaching him her ways. He had journeyed back to Fiore when his teacher had died, after defeating the evil overlord of all merpeople—a demon called Deliora, the same demon who had murdered his parents. From then on, Gray found himself overridden with guilt, and a burning desire to eradicate all evil from the sea. When he arrived in Fiore, he was taken in by the king, knowing his lineage and the bountiful inheritance he was to receive. With Makarov as a supposed father, a pink-haired, flame-brained, half-assed excuse for a fire mage as a brother, a redheaded mage in training to be the future captain of the garrisons their kingdom had as a sister—well, you could kind of say he was contented with his life.
"What are you?" He asked, trying to steer the conversation away from his status (if she even knew). "Mages are really hard to come across nowadays."
"Mages?"
"You don't know what mages are?"
When she shook her head, he frowned at her. Her was kind of absolutely certain she wasn't human now. Either that, or she was absolutely stupid—which had occurred to him when she spouted crap about killing him—but she looked as if she knew enough magic to retain enough information through that head of hers. It wasn't that she was stupid, it was just that she had never encountered it before.
"It's okay to tell me if you aren't human," he tried once again, leaning his weight on one side of his body. "It's not like I won't tell—"
A burst of steaming water headed in his direction, and he had no time to dodge this attack. The heat seared through his skin and he gulped, the sensation reminding him of his foster brother. Luckily for him, he was used to flames and heat, so the sudden jet stream of pure agony wasn't taking much of a toll on him as it was supposed to.
Juvia was seething. To be discovered not-to-be-human by a mere human, almost as soon as she had stepped on land—why, she was a disgrace! What in the world would Master Jose and the others think of the high and mighty Juvia failing to keep up a disguise in the human world? She would be the laughing stock of Phantom! She had to remove this pathetic imbecile off the face of the earth, if it was the last fucking thing she would ever do.
Gray placed his hands in front of him, a surge of energy bursting through his palms. The ice immediately encased the boiling water, and he ran towards Juvia, his hands following suit as he froze her waters, until he reached the girl herself. Shouting his battle cry, he distracted her long enough to freeze her—only to find his hand touching a very, very naked breast above strands of hair. Tinges of red dashed the Ice mage's cheeks and he immediately let go, releasing her from the ice.
She fell forward, her knees finally giving out from underneath her, and she stared at him from above. Gray muttered his sincerest apologies, looking away from Juvia as he tried to settle his eyes on something that wasn't a blue-eyed, blue-haired woman.
"You released me from the ice," she murmured, picking herself up from the ground. The thought of him touching her her was disgusting in a sense, but she didn't understand why the man was so flustered after his little accident. He was not that bad, for a human anyway. He seemed kind of. . . Nice, in a sense. Juvia sighed. "Do you know of a Lucy Heartfilia? If you do, I may spare you your life."
"Lucy?" A vague image of a blonde haired girl in a very pretty pink dress hanging out with Natsu flashed in his mind, and he narrowed his eyes. "What do you want with Lucy?"
"She is to return to us, where she belongs," she told him. "Her father is requesting her presence, and it is my job to drag her back to the sea."
"The sea?" He echoed, raising an eyebrow in slight confusion. "Why would he want her to go to the sea? She'll—" only mermaids could survive under the sea. The girl in front of him wore next to nothing, with only her hair and a few seaweeds as her sources of clothing. She was unaccustomed to the way of life he was used to. She had to drag someone back to the sea. He put two and two together.
"You're a mermaid, aren't you?" He asked bluntly, and Juvia's face reddened immensely.
She was such a fool! How in the world could she create a slip-up just like that? Oh, if Gajeel was to know, it would be the death of her. Her embarrassment heated the sides of her cheeks and the top of her nose, and she could barely see the human in front of her. She shook her head and slapped her cheeks, trying to wake herself up and convince herself that no, she was not dreaming, and that yes, this was reality.
"You figured Juvia out," she said angrily, gritting her teeth. "No matter. Just give me Lucy Heartfilia."
"Wait," Gray raised a hand up, halting her words. "If you're a mermaid, and you have feet, and you came here to drag Lucy back to the sea, then does that mean she's a mermaid too?"
He's not only handsome, but he seemed to possess some kind of intelligence in him as well, Juvia observed. "Yes, now if you could hand her over—"
"No way," Gray interrupted almost immediately, shaking his head. "I will not hand a friend over, unless she's willing to come with you. That will be her choice, not mine."
Her heart thumped loudly at his words, a twinge of jealousy for the blonde mermaid appearing in her chest. She was of royal status in the sea, a princess loved by her whole kingdom, but Lucy was lonely and dissatisfied with her life. She sought out a prince she had fallen in love with, and had exchanged her tail for a pair of disgusting legs, to the price of her voice. How could a woman who seemed so incredibly selfish deserve this kind of protection?
Yes, Juvia was alone. She was forced to live her life under the sea with only her beating heart and mind for company, without parents to love or any subjects to adore her. Why can't she have the same treatment as Lucy Heartfilia, who was probably having the time of her life at the very moment. Her envy boiled deep into her soul, and she forced herself to remain calm as she faced the man in front of her.
"Why is she here anyway?" Gray asked, running a hand through his dark locks, oblivious to the rage his companion was radiating. "A mermaid exchanges her tail for legs? Who does that? And why can you speak and why can't she? Are there different ways for mermaids to actually acquire legs?"
Juvia shrugged, and she stared at him blankly, her anger not dying down. "Bring me to her," she told him. She wanted to go back home, back to her pretty little cove with pretty little pearls and lots and lots of seashells for company. "So Juvia can go home. Juvia will tell her comrades to withdraw and not fight any humans anymore. Please."
He shook his head, refusing to give in. "I told you, didn't I? This is her decision to make, and—"
Boiling water came his way, and soon he was engulfed with a temperature that could already rival lava. Juvia glared at his form as he flowed with her tide, his back hitting the wall of a rock as he stopped. "Juvia's anger is unstoppable! Her jealousy is brimming!" She shouted angrily, screaming.
Gray put his hands in front of him. "I'll just freeze it again," he had thought, but was ultimately surprised when no ice came out of his outstretched hands. Was the water hotter than before? He coughed and sputtered as the water seemed to dissolve around him, and he came face to face with the blue haired mistress herself.
"Give me Lucy," she growled at him, and he glared at her, pushing himself up.
"Never in a million years."
He pushed her back using his hands, before laying out his attack. "Ice make, geyser!"
Juvia found herself laying on the sand this time, her wavy hair stretching out from beside her. She felt frozen, and a little bit exhausted from the amount of magic she had released a while back. She stared at the blue sky, watching as the sun's rays encompassed the horizon, lighting up the clouds and delivering magnificent light to wherever it touched. It was a beautiful sight, and it had been so long since she had lain on her back to watch the sun's rays play along the edges of the water.
"Oi," she heard a gruff voice come from above her, and the image of Gray Fullbuster came into sight, blocking the sun from her vision. She glanced up at him with tired eyes, and he looked a little taken aback when she did so. "You cooled off now?" He asked, kneeling beside her.
"Pretty," was her smart reply, as she found herself entranced with the beauty of the sky.
"Eh?" The man grunted, and he himself looked up, seeing the beautiful mass of blue stretching out from above them. "Ah, the sky? Come to think about it, do you get to look at it much when you're underwater?"
Juvia shook her head, and he chuckled. "Well, you get to see it now. Congratulations."
He flashed her a smirk. Whether it was from the heat of the battle, or the beauty of the sky—she could have sworn her heart skipped a beat.
"So you want to live on land a little?" Gray repeated, finding the blue haired girl trailing behind him. He had offered her his coat, preferring to walk around in nothing but his pants (not that he was bothered by it anyway). She had took it with compliance, but seemed a little confused when she was told that she couldn't go around with only her hair and some leaves covering her—parts.
"Juvia has to get back Lucy Heartfilia, and since you won't give her to Juvia, then she has to go find her herself," the girl told him, rolling her eyes. "Wherever you reside, I am sure that she is there."
Gray sighed, irritated at her determination and set goal. "Fine, I won't be able to stop you from 'getting' her. But could you at least spare me some slack and promise that you won't pull off any dirty tricks while we're asleep or something? That's unfair."
"Juvia doesn't really care, because all she needs—"
"I'm just asking you to let the castle sleep, for God's sake," he spat at her, pushing the castle doors open. "I'm already letting you follow me to my house, and I gave you my cloak, so could you please just stay out of my way and just converse with Lucy and negotiate or something?" He avoided the castle entrance, the one he and Natsu were always ordered to use, and headed back to the servant's quarters. Greeting a few horsemen as he passed, he dragged the girl forward, pushing her into the cramped kitchen and looking to see if there were any eavesdroppers.
He closed the door from behind them, and saw her tug on his cloak a little more, her lip quivering a little because of the cold. He sighed. What the fuck was he supposed to do with a washed-on-shore mermaid with a pursuit to kill everyone she mentions?
"Juvia won't pull any dirty tricks," she told him quietly, looking at the food and plates and everything around her. "But Lucy really has to return to the sea."
"I get that," he stated, crossing his arms. "Now, this is the castle, and Lucy is probably with Natsu at the moment. First we need to get you some decent clothes, and make you fit a little more if you want to stay here, on land. Do you understand?"
She nodded then, looking him directly in the eye. He squinted a little at the sight of her blue pair, framed by thick lashes. Her eyes appeared to be hollow, and a little dead, void of any emotion whatsoever. He had seen a little spark in them a while back, something that seemed to resemble anger—but that was it. Just a spark.
"Excellent. Now I have to get back. Find Mirajane Strauss, she'll probably let you in. Tell her you're under my care, and that you need a place to stay. She's a girl with silver hair and she smiles a lot. Bye."
With those words said, the former mermaid was left alone in a dingy kitchen, pulling on a coat that was too big for her, and biting her lip as her legs felt like there were a thousand knives poking them. He left at a door in the right, and she pushed open a door to the left.
She was greeted with the sight of three people with matching silver hair, and a lot of (what Gray-sama called) clothes. The three of them looked up as she entered, and she found herself under the scrutinizing gaze of who looked to be the eldest and most mature of the three. She held her position, not at all intimidated by the sight of them.
"Hello there!" The eldest said, and she grinned at her. "What is it that you want?"
"Are you Mirajane Strauss?" She asked, and when the girl with the longest hair nodded, she sighed a little thankfully. "Juvia was told that she had to go to you. She is under Gray-sama's care and she really needs a place to—"
The girl with a short hair walked towards her eagerly, grabbing her hand and taking them within two of her own. "I'm Lisanna! I'm Mira-nee's little sister, and the huge man over there is my brother, Elf-nii! Nice to meet you!"
Mirajane smiled demurely at her sister's enthusiasm, and offered Juvia a seat beside her. "Elfman, do you mind stepping out for a moment? We might need to measure her," she told her brother, and he nodded.
"A man knows when to leave!" He declared, before exiting the door and shutting it behind him.
"I'm assuming your name is Juvia?" Mira said, focusing on the blue-haired girl. "My, your hair looks just like the ocean! What brings you here?"
"Juvia needs to capture Lucy Heartfilia, and bring her back to the sea," the girl answered honestly. "But to do that, she has to converse and negotiate with her, apparently. Her father wants her unharmed anyway."
"Well now, I'm glad you won't resort to violence." Mira glanced at Juvia, her serene blue eyes deepening a few shades darker, and a somewhat demonic aura radiated off of her. "Had you wanted to hurt her, well," she cackled, and Juvia found herself shrinking a little, cowering behind Lisanna.
"Juvia won't," she immediately told the silver haired woman, as if to sedate her.
Perhaps not all humans were bad, was the thought that had entered Juvia's mind when she found herself engaging in conversation with the Strauss sisters. She told them all about her fight with Gray, and was forced to tell them the secret of her and Lucy's identity. By the end of her tale, a knock came from the door.
"Come in," Mira answered, and a woman with red hair clad in metal entered the room, her arms over her chest condescendingly. "Ah, Erza, welcome back!"
"Mira, I need a new job," she told her, and only them seemed to notice the presence of the newcomer. "Oh, who's this?"
"Juvia," the mermaid answered simply, blinking at her sudden appearance.
"Pleasure to meet your acquaintance," Erza said, and she took the girl's hand in hers and shook it firmly. Juvia bit her lip at the force the other girl's handshake, a little confused at the action as well. "I'm Erza Scarlet. Welcome to Fairy Tail."