"Do fairies have tails? Do they even exist?" These questions kept going through a certain girl's head as she ate sitting at one of the guild tables watching the others interact.
She was a pale girl with dark blue eyes with hair in a lighter shade of the same color, her clothes consisted of a blue hat with white lining and a sort of blue and white robe, in addition to black boots that went up to mid-length her thigh, that was Juvia Lockser. On her face was a frown as she continued eating in silence.
The definition of her guild, Fairy tail, was a search for answers, on purpose, for family, something that was very attractive to Juvia, which reminded her once again of the question "Do fairies have a tail? Do they even exist?" This mindset once made the guild one of the most popular and strongest in Fiore, however that all changed seven years ago.
Acnologia, the black dragon of the apocalypse, attacked Tenjourima, his guild's sacred place where the S class exams were held and "killed" everyone there, causing several people to leave Fairy tail leaving a very small number of members. It wasn't an easy time for anyone, then the miracle came, the members taking the exam didn't die, they were alive, frozen in time for seven long years, when they woke up it was like not a single second had passed.
However not everything was perfect, apparently there was a death, of someone who was not on the island, Natsu Dragneel was dead, with the only thing recovered from him being his scarf.
Juvia never really interacted with the boy, something she blamed herself, unconsciously she turned her head to see a boy, named Romeo Conbolt, at the counter talking to a blue cat, called Happy, crestfallen.
The boy had dark purple hair with eyes of the same color, he wore a red, sleeveless kimono, open with a white sash tying it around his waist, he wore green pants and brown sneakers, however what caught the most attention about him it was the scarf around her neck, it was Natsu's scarf.
He looked like a mini Natsu to Juvia and it made her giggle at times, some would say he was trying to replace the Dragon slayer, however the blue one saw it differently, Romeo was honoring Natsu's legacy.
As expected, the news of rosy's death hit everyone, especially his old team, who decided to use Natsu's name to honor him and they had the perfect opportunity with the magic games approaching.
A tournament made all guilds to show their strength and get new jobs, in addition to being the way to classify guilds from the strongest to the weakest. Juvia would be lying if she said she was not looking forward to the event, after all she was also a Fairy tail mage and Juvia would do whatever it took to help her guild.
However...Juvia turned to a black haired boy almost without clothes talking to a blonde girl and a redhead before he got up and ran looking for his clothes. The blue one couldn't help but sighed, remembering an event that occurred a few days ago, when she lost all and any love that she felt for Gray Fullbuster… or was it passion? Juvia did not know
Again, she cannot help but think, "Do fairies have tails? Do they even exist?"
(Flashback)
Juvia could feel her heart hammering against her chest as she looked at Gray in front of her. This was it, her chance, Juvia was finally going to confess to her lover, she had managed to convince the ice mage to talk to her in the alley beside the guild and now he was there in front of Juvia.
"Gray-sama..." Says the girl causing Gray to blink as he stared at her, making her even more nervous.
"Juvia has something to say to you." Juvia declares before taking a deep breath, she could not go back. "Since we left Tenjourima, Juvia realized how precious and short life was, especially as mages who face dangers like that daily and in any job we can die."
Juvia stopped to catch her breath, this was harder than she thought, however what the girl didn't notice was Gray's tired look.
"So Juvia wanted to be honest with herself and tell the truth to Gray-sama…Juvia loves you Gray-sama, please go out with me!" The blue exclaims making a bow to the boy, she stayed like that for a while until she heard a tired sigh making her lift her head and look at Gray who was rubbing the back of his head with a grimace.
"This is going to be a pain…" Gray mutters, making Juvia feel as if a knife has been thrust and twisted inside her heart.
"Look Juvia, it's nothing personal, it's just that I don't like you like that, I see you only as a friend and only as a friend, and in fact I don't like anyone like that." Gray explains with a sigh, not knowing how he was breaking Juvia's heart. "So…yes, that's it, well…I'll go then, but don't give up, I'm sure you'll find someone who likes you in the same way one day."
With that, Gray walked away leaving Juvia alone in the alley. The blue one looked at the place where her beloved was leaving while she could hear the sound of something cracking until it broke, slowly Juvia leaned her back against the wall before falling on her butt on the floor and hugging her knees hiding from anyone.
Suddenly a drop fell in front of her being followed by another and then another, soon it started to rain, leaving Juvia there alone as she cried softly.
(End of flashback.)
In the end, Juvia was alone, as usual. But the blue one didn't let it affect her that much, she started doing more missions, earning a considerable amount of money and burned all the things she had from Gray, something that ended up being a relief for her, but Juvia would never reveal this to nobody.
"Do fairies have tails? Do they even exist?" A bitter taste formed in Juvia's mouth as she leaned back on the bench and looked at everyone talking to each other in the guild, a feeling of loneliness building in her chest.
"Can Juvia be happy? Does happiness really exist?" The woman thinks with a tired sigh before getting up and going to the mission boards, after all the world kept turning regardless of whether she wanted to or not.
(Scene break.)
In a forest, screams could be heard as a group of three men ran through the forest in panic. They were full of cuts, bruises and some blood covered them.
One of them took a quick look behind him, but he soon regretted it when he saw several trees being felled by the thing following them. With that in mind, he turned to his companions.
"WE HAVE TO SEPARATE OR WE ALL GONNA DIE!" Exclaims the man receiving a wave from the other two.
After that, the three went their separate ways, with the beast following the one on the side. The other two seeing this took the opportunity to run the opposite way the beast followed.
As they ran they heard the sound of a roar followed by a terrifying scream, they immediately quickened their pace until they reached the entrance of a cave, which was quite large, almost enough for a guild building. The two survivors looked at each other scared, after all, it could be the creature's home and to make matters worse it was as if something ordered them to leave, flee and never come back.
Before they could make up their minds a roar echoed behind them causing them to enter the cave and face three eyes staring at them from the trees, it was the creature chasing them. The monster stared at them for a few moments before looking at the cave and growling, pacing back and forth.
"…I don't think she's going to come in here." One of them comments before turning to his companion with a relieved smile, but the other was tense looking at the back of the cave.
"Maybe, but why?" Asks one of them making the other look at the creature walking between the trees.
"I don't know, but it's either dealing with this thing or trying to find a way out of the cave, which option do you prefer?" Asks the other before he starts to enter the cave with a calm rhythm, quickly followed by his companion.
The two walked around the cave for some time with the light fading more and more until they were both completely in the dark.
"I'm not seeing anything..." One of the men declares making the other growl.
"Seriously? Don't joke; I would never have guessed if you didn't talk to me in the middle of a dark cave!" The other comments before he widens his eyes and stops. "Hey… is it just me or is that a red glow?"
"What?" This made his companion look forward and see what appeared to be a large opening with a red glow.
Quickly the two started to run towards that opening, however as soon as they arrived their eyes widened seeing various types of rubies and red teardrops shining inside a chamber, it was like a sea of bright red stones and on top there was an opening as if was a volcano.
"…WE ARE RICH!" Exclaims one of the men approaching the rubies, however he didn't notice that his voice echoed through the chamber and made some of the rubies move subtly.
"HEY, WAIT!" Calls his companion running to his friend before holding him. "Are you crazy, Hiroshi? What if this is a cursed treasure!?"
"And if not? We're rich anyway, now let me go!" Exclaims the so-called Hiroshi pushing his friend and going to one of the rubies.
As soon as the man grabbed one, he released it with a grimace, clutching his hand in pain, making his friend worry about him.
"What there was?"
"That thing was hot, hot as hell, it burned my hand." Hiroshi declares pointing to the slightly red hand, before a growl echoes through the chamber.
"...Tell me that was your stomach." Hiroshi asks with wide eyes.
"…I thought it was you…"
Suddenly the rubies began to move, causing the two men to turn to see a large amount of the gemstones rising. Soon they saw the head of a large dragon sticking out of the rubies, and then he opened his eyes revealing the yellow iris with black sclera and the slit pupil.
The dragon sniffed the air before turning toward the two men frozen in fear, hatred in the beast's eyes. Soon the creature adopted a grimace and growled before letting out a mighty roar that made the entire cavern tremble, as well as the rubies and tears present there.
The reaction of the two men was as expected; they ran screaming in terror and fled out of the chamber, leaving the dragon alone. The creature stared where they had left for a few minutes until it heard another round of screams, followed by another roar.
With that silence prevailed for a few seconds before the dragon snorted, expelling smoke from its nose, once it did, it lays its head on its resting place once more and closes its eyes.
(Faity tail, two days later.)
In front of the order, board was Juvia analyzing each of the jobs with a serious expression; almost none of them looked interesting or even paid well, so far. Suddenly the blue one noticed a job with a high reward of 150,000,000 gems, a more common payment to have in an S class mission; however, on paper it stated that it was a B class.
Curious, the girl took the paper and began to read it quietly to herself. It was in a village called "Dreyskull", located in an area full of mountains and forest on all sides, terrible for hunting a monster of any category, which could explain the reward.
In addition, it would be perfect for Juvia, she really needed a secluded place to train her skills, she had 7 years old to make up for in 3 months, the time before the magic games started. With that in mind, she headed towards Mira who was cleaning the counter by herself, mainly because of the time, it was not even dawn yet and most of the members were sleeping or getting ready to leave on a training trip.
"Hello Mira-san, Juvia would like to go on this mission." Juvia declares approaching the waitress and showing the paper to the albino.
Mirajane Strauss, also called Mira by everyone, she is an S-Class mage from Fairy Tail. The girl had snow-white hair that fell to her back with a small ponytail tied on top of her head, her eyes are light blue with pale skin, and she wore a black dress with white details.
The albino just smiled at the bluish girl before picking up the work paper and reading the details quickly before nodding her head, with that she grabbed a book from under the counter and wrote something on it before stamping the work paper and notebook.
"Okay Juvia-chan, good luck at work." Wishes Mira happily making Juvia smile before taking the paper back and leaving the guild.
(Some time later.)
Macau, the former fifth master of Fairy Tail, was sitting at one of the bar tables while quietly drinking a mug of beer.
He was a tall man with short purple hair and black eyes, with some wrinkles and a mustache, Macao was dressed in a white overcoat with a black dress shirt with a blue vest over it, as well as pants and boots.
"So Mira, I noticed that Juvia hasn't shown up yet, did she take another long-term job?" Asks the man taking a sip from his beer mug, while Mira put a finger to her lips trying to remember where Juvia had gone to do her work.
"If I'm not mistaken, it was in a city called "Dreyskull", or something like that, strange that the reward was the same value as an S Rank..." The girl replies, earning some interesting reactions from the other members.
Macau spat all his drink in his friend's face who passed out, near them Romeo fell off his chair turning his face to Mira, with that the two Conbolts went to her with wide eyes in shock.
"DREYSKULL!? SHE WENT ON A MISSION IN DREYSKULL!?" Ask the two terrified making the girl blink confused and worried about their reactions.
"Yes?...what's the problem with that?" Asks the mage making the two take a deep breath.
"In the last 7 years, there have been sightings of an extremely violent dragon with red scales, a creature full of rage and hatred that has killed any and all mage that got in its way, whether they are S or SS class... not even the mages themselves saints are eager to face this beast..." Explains Macao falling into his chair once again with a haunted face.
"Jura had raised in its classification among the magicians santos, but do you know why? One of them thought he could face the dragon, he didn't even have a chance." With that, the former master of fairy tail raises his eyes to see Mira's shocked expression. "After that it was agreed by the magic council and the king himself that no wizard would accept a dragon-hunting mission under any circumstances."
"…Her mission was not to hunt a dragon, but a Vulcan." Reveals Mira causing Romeo to let out a relieved sigh.
"I hope it's true..." A voice declares making the three of them turn to see the current Fairy Tail master, Makarov Dreyar.
He was a short man with a white mustache and a bit of hair on the sides of his head. He wore a white shirt with an orange coat and pants; in addition, he had a hat that resembled a jester's.
"Master!" Greet the three wizards turning to Makarov in surprise.
"For now, let's trust Juvia, if she doesn't come back until the days of the games, we'll look for her." Makarov declares before walking away.
"The games? But master, until then she may be dead!" Romeo exclaims taking a step towards Makarov.
"…And she can keep training. Let's give her time; I'm sure everything will end well."
(With Juvia.)
The blue one was in a cabin alone with her arm leaning against the window while her head rested on her fist. Juvia let out a sigh seeing the scenery moving, she was tired and still had a few hours until she arrived in Dreyskull, so Juvia just leaned against the wagon wall and closed her eyes.
At the same time on the roof of the train, station was a figure watching Juvia's train depart.
It was a little girl with long blond hair with what appeared to be white wings on the sides of her head, her eyes were dull green and she had unusually pale skin. The girl was dressed in a white dress with pink accents; this was Mavis Vermilion, the first master of Fairy Tail.
"Good luck... you will need it and please save him." Asks the girl before she disappears.
(In Dreyskull, a few hours later.)
Juvia walked around the Dreyskull train station while stretching, she let out a yawn before raising an eyebrow realizing how the station was practically deserted. Thinking this was due to her mission; Juvia shrugged and was quick to head outside.
Once there the blue one looked around seeing the trees around and the big mountains around making her smile that was really the perfect place for her to train, well isolated and with few people to bother.
Soon, Juvia returned to walk carrying her suitcase through the city, looking around in search of someone, everything seemed empty, making the girl even more worried. Suddenly she saw what appeared to be a man carrying some boxes, quickly Juvia went to him.
"Excuse me." Calls Juvia making the man stop and turn to her.
"Yea? How can I help you miss?" Asks the man.
"Yes, Juvia is a Fairy Tail mage, and Juvia came by contract, could you indicate where the quartermaster's house is?" Asks Juvia, making the man wave and point to the street behind the blue one.
"You go back to the main road and continue straight ahead as far as the tavern, once there you go left and the quartermaster's house is the only one that has a green door." Indicates the man making Juvia thank him before leaving towards the intendant's house.
As soon as she arrives at the house, Juvia knocks on the door, a robust man with a gray beard, dressed in a beige robe, opens waits for a few seconds before the door, and simple peasant clothes made of leather.
"...Are you the steward here?" Asks Juvia, a little uncertain.
"Yes, it's me... are you a mage? Did you come for work?" Asks the intendant, receiving a wave from Juvia. "Perfect, come on, please come in."
(Some time later.)
"So you want Juvia to kill a giant vulcan that is terrorizing the village?" Juvia asks with raised eyebrows, after all vulcans were more common in mountainous terrain and almost never came down, although the area was surrounded by some it was still hard to believe that.
"Yes, I saw it with my own eyes, the thing was gigantic, horrible..." Declares the man with a haunted look, making Juvia look at him with a strange expression, she had already faced other vulcans before and Juvia was sure that were not at that level.
"Okay...Juvia will start looking for the "vulcan" tomorrow morning, it's almost dusk, is there any hotel that Juvia can stay overnight?" Asks the water mage making the man wave to her.
"Yes, next to the tavern, anything else?"
"Actually, there is, Juvia would like to stay here after work, just three months for Juvia to train for the big magic games." Juvia declares making the intendant nod in agreement.
"All right, as long as the Vulcan is killed." Agrees the intendant making Juvia smile gratefully.
(The night in the hotel room.)
Juvia was sitting on the hotel bed combing her hair while looking at the moon from the window and could not help but compare herself to the moon, both of them looked lonely at the moment. A sad smile appeared on her face before Juvia lay down on the bed closing her eyes.
After a few seconds of standing, still she flinched as sobs rippled from her throat and she wept softly, oblivious to the rain outside.
In a certain ruby cave the sound of rain was heard as some drops fell in the center of the cave wetting the crystals and creating steam, suddenly Natsu's head came out of the rubies and tears before his nose twitched.
The dragon looked at the rain with curious eyes, for some reason this rain was different from the others, it brought a familiar magical presence to the dragon, and slowly it came out completely from its hiding place and looked into the hole as the water fell on it.
Unbeknownst to him on his left shoulder a mark slowly reappeared, it was the Fairy tail mark. Suddenly the dragon lay down again and stared at the falling water with delight, the anger and hatred in his eyes softening a little before the great beast began to purr.
(The next morning.)
"That… is not common behavior for a Vulcan." Juvia comments, watching with wide eyes the blood stains on the floor.
After she woke up and had breakfast, Juvia immediately went to where she was informed that the "vulcan" had attacked and seeing the scene, she was sure it had not been one. Vulcans despite being dangerous monsters were not that level of danger, they did damage and some deaths, but never anything like that.
Juvia started to look around and saw that one of the trees looked a little crooked, as if something had pushed it aside. Soon the bluish one followed to the tree and noticed that there were several others in the same way as if making a path to follow.
With that Juvia followed the trail of trees until she arrived in what looked like a small cave with several scratches on the ground, suddenly she heard a roar and raised her face to see three eyes staring at her from the darkness.
"Water body." Juvia exclaims when the creature jumped on her, however instead of killing the blue one; She exploded like water before reforming and turning to face the creature.
"That's not a vulcan...it's a chorabash..." Juvia thinks, swallowing hard.
Chorabashes are extremely dangerous magical creatures, all the more so because they love to play with their victims. These creatures were quite dangerous as they could use illusion magic and shadow magic.
Chorabashes have goat-like horns on their heads and the skull was similar, despite having an eye in the middle of their forehead and sharp teeth. The creature's body has a torso resembling the body of a quadruped beast with long arms and sharp claws.
"Juvia has to be quick or this is going to end badly." Juvia thinks before extending her hand to the creature.
"Water cane." Juvia exclaims before sending a strong jet of water at the creature that jumped out of the way and roared to the blue.
Quickly she used the Water body again and fled from the creature's attack. Once that was done, she brought her hand back as several water molecules gathered in her.
"Water slice." With that, Juvia sends several blades made of water at the creature, however only a few did damage to the beast, making it even angrier.
The Chorabash roared and ran towards Juvia as the shadows began to accumulate on him forming a kind of missile.
"Water bo..." Unfortunately before Juvia could use her spell the creature impacted her sending the blue one flying through the air before she finally fell to the ground with a thud.
Juvia slowly stood up and spat some blood on the ground before finally standing up fully and watching as the Chorabash appeared again from the trees and roared at her.
"Water nebula." Juvia exclaims while in her hands two water balls formed and she pushed them forward forming a powerful jet that went towards the creature, making her roar with a red glow in her eyes.
However when the attack hit the creature it disappeared in red mist, causing Juvia to widen her eyes before she let out a scream feeling something cut her waist and fling her in front of a very large cave.
Juvia grimaced as she stood up and took her hand to her waist; however, she grimaces feeling something wet and looks to see blood on her hand. The chorabash roar made her face the creature that was slowly approaching her, however Juvia could feel her consciousness fading, she was going to faint at any moment, at that moment a breeze passes by her throwing her hair back and tipping her hat.
When the chorabash was very close it stopped and retreated roaring towards something, meanwhile a large shadow covers Juvia, the girl looks up and feels comfortable warmth before she finally passes out, to the sound of a roar.
(A few minutes earlier.)
Natsu was staring intently at where the rubies were being soaked last night, the feeling of familiarity never fading from his thoughts, he wanted to find out what caused it. Suddenly a breeze passes through the cave and a distinct smell makes the dragon lift its head and look at the hole that connected the chamber with the cave's opening.
It was the familiar presence again, and by the smell it was a female and she was hurt!? Suddenly the fury that turned him into the dragon king returned as Natsu growled, soon the dragon ran at a run to the end of the cave.
Arriving outside the dragon notices the female lying in front of her cave, she was wounded in the waist and in front of her was the chorabash with one of her hands covered in blood.
Quickly Natsu placed himself on top of the girl protectively as his eyes stared at the chorabash that roared weakly at him. In response Natsu took a step forward and let out a mighty roar that could be heard even in Dreyskull, made the trees retreat and the animals fled in fear of facing the wrath of the dragon.
Seeing that the chorabash had overcome, he turned to run, though he did not count on the dragon jumping on him and trapping the monster under its large, scaly hand. The chorabash struggled to free itself as Natsu threw the creature upwards before biting the monster and slowly starting to eat it.
Once that was done Natsu returned to Juvia who had passed out, the dragon slowly approached her snout and sniffed. A softer expression appeared on his face before the dragon carefully picked it up in one of its hands, with which Natsu looked around before returning to the interior of his cave.