Chapter 12: Trust
Juvia stirred when she felt a small nudge of a paw on her nose, it was Carla. She looked sleepy, and Juvia could also see a very tired Wendy doing the same to Lucy. It was time for the shift change. When she sat up, she still felt dizzy and had aching in her muscles, but she was able to move, and that was good enough. The fire was still going, and the sky glowed a lighter shade of purple, signaling that in the next couple hours the sun would begin to rise. Lucy plopped down on a blanket right next to Juvia, sitting close for warmth. The wind wasn't rough in the deep forest, but it had somehow managed to grow a bit colder in those early morning hours. "Man, it's freezing!" Lucy whispered, her teeth chattering a bit. Juvia suddenly had a great idea, getting up quickly she made her way to the supplies near the tents. Grabbing a kettle and a pouch of dark grounds, she made her way back over to the fire. Adding some of her magic water to the pot she sat it on the spit and let it boil. Lucy smiled, "Coffee, that's perfect."
"Lucy-San, Juvia meant to say it earlier, but thank you. She heard what she said to Gray-Sama." She really appreciated that Lucy could tell how she was feeling and was able to discuss it with Gray. Juvia knows how much Gray-Sama cares, but she wants to help, and if she can't help do things for the mission, how can she defeat Yura?" Lucy placed a hand on her shoulder.
"I know, and so does he. I don't think he has had someone he cared about losing so much in a long time. It seems to cloud his judgment a bit, but he is right about one thing. You have to be honest with us, if you hold it in and it becomes too much in the middle of a battle, everyone could lose focus. I promise to make sure you are allowed to pull some weight, as long as you promise it's okay that it's not equal weight. Alright?" She winked at Juvia, and she smiled in return.
"Juvia does promise...by losing someone, does she mean Gray-Sama's Father?" she asked.
"Um, well yes, Gray's father would be one of those people, has he told you about him?"
"Yes, not a whole lot though, she's had to remember many things over the last couple of days. She knows he died when Gray-Sama was young, and that his soul was taken over by a dark necromancer named Key only a few years ago." Lucy smiled and continued for Juvia.
"It did, his soul was only set free after that demon was destroyed...by you Juvia." she looked up in surprise, Gray hadn't mentioned this to her.
"It was one of the toughest battles I ever saw you fight in, to kill Key meant to kill Gray's father. You wanted to keep everyone safe and stop the necromancer, but it meant taking away a person who was close to him. I watched every emotion you felt, and I remember running to help you once the battle was over. You were crying for Gray, and I felt the brokenness in your heart... you told me once that you didn't think you deserved his love after what you did." Juvia was speechless, she had killed Gray's father? Suddenly she felt a vision of remembrance, a deep male voice telling her thank you and to watch out for Gray.
"I've never met such a selfless person in my life, and you didn't kill him, you set him free. Without you, he would be a slave forever forced to do the bidding of Keys' evil wishes. I don't think Gray could have bared to witness that. What you did was the most gracious thing he'd ever seen. That is why you are so important, you've sacrificed and endured so much, for him, and the love you feel for him. That kind of love Juvia is magical in its own right, and I hope one day I too can share in that kind of love." she smiled, turning her gaze to the flames of the fire. Juvia couldn't help but think she was imagining the flames of a certain Dragon slayer asleep nearby. Lucy's words, the memory of her holding onto Juvia for strength and support, gave her the same feeling she had with Gajeel. She felt better, warmer, and safer...
The girls grabbed thermoses for their coffees and sipped on the rich caffeinated beverage. They giggled and whispered, not really talking much more about anything important. Soon, however, Juvia began to notice a change in their surroundings. It had become quiet, too quiet; No more howling of the wind, sounds of small animals, or chirping of birds. Just the fire and she found this odd.
"Juvia?" Lucy asked, noticing her staring off. Juvia quickly put out the fire with her magic, just to see if she was right. "Hey, why did you do that?!"
"Lucy-San, listen," she whispered. Lucy looked around the now dark forest, trying hard to figure out what Juvia was talking about. "I don't hear anything?" Juvia nodded.
"Exactly, something is here." Juvia looked all around her, suddenly a dark shadow shot past the camp causing Lucy to jump. "WHAT WAS THAT?!" she squeaked. Again, another whip from a different direction, then another. Juvia tried to focus, was there one, three, eleven? A couple of quick shadows more and it abruptly stopped, again the ground was still. Juvia squinted her eyes and could see in the distance, coming quicker, a giant blaze of light. Her eyes widened "EVERYONE WAKE UP!"
Gray awoke to the sound of Juvia's warning, then with a sudden flash of light outside the tent, he heard a blast hit the center of camp. "JUVIA!" he shouted.
"What the hell was that!" Natsu and Gajeel followed behind to see what was happening.
Outside they could see tons of burnt tree branches surrounding the camp. The blast had hit the fire pit causing a small explosion, burning some supplies nearby. Juvia, however, was quickly putting out any flames on or near their camp, while also trying to wake everyone else up. Lucy had also already unlocked one of her celestial keys.
"SCORPIO! USE SAND SPEAR!" With his scorpion-like tail stinger, Scorpio fired thin but powerful piercing beams of sand at the enemy, but the boys couldn't see what he was firing at. "YO LUCE WHO ARE THESE GUYS?" Natsu shouted running beside her to help.
"No clue, I can't see them, It's almost like they are hidden deep in the forest, and yet they have such a close aim! I'm just firing in the general direction, hoping to block these stupid attacks." Again, a giant beam of light shot up and was coming straight at them. "Get down!" Gajeel quickly transformed his whole body with his Iron Dragon Scales, facing the blast head-on. The second they came into contact the blast ricocheted back into the woods. There was a small explosion about 30 feet back, and everyone could hear multiple screams and something coming toward them...fast.
"Hey Juvia, I don't remember asking for a wakeup call!" Cana yelled emerging from the tent in a fighting formation. Juvia looked over at her "Sorry Cana-san!" She was almost done putting out the flames, and Wendy was helping gather the supplies.
"Alright I've had enough of these cowards, time to make them fly. "SCORPIO: USE SAND BUSTER!" He looked over and winked "you got it!" Scorpio got down on his four limbs, in a stance which was reminiscent of a real scorpion, and then pointed his stinger at the hidden opponents. A large amount of sand was subsequently fired from it in the form of a powerful sand tornado. Moving towards the target in a line. he struck them with great blunt power; so much, in fact, that suddenly several beings flew up from the woods into the air. Crashing down right outside the camp.
Emerging from the attack were five large lizard creatures, with ghostly yellow-red eyes and pale white skin. They were quickly back on their feet and surrounded the camp. "Shit," Cana muttered. "On my signal, everyone chooses a target, be ready to attack," Erza whispered. The creature closest to her began to shudder, like something in its gut was making its way back up through its throat, and that's when Natsu realized where the blasts had come from. "NOW!" He shouted and everyone spread out as the energy source shot out of the lizard's mouth.
The battle ensued for quite some time, blow after blow, and all the group managed to do was keep the creatures at bay. "This is ridiculous!" Levy shouted, "Nothing is stopping these creatures!" She was throwing spell after spell, and nothing was working. "We destroyed one of them earlier, so something must work!" Lucy shouted. Juvia was continuing to help with damage control, with each blast more and more flames unloaded onto the forest. As she heard her comrades; tired and stumped on how to attack these beasts, but then she thought back to what Lucy said. They had killed one of the lizards, but only when Gajeel shot back the same blasts. That's it! "Everyone, Juvia has an idea! Quickly lure your opponent back into the circle, facing one another. Make sure all of us are in the center, The creatures need to blast at us again!" The group looked at her like she was crazy. "You want to make us the target? Isn't that what we are trying NOT to do?" Gajeel shouted. "Trust Juvia, this will work!" In that moment she caught eyes with Gray, silently pleading with him to trust her. "Alright Juvia, you want it, you got it! Come here scaly skins." Gray shot icicles from his hands to get the attention of his lizard.
Soon the group was pinned in a circle together, backs towards each other, enclosed by the approaching creatures. "Care to share your plan Juvia?" Gray asked, his arm interlocked with hers. "The creature was only destroyed earlier when Gajeel-San rebounded it's attack." He thought about her words for a moment, and it hit him. "So, the only thing that can destroy these creatures...is each other!" They were coming closer, their stances getting ready for a final blow. "When Juvia says go, all of you will jump from the circle, she will stay and use her water body so the blast will go right through!" He looked at her in concern, it was risky, what if it didn't work with these creatures? Gray held in his breath. "Not yet," Juvia stated. The bright lights glowed inside the mouths of the beasts. "Get ready." She felt herself squeeze Gray's hand. "NOW!"
With a leap and a run, everyone fled the circle, and with a large blinding blast of light the screams of the creatures pierced the air. Gray shielded his eyes from the explosion and braced himself for whatever came next. Soon the light dimmed, and only the light pink rays of the sunrise could be seen in the forest. Gray quickly looked to see Juvia standing exactly where she had been, unscathed, and glancing around at everyone else. "Juvia..." Gray smiled and rushed over to her picking her up and spinning her around as she laughed "That was incredible!" He was amazed, but then again, he always had been, only this time he wasn't afraid to say it.
"YEAH, JUVIA NICE WORK!" Natsu smiled, giving her a high five. Everyone else smiled and continued on making sure everyone was okay. Quickly they packed up their supplies and were ready to move forward, not wanting to stay any longer in case the monsters had other friends. As Juvia began walking, she felt it, the shortness of breath and the pain in her body returning, the adrenaline of battle wearing off. "Gray-Sama..." He was a few paces ahead of her but turned around at the sound of her voice. "Ju-Juvia would like some help, please." Gray smiled and quickly handed his pack and hers to other members to hold for them. He stood in front of Juvia and bent down so that she could get on his back "Don't worry Juuves, I got you." She hopped on securing her body and leaning her face into his shoulder, he let her fight, and when she did ask for help, he didn't lecture, she liked this. It made her cheeks flush red, and she was glad Gray couldn't see her face.
"Alright, let's move out," Gray shouted. They would make it up this mountain, he was sure of it.