To make up for my one year and a half absence, here's chapter three (released only a few days after chapter two yaaas HAHAHA) thank you so much for following my story, I am forever grateful :) please leave a review if you can!

Chapter III: lights colored blue

"Please stay, Gray-sama."

He stared at her in surprise, eyes shifting from her fingers gripping his coat and her face, a rosy hue dusting her pale cheeks. Her sees her expression—she looked just as surprised as he, as if she hadn't expected herself to latch upon him when he attempted to leave.

Gray cleared his throat, and Juvia's grip on his coat loosens. The mermaid opened her mouth to speak, attempting to tell him that Gray-sama doesn't have to stay if he doesn't want to, but he interrupts her by sitting down once again nonchalantly.

He doesn't speak, and she can't make out a word even if she tried. The people in the palace contradicted everything she believed to be true about the human species. They were strangely welcoming, as her presence in the didn't seem to bother anyone residing in the structure. Maybe Master Jose was wrong. Maybe Gajeel was wrong. Maybe she was wrong. Maybe humans weren't as vile—

She shook her head, trying to extract the thoughts from her head. No mercy, Juvia.

"Are you okay?" Gray asked her, arching an eyebrow. It surprised the mermaid when the simple action made her breath hitch in her throat.

"Yes," she answered immediately. Her voice came out higher than she had expected, and she touched her throat instinctively.

"What, you gonna lose your voice too?"

"No, Juvia is not going to lose her voice. Nor will she ever give it up."

"Did Lucy give hers up?"

"Perhaps," she replied vaguely, implying that Gray wouldn't be able to get answers out of her anytime soon. "Perhaps she didn't."

Gray let out a frustrated groan, running a hand through his dark locks. "This is why Erza does the interrogation, y'know?"

"Erza-san is a very powerful woman," she told him, nodding her head. "Juvia can sense a great deal of magical energy emitting from her; she's not someone you should mess with, I presume."

"I bet I can defeat her," Gray said, smirking. "Erza's gonna be kissing the ground once I'm done with her."

"Yes, you can keep on dreaming."

Gray froze. Juvia tilted her head to the side in curiosity, eyes landing on a familiar, armor-clad mage standing in the doorway, arms crossed above her chest as she stared at the both of them, an amused smirk playing on her lips.

"Erza-san," Juvia greeted, bowing lightly from where she was seated.

"Hello Juvia," Erza answered, nodding her head in acknowledgement. She turned her gaze to Gray. "So, Gray, what was that again?"

"This is my room," Gray said, changing the topic. "I told you a million times—"

"Not to enter your room, yes," the captain walked towards the both of them eyes sparking with curiosity. "But your door was left open and our. . . Shall we say, very naked guest, has been cursing the name Lucy Heartfilia and is looking for a girl named Juvia."

Juvia's eyes widened in surprise, and she swayed instinctively, the water from the tub rising as she moved. "Gajeel-kun! He is—"

"A man who has injured three of our people," Erza interrupted, eyes darkening. "And that, Juvia, is not easily forgiven."

Juvia opened her mouth to defend her friend, but thought against it. Erza Scarlet was a woman who possessed powers far greater than that of her own—hell, she was probably as strong as Master Jose, who was the strongest mage she had ever encountered. . . And she writhed underneath the torture of his magic whenever she did a mission incorrectly.

"Can you take me to him?" She opts to say instead, trying to stand up. This proved to be a bad idea as the moment she does so, her feet slip her bottom meets the bottom of the tub again.

"I will, after you explain to me what you and Gray are doing in his bathroom and why you are drenched in his tub."

He's tired and amused at the same time.

The fact that Erza had prohibited fights in the castle was enough to piss him off because every time he saw his pathetic excuse for a brother, Gray felt the need to introduce his fist to the salmon-haired prince's face. Also, he couldn't pick fights outside of the castle, and he was desperately craving for a good fight.

His battle with Juvia had been exhilarating. She was fluid in her movements and precise whenever she struck. For a moment, Gray wondered if she would agree to duel with him again, without thoughts of killing him playing in her mind.

She was different. The mermaid spoke of herself in a manner unfamiliar to him—referring to herself by name, as if she was a separate entity from the body given to her—but she seemed to possess manners and was civil (something Natsu didn't even have, and he was a prince).

"I will, after you explain to me what you and Gray are doing in his bathroom and why you are drenched in his tub."

He froze for the second time that day.

Juvia looked calm from his perspective, but the scenario Erza caught them in was strange in itself. He was leaning against his bathtub with a drenched yet fully-clothed girl in it.

"Juvia is a mermaid. She needs water. She almost died so Gray-sama took her here."

"I see," Erza replied calmly, and Gray sighed in relief. Erza was always the composed one between the three of them, even though she screamed a lot whenever they accidentally destroyed her strawberry cake. "May I assume that Lucy Heartfilia and the guest we are holding downstairs are merfolk as well? You have expressed your desires to return Lucy to the sea."

"Yes."

Gray's surprised Erza's getting answers out of her quickly, but then again, these are things he already knew and deducted.

"Can Juvia go see Gajeel-kun now?"

Erza hummed in response to Juvia's question. Gray could tell that the captain wanted to continue the interrogation, but refrained herself from doing so.

"Perhaps you would like to get new clothes. Again."

Gray snickered at Erza, but the captain shot him a glare, effectively shutting him up. He wasn't exactly one to speak when it came to maintaining his state of dress.

Juvia was looking at Erza as if she had just grown a second head, before she sighed and began to attempt to stand up for a second time. "Erza-san, you are aware that garments such as these have never fared a mermaid's skin—especially this mermaid's skin—until now. They are extremely uncomfortable."

They are, Gray agreed in his mind. He always felt as if his clothes constricted his movements, having been used to training without them.

"This is what society deems appropriate," Erza said. "I'm sorry, but you'll have to bear with it a little more for now. I'd rather not have another being walking around the palace stark naked." Gray flinched, knowing the comment was directed at him.

Juvia frowned. "Gajeel-kun won't like clothes either."

She heard Gajeel before she even saw him.

His voice, deep and menacing, shouting curses in a language only the both of them understood. It was one of the reasons why the two of them were so tightly-knit despite being in a group as ruthless as Phantom. They understood each other—both literally and figuratively.

"You're slow," Gray commented, looking back at her. Erza, who was in front of her as well, did the same.

Erza had allowed her the liberty to walk barefoot (the shoes looked very tight and she felt like she would have fallen had she covered her feet with the objects) in consideration for her new legs. Her feet wouldn't even be seen because of the long gown she had placed her in, so it didn't matter whether or not she wear shoes.

She glared at the both of them in an attempt to maintain her dignity. The pain she had felt earlier subsided when she met the water, but it left a lingering numbness that seemed to overtake the entirety of the lower part of her anatomy, making it harder for her to walk.

"Do your feet hurt?" Erza asked in concern. "Would you like me to carry you?"

Never in the mermaid's life would she rely on a human when she was perfectly capable of pushing herself to accomplish her task. It was just walking. So, keeping her head high in the air, she voiced out her thoughts. "Juvia doesn't need any help."

To prove her statement, she overtook the both of them, following the sound of the merman shouting.

Erza watched her amusedly, chuckling. Gray raised an eyebrow at the scarlet-haired captain.

"What's the matter, Erza?"

"Nothing," she replied, shaking her head, the smirk never leaving her lips. "She just reminds me of me." She lowered her voice then, resuming their pace as she spoke, "I've read in books that mermaids who transform their tails to feet experience pain that resembles a thousand needles piercing through your skin."

Gray was watching the blue-haired woman in front of them walk as if nothing of the sort was happening to her. "Sounds bad," he said dryly. "But why didn't Lucy experience that kind of pain?"

"I don't know," Erza answered, shrugging. "Maybe it's because she gave up her voice. We'll find out more later, once we get answers out of all of them."

"See, this is what Natsu gets when he falls out of a ship and fails to swim because he was really drunk. He's still looking for the mermaid who saved him, right?"

"You're thinking it's Lucy?"

Gray nodded.

"I think so too."

They halt the conversation when Juvia pushes a wooden door, eye twitching in irritation. Stupid humans and their stupid human things.

"Gajeel's on the other side," she said indifferently, as if she didn't just try to open a wooden door by pushing it forward.

"You have a lot to learn," Gray told her, dismissing her statement. He turned the knob in front of her, effectively opening the door and allowing the three of them entry.

She didn't reply for fear of embarrassing herself more.

Seaweed!

She flinches in annoyance at the nickname, finally in contact with Gajeel after being apart with him for a day. How many times did Juvia tell you not to call her that?

Gajeel was chained, the dark metals surrounding his wrists and the ankles of his newly-acquired feet. The mane he called hair was disarray, and wounds covered the entirety of his body. "Eleven times," he replied, looking at the water mage standing in front of him. "You look like a human."

"You're not one to talk, Gajeel-kun, you look like one too," she said smoothly, frowning at him. "And here Juvia was thinking you wouldn't get caught by the pathetic creatures you wanted to kill."

"I wouldn't have gotten caught if I didn't find out you were fraternizing with the enemy."

They seemed to know each other very well, Gray observed. Even if he couldn't understand what both of them were saying, they seemed comfortable with each other. Perhaps they were brother and sister? Or lovers? He shuddered. The ice mage couldn't seem to imagine the two of them—one calm and composed, the other ragged and aggressive—in any sort of relationship aside from familial.

"Levy's the only one who can understand what they're saying," Erza whispered, her voice taking a tone that meant she was angry and calm at the same time. "But this man—this merman—"

"You have hurt three of their kind."

It took Gray by surprise when Juvia spoke in their language again, and they could finally understand what she was saying.

"Nothing you wouldn't have done," Gajeel replied.

"Ah, so he's capable of speaking our language after all," Erza muttered lowly. "This man has been causing me trouble because he wouldn't answer my questions directly. The only things I could pick up was Juvia's name and Lucy's name."

"Gajeel-kun, maybe, maybe. . ."

The thoughts that had plagued her mind in the tub threatened to spill out. 'Maybe not all humans are bad. Maybe they're kind. Maybe they're accepting. Maybe they—'

But as she took in the appearance of her friend, tortured and chained in front of her. . .

"Release him, Erza-san," Juvia spoke. "Gajeel-kun will not cause you harm, Juvia will make sure of it." The merman cursed her telepathically, but she paid him no heed as she continued speaking. "I will explain everything once you release him."

Erza looked at her in contemplation, considering the option. There was a chance that she was lying, after all. She could strike once her friend was free.

"You can't trust these fucking humans, Juvia!" Gajeel shouted.

"Much like we can't trust both of you." Gray glared at Gajeel, and the merman glared back with just as much force. "You're on our territory, in case you've forgotten. Live with it or you die."

For some reason, the fact that Gray didn't trust her—well, basically Gajeel and her, but she was included—didn't quite sit right in her heart, and it surprised the mermaid. Ever since she had met him, Juvia found herself starting to feel differently. He was making her think that maybe not all humans were bad, that there were people like him who were just as willing to defend those who needed his protection. It scared her.

"As much as I would like to find out more, Juvia," Erza started, twirling the keys in her fingertips, "He has injured innocent civilians, and as I said before, that is unforgiveable." The power radiating off of Erza Scarlet was truly on a different level. Even Gajeel seemed to shut himself up. Juvia kept her stance.

"State their names."

"Two men named Jet and Droy, and a maiden called Levy," Erza answered, narrowing her eyebrows in suspicion.

"Take Juvia to them, then."

"I hope you understand when I say that I don't trust you, Juvia."

"Erza-san really shouldn't," the mermaid said honestly, nodding in agreement. "But if Erza-san can prove Juvia wrong when she says that humans are vile creatures who know no mercy—" her eyes, which were as vast as the sea itself, sparked in what looked like fury, "then Juvia will do no harm."

"Are you going insane, Juvia?" the chained man shouted, dragging the metal objects along with him as he shoved his fists forward.

"No, she's trying to make negotiations, something Gajeel-kun can't understand."

"Is that an insult?"

"Shut your trap, Gajeel-kun," she hissed sharply, and the man clamped his mouth shut, even though his glare stood strong against hers. Great, she was already mad. She spoke in their language, "We're in their territory, as Gray-sama has mentioned. We can't take all of them out on our own. If you want to die, then go—die in the hands of the humans you hate."

She was right, he thought, but he didn't want to give her the satisfaction of knowing that (even though she probably already knew) and Juvia returned the conversation to Erza, who was watching the both of them warily.

"Gajeel-kun will remain calm for now," Juvia told the armour-clad mage. "Let's allow him to contemplate on his actions. Take me to the people he has hurt."

"What are you planning on doing?" Erza had opened her mouth to speak, but Gray beat her to it, voicing out the captain's questions before she could say it herself. "Mavis, I'm so tired of your endless riddles, Juvia. Just say what you're going to do outright!"

"Juvia's a water mage," she said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Water mages are healers."

She wasn't lying.

Gray train of thought mirrored Erza's, the two watching the mermaid work with the three's injuries quickly. Wrists, arms, shoulders, and stomachs were covered by a glowing blue light. They had—begrudgingly, at first—provided Juvia with water, and Erza had told Gray to standby should the girl attack. The mermaid, however, proved her words true as she merely manipulated the drops and dispersed them, the glowing beads of water following the wounds of the injured trio.

"Juvia's used to doing this," she said without their prompting. "Gajeel is always going around hurting people."

"Well, then I guess we have you to thank for their fast recovery," Erza stated, sighing in relief. "You don't seem as bad as you make yourself out to be, Juvia."

"Should Juvia consider that a compliment or an insult?"

"Depends on how you look at it, I guess." She shrugged, glancing at Gray, who did the same. "If you wanted yourself to look bad, then it's an insult. If you wanted yourself to look good, then it's a compliment."

"I guess Juvia's neither good nor bad. She's just doing her job."

"Ya 'know, you could make that a business or something," Gray piped, and Juvia raised an eyebrow at him.

"Pardon?"

"Oh right, mermaid. A business is—"

"Juvia knows what a business is, but what should she make a business?" A wry smile was playing on her lips.

"Healing, I mean," he replied offhandedly. "You seem really good at it. It could be better than chasing around princesses who left their sea to come on land for a dim-witted prince."

"Juvia kind of likes fighting better than healing." She snapped her fingers, and the blue lights disappeared. "She likes feeling alive."

Juvia had grown up alone, fending for herself in the wide, wide sea. The only friend she had ever made was Gajeel, for he was able to understand the language she had grown up with, compared to the rest of the merfolk who could only converse using the language of the people on land. They welcomed the humans with open arms, the kings talking with kings about trade and whatnot.

That's what made Phantom different.

A knock on the door made the three of them turn around. "Captain Erza, the king requests your immediate presence," a maid said delicately, bowing her head after she spoke.

Erza nodded. "I must depart for now. Juvia, I've seen that you keep true to your promises, and I as a mage respect that." She flashed Gray a pointed look. "For now, you keep her company, since Natsu's preoccupied."

Gray nodded, not really planning on contradicting her.

The captain left the room, leaving Gray and Juvia alone with the three slumbering humans. Sighing, the ice mage sat, unconsciously unbuttoning his shirt as he leaned against the chair, closing his eyes.

"These three just need to rest and they'll wake up feeling a bit numb, but that's natural. All they have to do is walk it off and they'll be fine."

He nodded absent mindedly, opening one eye to see the mermaid take her place opposite him, fumbling as she did so. He closed his eyes once more.

She was . . . odd, to say the least, but as long as she wasn't trying to kill him, he figured she was okay.