Chapter Two: Emotional Tears and Quiet Fears
"Juvia?" Gray couldn't move, he couldn't believe what he was seeing; she was standing right there... as if she'd never left.
"JUVIA!?" The guild erupted and in one swift stampede, Juvia was toppled over with the members of Fairy Tail. Some were crying, some cheering, none wanting to let go, but Gray stayed where he was.
"Where have you been!?" Lucy cried.
"We thought you were dead!" Ezra exclaimed.
"I told them you were still alive Juvia! I just knew it, yeah I'm all FIRED UP!" Natsu jumped, doing cartwheels around the guildhall, with a path of flames shooting like fireworks behind him.
Then as though everyone noticed he wasn't with them, they got up and made a path for Gray, who was still frozen in place. He took a deep breath and moved forward, resisting the urge to run in case she was overwhelmed, but as he approached, he noticed something different about the way she looked at everyone. "Juvia?" he kneeled down to her level.
"Uh, Juvia is very happy to meet everyone, but, does she know you?" The room stiffened, halted by the young mages' question.
"You don't know who we are?" Ezra asked.
Juvia gave a small shake of the head "No, Juvia is sorry, should she?" Gray looked her up and down, to see if maybe he missed an injury she had when she came in. That's when he saw it and his blood ran cold.
"Where is your Fairy Tail mark?" Everyone looked down at her thigh, which was exposed due to the slit in her skirts. The blue mark of the guild, that had always been there, was gone. Natsu looked pained in his expression, it wasn't the first time he saw a member lose their mark, and it did not bring happy memories.
"Juvia doesn't have any marks on her unless you count scars or bruises?" she pushed herself up off the guildhall floor "Juvia just arrived in town and is looking to make some money. She was told this was a good place to find work, but it seems you all know Juvia, however she doesn't recognize any of you?"
"Children, what is going on here?" Master Markov's voice boomed from the stairs. He made his way down to assess the commotion that he heard from his office. Immediately recognizing one of his children; who had been lost for many months. He then looked to Erza, in hopes she would summarize it for him.
"Master, Juvia has returned, but she doesn't seem to remember us, and her guild mark, it's gone?" he saw for himself that indeed the seal of Fairy Tail was no longer placed on the child, and he knew something was terribly wrong.
"Everyone, go back to what you were doing, we are Fairy Tail, and people need our help. Team Natsu, Levy, Gajeel, and Cana, come with me." He asked Juvia to also follow him and she kindly agreed. Once everyone was seated in his office Markov began a series of questions for Juvia, to see what she knew, or in this case "didn't" know.
"Tell me what you remember if you don't mind?" Juvia smiled.
"Not at all, although Juvia must apologize again, her memories aren't very good. She washed up on the shore near Akane beach five months ago, barely breathing. An elderly couple took care of Juvia's injuries and she only recently healed for the better. She can't remember anything before that, not her childhood, her family, her friends, just lots of nightmares. Juvia has recently made her way to the train station, unsure of her destination, she felt pulled to take the train going to Magnolia. Once she arrived, she thought it would make for a nice first stop. Juvia hopes to one day find out where she came from, but she needed to find living space first, so she decided to get a job. Juvia was then led here and that's when she met all of you." Everyone was taking in every word she said.
"Can you tell us about your dream?" Gray asked speaking up from the back of the room.
Juvia seemed quiet, scared even, and Gray had a feeling he knew exactly what her nightmare was about.
"Juvia is in a lot of pain in the dream, she sees and feels a heavy chain around her neck and her body is always ice-cold. Someone is laughing at her, but she can't see who it is, and another figure stands in front of her. Suddenly she is in pain, blow after blow, and then Juvia feels everything stop and go black. She hears a sad scream and wakes up. Juvia then has the same dream again and again." She was shaking; traumatized by something she doesn't even remember.
"So, if you all know Juvia, does that mean this is where she is from? Do you know what happened to her? One of you said you thought she was dead. Why?" She scanned the faces of everyone in the room to see which wizard would tell her the truth, but all she heard was silence.
"You are a member of the Fairy Tail guild, one of the finest water mages we've ever seen. We're your family, your closest friends, and we all care about you very much." Lucy spoke up with tears in her eyes.
"There was a war, Juvia, and we all fought in it together side-by-side. We won, but we thought you didn't make it..." Ezra's brave expression began to falter.
"I saw you die. That person in your dream, that was me Juuves. We were put under a strong magical spell called Icelock. The Ice Wizard Invel pitted you and me against each other, and the only way to break the chain was for one of us to kill the other. We had no control of our bodies, but you and I managed to have enough willpower left to make the ultimate choice. We both killed ourselves in the hopes of saving the other. I didn't die, you saved me with the last bit of power you had by turning your water into a blood transfusion spell. You- I held you and I watched you die in my arms. You died Juvia." Gray was holding on to what little composer he had left. The tears everyone knew he was fighting back were so close to falling, but Gray wouldn't let it. He needed to be strong for her, especially since she was crying and shaking in her chair.
"After we defeated the enemy, I went back to find your body, but it was gone. We searched everywhere for months, hoping by some miracle that you were alive, but we eventually concluded that maybe the spell you used eventually evaporated your body from being made out of water. Juvia if I knew- I never would have stopped looking." Gray pleaded.
"None of us would," Gajeel said, his face stoned and emotionless.
"Juvia is so sorry that she made you all feel so sad, she didn't mean to. She wishes she could remember any of this so that she could make you all feel better. Juvia is trying, she's trying really hard right now-" She started crying again and Wendy gave her a hug.
"Could she just have Amnesia?" Cana asked from the left of the room
"Amnesia couldn't explain her missing guild mark though?" Erza stated, clearly thinking of the next steps to take. She turned to Levy.
"Levy could you possibly take a look at Juvia? Maybe see if we can figure out how she survived in the first place? We could work from there." Levy nodded determinedly.
"In the meantime, we can all try and help Juvia remember her life, maybe something will click if it really is just amnesia?" Everyone nodded in agreement, happy that there was something they could do to help.
"So Juvia can stay?" Juvia finally stopped crying and looked up at the Master.
"Of course, you are one of my children whether you remember it or not and this is your home. Now I expect everyone to make this their prime focus, so no more jobs for the time being. We must do everything we can to help, and I want updates every day. I don't know what happened to you dear, but we are going to find out." he smiled.
"Juvia feels so blessed, and she will try her hardest as well." She beamed at everyone around her, trying to put names on faces. She would have to try at it every day, but deep down she knew she could do it. When Juvia got up to leave everyone stared at her. "Did Juvia forget something else?"
"Where are you going?" Cana asked.
"Oh, Juvia was going to find a place to rest for the night, she is very tired."
"You already have a place Juvia, Fairyhills, doesn't that ring any bells?" Wendy asked
"No, but maybe when Juvia sees it something will come back!" She said.
"I can take you there," Gray added. Erza was about to knock him right in the skull, knowing full well he was aware men weren't permitted there.
"It's alright Erza, they need some time to themselves." Master Markov nodded.
Levy took a few magic samples for her test and some details from Juvia before Gray led her out of the guildhall. Everyone seemed nervous watching her walk out, afraid she may never come back, but they knew that if Gray was with her, he would never let that happen again.