Chapter 13: Pain

*Yura Palace*

"AGHHH!" Kurayami shouted in frustration as he threw a glass vase at the nearest wall. Totoro was hiding behind a pillar, his master had just witnessed the defeat of his creatures, and needless to say, he was not happy. "I've had enough of this Fairy Tail guild, it's time to take it up a notch!" He raced over to his spell book and flipped the pages vigorously.

"What are you going to do, master?" Totoro slowly came closer.

"I'm going to take down these wizards one by one, if they are separated, then they truly stand no chance." He smiled a crazy mad smile that Totoro had never seen before. It frightened him, for he knew that the next obstacle this group faced, may end up being their very last.

*Somewhere on the mountain*

The wind had picked up viciously, and the snow had finally begun to fall on Mt. Kumo... The group was having a hard time keeping a steady pace. "I can barely see three feet in front of me," Wendy stated as she held her arm above her eyes. "I hope this storm lets up soon, are we heading in the right direction Erza?" Levy asked.

"We should be, it's hard to tell, but if the wind is coming from the north like I think it is, then we are on the correct course." Erza was heading at the front of the group along with Natsu, who was trying to use his magic to clear a more melted path up the mountain for the guild members.

Gray was still carrying Juvia, she was huddled in the back of his neck, her ridged breathing warming his ears now and again. "How are you doing back there?" He asked. She hadn't spoken much since the storm started. The truth was Juvia wasn't doing well, the pain in her muscles and bones had worsened as the temperature dropped, and her chest still felt tight. She held her grip around Gray, in the hopes that he would get the message, she was too tired to speak at the moment. He understood, "It's alright, we will be stopping here soon, we've been walking for a while." Juvia felt awful, Gray shouldn't have to carry her, not when this trek up the mountain was so horrid.

"Ju-Juvia is s-so eck!" Juvia felt it, again, just like before, a large pounding in her chest, it was so painful. She felt her grip falter as she fell into the snow. "Juvia, what's wrong!" Gray rushed to her side and quickly bent down to pick her back up, but she kept whimpering in pain, and he was afraid to move her "It h-hurts, this fe-feeling, a warning so-something is comin-ah!" she clenched her chest with her hands.

"What's happening?" Wendy and the rest of the group quickly realized something was wrong and stopped walking. Gray felt himself faltering, he wanted to make the pain stop. "Juvia, it's alright, you're stronger than him, don't let this bastard get to you." He went to pick her up, but this time bridal style in front of him. "We have to find shelter!" Cana cried trying to see how far up the mountain they were, but the snow seemed to be falling even harder. "I know but- boom, boom!" Erza was cut off, as two large booms were heard in the distance. Boom, boom then again. "What was that!" Lucy quickly hid behind Natsu, afraid of where the noise was coming from. "Whatever it is, it's going down!" Natsu shouted.

Boom, boom! closer and louder the noise became. "It almost sounds like...footsteps," Levy declared looking into the distance. Boom, boom "AGHH!" Juvia shouted again in pain and Gray tightened his grip on her. "Shit..." he couldn't fight and hold onto her. Gajeel looked at Juvia, and the concern on Gray's face, the storm was getting worse, they couldn't stay and fight another battle, if everyone used up their magic, they would be too weak to continue. "Everyone, get going, I got this!" Gajeel shouted, giving a look to Panther Lilly who understood, quickly transforming into his larger form. "Are you insane?!" Cana shouted, "We aren't leaving you behind!"

"Shut up! We can't waste any more energy here, if we all stay, we won't be strong enough to find shelter, and then all of this won't be worth a damn! I'll catch up as soon as I can, don't wait for me." Everyone looked at each other as if knowing that what he said made sense, even Natsu didn't argue as he looked over at Juvia. "I'm coming with you." Levy cried "No you aren't." He stated. She walked right up in front of him with her face set and her head held high. "I wasn't asking, you may not need everyone, but you need more backup, so that's the end of that nonsense." Gajeel was in shock, he had never seen Levy talk like that, but he had to admit it was kind of a turn-on. He knew he couldn't stop her, even if he wanted to, and to be honest he wasn't upset that she wanted to fight alongside him. Levy quickly ran over to Lucy handing her the spell book about the curse. "Take this, just in case we don't catch up in time, I have supplies and a tent so wherever we stop we will be safe." Lucy hesitated, but took the book, clutching it tightly to her chest.

"N-no Gajeel-San." Juvia desperately tried to speak up, and Gajeel walked over to her. "Hey, you don't have any faith in me? We will come back; I didn't come all this way for you to live and me to die, I'll see you soon." He smiled at her, and she gave him a hug, Gajeel hated how fragile she felt, it made him angry, and he intended to use that as fuel. "NOW GO!"

Levy, Gajeel, and Lily quickly ran towards the sound of whatever creature Yura had sent their way. "Gray-Sama, c-can't leave Gajee-."

"I know Juuves but he's right, we need to be smart about this, I promise they will be okay." He held on tightly and moved forward, everyone else hesitantly following behind him.

After a few more miles the group had found a cave embedded into the mountain. They quickly rushed inside to escape the still continuing snowstorm. The cavern was empty, and it was decided that this is where they would stop for the night. Everyone stood in silence for a moment. Catching their breaths and lost in thought, although they weren't lost, in fact, it was safe to say they were all thinking about the same thing. "I know we are worried about them, but we have to have faith, they are strong, they have supplies, and they will be alright." Erza was trying her best to be calm and the heads of each wizard nodded in agreement.

Cana quickly set up one of the tents for Juvia, who Gray was still holding in his arms. As soon as she was finished Gray hurried inside placing her on one of the sleeping mats. She felt weak and exhausted, and Gray looked tired as well. "How are you doing?" He asked, and Juvia tried her best to smile through the pain "Juvia is just a little tired. How is Gray-Sama? Juvia feels awful that you had to carry her so f-far." Gray grabbed her hand, it was almost as cold as his usually was, and that wasn't a good thing. "Nah don't be, it makes me more determined to keep moving when I'm helping you." Despite being cold Juvia felt a flare of heat rise in her cheeks. She liked the feeling of his hand in hers, the way he absently rubbed his thumb around the top of her hand. She wished she felt stronger, she wanted to stand, she wanted to fight with her friends, but she knew slowly that was becoming more difficult to do. Juvia felt a surge of pain in her lower abdomen, almost exactly where her old scar was, jolting up quickly, she clutched her side. "Juves, what's wrong?" She moved slowly towards her dress and unbuttoned it to see where it hurt.

Gray's eyes widened at the sight, on her left side, where her scar from their battle had been, it was bruised, badly, almost like the healing process was going backward. "WENDY!" he shouted. Quickly she ran through the flap of the tent and saw what was happening. "Help her, please…" he looked at her with desperate eyes and she rushed to Juvia's side and started to apply her healing magic to the wound. "This might take a bit; you better wait outside Gray." Juvia screeched in pain, and Wendy looked at her apologetically, "I'm sorry, I promise it will only hurt for a moment, just breathe, ok?" She continued to focus, giving Gray another look for him to leave. He didn't want to; he felt frozen. Then a hand clutched his shoulder, it was Natsu. "Come on buddy, let's go." He ushered him out and Juvia began whimpering again.

"She's in pain, Natsu, he's hurting her, and I can't STOP IT!" Gray took his fist and punched the hardened rock wall. "Yes, you can, you can get her up this mountain," Natsu exclaimed calm and collected. "We keep going and we don't stop, and when we get there, we kill that sadistic prick." There was no hesitation, no worry, just hard determination in his voice.

"How much farther do we have Erza?" Gray asked.

She was in front of the fire, her face down for the first time on this journey. "Two more days, if we're lucky, maybe a bit longer?" You could see she was agitated about this fact. She wanted to be faster, but there was only so much they could do. Cana looked at her friends, she could feel their restless energies, and she couldn't bear it anymore. While they continued discussing their next steps she made her way into the tent where Juvia was. "Hey, you." She bent down next to Wendy who was continuing to heal her. Juvia slowly looked over at her "He-llo Ca-na-San." her breathing was heavy, and Cana could physically see her pain. "You know I've been thinking about just how strong you are. I know you don't remember, but around the time you first joined Fairy Tail, Freed, that green-haired idiot, had us competing against each other as members of the guild. He didn't believe in our loyalty to each other and decided to put it to the test. You and I ended up being forced into battle, but you weren't having any of it. You told Freed that you wouldn't harm a friend, and you loved everyone in Fairy Tail. Juvia, you sacrifice yourself to break his forcefield, so I would win! I remember your screaming; I felt your pain and the love behind your decision. You wanted to prove that even though you were once an enemy, you would never betray us. Ju-Juvia Fairy Tail is lucky to have someone like you in its ranks, you gotta fight through this, okay?"

Cana was crying, and she had unknowingly taken Juvia's hand, squeezing it with support. Juvia felt herself crying too, a vague flashback of Cana standing over her crying like this before flooding her memory. Then another flashback of Wendy healing her also came to mind. She felt the pain in her abdomen subside, she could breathe slower and felt overcome with fatigue. Her eyes became heavy, and she gave a small smile. "Th-thank you, Cana-San, Wendy-San." Soon she drifted off to sleep. "Phew." Wendy sighed as she wiped the sweat from her forehead.

"Good job." Cana smiled, but Wendy did not.

"I'm not sure how much I did...look." Cana's eyes wandered down to her body, while Juvia didn't feel as much pain, and it wasn't as flared up, the bruising was still dark and pigmented. "My magic isn't effective enough for her injuries, this curse, it's strong." She looked up sadly to Cana. "I'm not sure if I will be able to help her next time." her stomach dropped.

Erza entered the tent "Is she stable?" Wendy nodded and Erza gave a sigh of relief. "Come on, let's eat and head to bed, we three will share the other tent. I'm going to have Lucy and the boys sleep in here." They got up slowly and followed her out.

Yura Palace

Kurayami sneered to himself as the looking glass showed him Juvia's current state. She was weakening much slower than he imagined, and he didn't understand why? He felt his hold on her was weak in some areas like it did when she was with the large dragon slayer. However, with his current strategy in place, it shouldn't be an issue.

"Master!" Totoro rushed in with a smile on his face "The ice-men, they have returned sire!" Kurayami looked up with a grin, "Send them in." Soon the giant doors of the throne room opened and with large booming footsteps, two tall ice creatures walked in, holding three limp beings in their hands. Gajeel, Levy, and Lily were unconsciously wounded.

"Very good my children, you did exactly as I'd instructed, take our guests to their quarters." The creatures dragged the prisoners away, and Yura turned back to his spell book. "If I continue, then soon, there will be no one left to help that little water mage, and vengeance will be mine." With a burst of wicked laughter, he settled onto his throne and began planning his next move.