.

Ten

(In which Lyon loves Juvia enough to let her go, and gets more than he bargained for.)

"Okay, that's it," Yuka declared, startling Lyon out of his thoughts. "Off the boat."

Lyon stared. "Excuse me?"

Yuka brandished his sandwich at his nose and fixed him with a ferocious scowl. "After lunch, we're going to dock and kick you off. You can sort the day's catch so far as penance and then go do whatever it is that's so much more important than our livelihood."

"Excuse me?" Lyon said again, his brows drawing together. He hadn't the faintest idea why he needed to be kicked off the boat, nor had Yuka ever exiled him before. He hadn't even pushed the topic of fixing or replacing the boat today, caught up as he was with his thoughts of Juvia and Gray.

"You've been totally useless, just spacing out. Just take care of the catch we have so far, and Toby and I will finish out the day and take care of the rest this evening. Then you can go finish whatever preparations you're making for Gray. I'm sure you'll be hopeless until this visit is over."

"Oh, can I help?" Toby asked. "I can help Lyon."

"Absolutely not. You'll be with me. We still have to keep up with our fishing if we want to keep food on the table."

"But if Lyon gets the day off–"

"No. Lyon has extenuating circumstances. And he usually pulls his weight. I can barely even get you to the dock on Mondays. You still have to make up for holding us up earlier."

"But–"

Yuka threw his hands in the air. "For goodness' sake! I can't do all the work by myself! You two are useless!"

"Sorry," Lyon said, guilt flushing his cheeks. His thoughts had been more absorbed by Juvia than Gray this morning, even though he was supposed to be ensuring the visit went perfectly. "I can still work the afternoon. I'll pay attention."

Yuka eyed him skeptically. "Not that I don't believe you, but I don't believe you. You're just deadweight right now. Go mope over Gray somewhere else."

Lyon mumbled a few more protests, but was shoved unceremoniously from the boat after Yuka finished his sandwich and directed them back to shore. In truth, he hadn't been having a productive day and was just taking up space.

"Take me with you!" Toby whispered loudly, but Yuka grabbed him by the collar and yanked him back.

"Row, you moron."

Lyon snorted and watched them go, a pile of fish at his feet where Yuka had tossed it. He stared after them until they were a speck on the shoreline before taking a deep breath and shaking himself back to life. Yuka was right, for once. Maybe Lyon had needed a wakeup call. He couldn't afford to spend all his time daydreaming about Juvia or worrying about what the future might hold, not when Gray would be here in a couple of short days. Not when Juvia would be leaving in a few short days.

It took nearly an hour to deal with the catch and wrap up the workday. He strolled to Sherry's shop immediately after, both because he needed to pick up the clothing she was mending and because she had a way of helping him clear his head when he was all muddled up.

"Good timing," she said. "I just finished up last night."

She fetched a bag from the back and hefted it onto the counter. Lyon peeked inside and saw a collection of neatly folded shirts and pants.

"Thank you," he said, and meant it. "How much do I owe you?"

She waved him off. "Consider it a favor. I'm excited to see Gray back too."

"I insist. How do you manage to stay in business when you're always trying to give things away for free?"

"Only for you," she said with a laugh.

After a brief but fierce bit of haggling, Lyon convinced her to accept half price for her work. He didn't want to take advantage of her kindness or affection when he hadn't committed to marrying her yet. Especially not when he had been kissing Juvia. She might not be as eager to help if she knew that, and Lyon felt too guilty about it to accept favors while the secret festered between them.

"Thanks for all your help," he said.

"Of course. Are you just about ready for Gray now? Is there anything else I can do?"

"No, I think I'm just about set, although I'm sure I'll find something at the last minute. I don't feel ready, though. I just need to keep my hands busy doing something."

"You're nervous," Sherry said with a nod. "The waiting is the worst part."

Lyon could wholeheartedly agree with that. A colony of butterflies seemed to have taken up residence in his stomach, stirring up nausea with the fluttering of their wings, and they did not seem eager to leave him in peace anytime soon. He wished Gray would show up and put him out of his misery, although there was no guarantee reality would prove his fears wrong.

"I wish he'd get here already so I can stop worrying about it," he grumbled.

"It will go great, you'll see. Have you decided when you want the town get-together? I assume you'll want him to yourself the first day and I'm not sure how long he intends to stay, so maybe the day after his arrival?"

Lyon stared at her blankly. "Excuse me?"

Sherry's eyebrows shot up her forehead. "Goodness, you really haven't been paying much attention, have you? Everyone wants to have a party for Gray. You aren't the only one who's looking forward to seeing him again. And I'd expect his friends to try stealing him away for a bit as well. Natsu and the gang, at least. Maybe you could bring him over for dinner one night. Then you won't have to worry about cooking for a night, and he can socialize with some of us too."

"Oh," Lyon said, wondering if he'd really been so caught up in his own worries and frantic preparations that he'd missed such scheming and machinations.

He hadn't considered that everyone else might be making plans too, although he supposed it was self-centered to assume that Gray would be all his for the entirety of the visit. Or that Gray intended to only spend time with him. Of course Gray would want to see his old friends as well, and they would want to see him after all this time. This threw a whole new set of worries pinballing about his brain as he scrambled to determine how this might affect his own plans.

"Goodness, stop fussing!" Sherry said, reaching across the counter to whack him lightly on the arm. "Look at it this way: you'll have some help entertaining him instead of trying to figure it all out yourself."

"I guess, just…"

"Yes, yes. You want him all to yourself. Just remember, we haven't seen him in ages either. Everyone's excited." She gave him a conspiratorial wink. "But I'll try to make sure they give you some space too."

Lyon snorted. "Thanks, Sherry."

"Of course!" she said. "What would you do without me?"

That was a good question that he had no answer to. Sherry had been there from the beginning, by his side every step of the way. She kept him grounded, supported him through thick and thin, loved him even when he gave her precious little in return.

It only made it worse that for all he loved her, he'd fallen in love with another woman.

"I really don't know," he said quietly, and it was true.

He needed her still. She brought out the best in him, and he loved her for it. She would be here long after Juvia returned to the sea, and it seemed foolish to toss out the steady future he'd planned for such an impractical and short-lived affair.

He remembered the scornful words Gray had tossed at him during their last fight: Love? You're far too practical to love anyone.

Maybe, he thought bitterly, there was some truth to that.

"Luckily for you, I'm here to stay," Sherry said. "Now, go finish setting things up for Gray. Your nerves are rubbing off on me. You might want to stop by the bakery too. Erza said she was baking some things for Gray. I'm sure most of them are for the party, but you might be able to take some home for his arrival."

"Thank you."

Lyon pulled the bag from the counter and retreated. He paused in the doorway to cast one last, lingering look back. Sherry gave him a cheery wave, and he returned it with a small one of his own before slipping out into the streets.

He stopped by the bakery as Sherry suggested, and then did his very best to put the matter out of mind. The tangle of Sherry and Juvia and his own heart seemed like a problem best resolved after Gray was successfully dealt with.

He was not concerned when he returned to an empty house. It was far earlier than he would normally come home, and he knew Juvia often wandered off on her own while he was out fishing. He had long since given up trying to make her rest, and apparently she was doing a good enough job caring for herself since her ankle was healing up nicely.

He set out Erza's pastries in the kitchen, sorted through the stack of clothes, and wandered the small rooms restlessly. It did not take long to realize that Sherry was, as usual, right: he was going to drive himself crazy with the waiting.

"You'd better hurry up, Gray," he muttered, jamming his feet into his boots and unlatching the door.

If anyone could distract him from his preoccupation, it was Juvia. He tried to put Sherry neatly out of mind. He didn't have much time left with Juvia, so he was just making the most of it like a good friend. It wasn't as if anything more serious or permanent would come of it.

Pebbles skittered underfoot as he tramped down the path to the beach, where he expected to find the missing selkie. But Juvia was nowhere to be seen.

He walked down to the shore, floundering through the rolling mounds of golden sand until he reached the ocean. He found surer footing near the shoreline and wandered down the beach along the water's edge, leaving a trail of boot prints in the wet sand behind him until the waves lapped up to wear them away. The gentle splashing of the waves and harsh crowing of the gulls soothed his nerves.

He could see why Juvia loved the sea so desperately. He sometimes took it for granted after all this time, but it had a wild beauty that was impossible to ignore. His life and livelihood had always been and would always be tied to the ocean and the resources it provided him, and it deserved respect for that. On such a beautiful day, he could almost forget how easily the sea could turn on you. How fast it could take back everything it had given and snuff out lives like matchsticks. The sea was as deadly as it was beautiful, and it paid to remember that.

Halfway down the beach, he finally spotted Juvia. She stood perched on a rocky overhang in the rock fields at the far end of the beach. Lyon waved as he approached, but she was looking out to sea and didn't seem to notice him. He didn't call out, but picked his way through the rocks and hiked up the incline.

"Hey, Juvia," he said as he started toward her, not wanting to startle her too badly. "I'm off early today. What are you doing?"

She turned sharply, and he thought he caught a glimpse of tears shimmering in her eyes before she collected herself and smiled. Lyon had learned her expressions to make up for the lack of words, and this smile was a little too thin and wistful to be more than perfunctory.

"What's wrong?"

She shook her head and waved her hand, pale fingers fluttering like butterflies in the wind, but her gaze was drawn past him, back out to sea. Lyon looked out at the gray waves rolling lazily against the shore and traced them back, farther and farther out to sea until the lines of the breakers disappeared against the horizon. When he stole a sideways glance at Juvia, the naked longing on her face took his breath away. He knew then that whatever love he might be able to offer her could never eclipse her love of the sea.

"It's calling you?" he asked, although it wasn't quite a question.

She started again, as if she'd forgotten him already, and offered him a sheepish smile that didn't reach her eyes. She nodded once. Her eyes seemed like the stormy gray of the sea today, drained of their usual blue hue. Perhaps the shore was draining her away, bit by bit, until there was nothing left.

Lyon swallowed painfully, like grit was scraping up and down his throat. "How is your ankle? Feeling better?"

Juvia fixed him with a curious look. She nodded again, offering him a brief thumbs up.

Lyon looked away, back out to sea. The words stuck in his throat.

Eventually, Juvia shrugged off all he'd left unsaid. They stood side by side in silence for a long time, lost in their own thoughts and enthralled by the sea.

Silence felt natural—companionable, even—with Juvia, maybe because it was her natural state of being or because she filled it so vividly with her presence and personality. Lyon wondered if the silence would feel lonely once she was gone. It had been a way of life during the time he spent tucked away in his cabin, but he didn't know how to be alone anymore after she had filled every corner of his home and heart.

"Stay here," he said, and immediately wished for the silence back. "I'll be back in a minute."

He avoided her gaze as he turned back the way he had come, but he could feel it tapping on his shoulder. Ignoring her unspoken question, he started back down the overhang.

The trek down the beach gave him plenty of time to reconsider, and he faltered more than once.

Juvia's skin was exactly where he'd left it, squirreled away in the rocks near the house. He drew it out carefully and weighed it in his hands. The mottled gray fur was stiff beneath his fingertips, and the skin was surprisingly lightweight to hold so much magic.

He wavered, rubbing his thumb absently along the fur as he looked between the skin and its hiding place. He understood now why men since time immemorial had given in to the temptation to lock the skins away and try to keep selkies on shore forever.

But Lyon was not one of them. He would not hold anyone hostage, especially not Juvia. And although he had expected her to have a little longer, maybe it was time for her to go. Her ankle had healed up quickly, and he was running out of excuses to keep her here.

Juvia had opened his eyes to a lot of things in the short time they had known each other. She had shown him a different world and a different way of life and a hint of the magic he'd been missing right underneath his nose. She had shaken him out of his complacency, pushed him to look past the easy comfort of mundane daily life. She had taught him how to open up and share his life with someone else again, outside of work or quick jaunts to the village. Maybe something he hadn't done since his mother had died and Gray had left and he had locked himself away to stew over it.

Those were things he hoped to hold on to, even once she was gone. But as thrilling as a break from ordinary life was, he did still have a life to get back to. Juvia's reality was more exciting, but he couldn't let it call him away from his responsibilities forever. She had shaken things up, and perhaps it was time to put them back in order. After all, it wasn't very fair to Sherry either.

He would miss her, though. Even though her heart and his responsibilities lay elsewhere, she would always hold a special place in his heart.

Although he had told Juvia he would be back quickly, he found himself dragging his feet as he plodded back up the beach. The skin grew heavier in his arms with every step.

When he finally reached the rocks again and picked his way through, he slowed to a stop several paces behind Juvia. For one wild moment, he thought about tiptoeing back the way he'd come and returning the skin to its hiding place. He could make up another reason for why he had excused himself and hold on to Juvia for another few days before setting her free.

But how easily could a few days turn into a few weeks or months or years? If he could always find a reason to hang on, could he ever let go? He would not become that person from the stories, the jailer of the woman he'd fallen in love with.

"Juvia," he said in a rush before he could talk himself out of it, the syllables of her name tripping over themselves in his haste.

Juvia turned away from her scrutiny of the ocean to face him, a faint half-smile quirking her lips and her blue-gray eyes wide and guileless. Then her gaze fell on the pelt cradled in his arms and her eyes went wide, the smile slipping from her face. Confusion, longing, surprise, hope warred in her eyes.

She tore her gaze away to search Lyon's face in silent question.

Lyon swallowed hard, and his jagged words scraped his throat raw. "Yes," he said. "For you. I said I would give it back, and it seems like you're ready now."

Juvia hesitated, swaying forward with the sea breeze and then back again. Lyon held out the skin, and she approached warily. She paused before him, suspicion lining her face. When Lyon nodded, she darted forward the last step and snatched her skin from him as if he might change his mind. He watched in silence as she held it tight against her chest, her fingers stroking the fur like she still didn't quite believe it was here.

He half expected her to wrap herself in her skin and throw herself over the rocky precipice into the ocean without even saying goodbye, but then she looked back up at him and her eyes swam with tears.

"It's okay," he said, swallowing down tears of his own. "I know you have to go back out to sea. It wouldn't be fair to keep you here. You'll be happier out there." One corner of his mouth twitched upwards into a melancholy half-smile before he could stop it. "I'll miss you, though. It was nice having you around. But I know you have to go."

He clamped his mouth shut around words better left unsaid. I love you would only make the goodbye harder for them both. Stay would be unforgivable. He was afraid that she could still feel the echoes of those words vibrating in the air all around them, bittersweet and sharp.

Juvia stepped forward, and for a moment he was sure she had read his thoughts after all. She mouthed something, molding her lips deliberately around the words in an exaggerated fashion. It still took Lyon several seconds of pondering to interpret them—he had never been any good at reading lips, and was still more or less hopeless despite Juvia's attempts to teach him—but these words were simple enough even for him.

Thank you.

He tried to smile. It would be selfish not to.

"You're welcome."

Juvia rose to the tips of her toes, stretching up to press her lips to Lyon's cheek, just at the corner of his mouth. Lyon blinked rapidly as she settled back onto her heels, and the lump in his throat dug its sharp edges into his flesh.

"I love you," he said thickly. "And that's why I'm letting you go. Go be free, Juvia. Be happy."

Juvia's eyes glimmered, wild like the sea, and her fingers tightened around her pelt. She leaned up again, and this time kissed him full on the mouth. Lyon let her, kissed her back. This was the end, after all. The last memory they'd have. He kissed her like a drowning man, and it ached with farewell.

Something fluttered in the edges of his vision, a blur of motion he couldn't follow, and Juvia swayed in his arms. Something settled over his shoulders. He gasped at the impossible weight bearing down on him, pushing him to the ground. Something tightened around his limbs and across his chest, squeezing like a vise until he couldn't breathe and his vision spun.

"Wha–?"

He crumpled to his knees, and the last thing he felt was Juvia's hand on his arm before the world went black.

Lyon came to on the ground, pressed flat against the hard rock. His body felt strange and heavy and disconnected, like he couldn't quite remember what it was supposed to feel like, and there was a muffled buzzing in his brain that slowly began to clear.

Juvia crouched beside him, a brown sweep of fabric tumbling over her knees and pooling on the stone. Lyon craned upwards to peer at her face, but his neck was stiff and his limbs were too leaden to push him upright. He opened his mouth to ask what had happened, but only a hoarse wheeze escaped his lips.

"It's a little disorienting," Juvia said. "Lyon-san will get used to it."

Lyon jerked in surprise, but there was no way to deny she had spoken. Her voice had a rough edge, as if she hadn't spoken in a very long time, but it also had a musical lilt that would be beautiful with a little polish.

He tried to ask her what was happening again, but still produced only that coughing bark.

"Juvia will give Lyon-san a moment to collect himself and then explain," Juvia said, and it took a moment to parse her meaning. She had a strange, almost archaic way of speaking, with the honorifics and the oddity of speaking of herself in the third person.

Lyon tried to stand, but something was wrong with his arms and legs. Tearing his gaze away from Juvia, he looked down at himself. Where his hands should have been were flippers, lightly furred in a dappled pattern of grays and whites. Heaving himself around, he spotted hind flippers fanned like a tail. He had seen plenty of seals in his day, but the image did not compute. When he tried to speak, he could only croak out a series of hoarse barks.

"Lyon-san was not wrong about the curse," Juvia said. "Juvia will tell him what she knows, because Lyon-san was kind to her. Juvia was not told much, though. The curse is passed from person to person. Juvia does not know how it started, if it's selkie magic or something else. Juvia guesses that someone once did something very cruel and was punished for it."

Lyon craned his neck upwards and blinked up at Juvia. Her face was alight with…triumph, maybe. The storms in her eyes were treacherous.

Why? he wanted to ask, but she only smiled indulgently at his weak bark.

"Juvia found a selkie on the beach many years ago," she said. "She took his skin. She fell in love. And she gave his skin back, because she loved him enough to set him free."

Lyon shivered at the echo of the words he himself had said only minutes before, the supposedly noble sentiments he had gifted so carelessly. Juvia nodded, pity softening her features, as if she could sense the beginnings of his understanding.

"Yes, Juvia was Lyon-san once," she said. "Now Lyon-san will be a…selkie, of sorts. Not that they'll have anything to do with people like Juvia and Lyon-san. They sense it's unnatural, and Juvia never figured out how to communicate with them. But Lyon-san will live as a seal now. One day a year, on the anniversary of the day Lyon-san was cursed, he will be able to shed his skin and roam the shore as a human. From sundown until sunup. Then the sea will call him back. Juvia suggests Lyon-san does not try cheating. It is ugly and painful and does not work.

"The only way Lyon-san cannot return to the water is if someone takes his skin and holds it. The skin is needed to transform, so if Lyon-san does not have it… Juvia would not suggest Lyon-san tries to dispose of the skin any other way. Someone needs to take his skin. And Lyon-san needs to make them love him enough to give it back of their own free will and out of the goodness of their heart. Juvia does not know if they have to be in love or if genuine friendship would suffice.

"It is not easy." Juvia rocked back on her heels, the hem of her dress sweeping the rocks, and her lips pursed into a frown. "Especially since Lyon-san will not be able to speak during this time." She smiled thinly. "Lyon-san must forgive Juvia if her speech seems strange, as she has been able to speak to no one but herself for many years, and even then only in her head. Juvia finds it helps her sanity to talk to herself.

"Lyon-san must be careful, though. There are people who would like to steal a selkie's skin to hold them hostage or do cruel things. Lyon-san must be careful who he chooses to lure." She brightened suddenly, beaming. "But Lyon-san has an advantage! Sherry-san is already in love with Lyon-san. If she remains constant for the next year, Lyon-san could use her. If he can find her in time. It's okay to leave the beach if Lyon-san does not wander too far, but it is best to be near the water when the sun rises. But Lyon-san has a better chance than Juvia ever did. Maybe it will not take him as long to break the curse."

Lyon snorted, the sound rumbling deep in his chest, and slid his flippers against the rock in a bid to figure out how they moved. He couldn't imagine being cruel enough to trick someone into loving him just to pass a curse on to them. He would never do something like that to Sherry or anyone. What was it that Sherry had said? "How much do you really know about her?" And the answer, he was realizing, was nothing at all.

"How long?" Juvia asked, misinterpreting his agitation. "Juvia has been trying to escape for…over sixty seasons now."

Lyon gazed at her in horror. Sixty years? How long would he be trapped like this?

"Juvia supposes she cannot go home now," she said mournfully. "Juvia's sister will be an old woman now. Her parents will be dead. Juvia would not know how to explain how she has not aged. She does not know if she stopped aging altogether or if she aged only in her time as a human: one day per year. Maybe it is the same thing."

She fell silent, gaze distant as she stared sightlessly down the beach. Lyon, although still reeling, was beginning to shake himself out of his confused daze, just a little. Everything felt strange and foreign, but he couldn't flounder in denial forever.

Anger kindled in his chest, first smoldering and then blazing brighter and hotter. It helped distract him from the knife through his heart. Betrayal, hurt, and fury warred for dominance, feeding each other and fanning the flames. He had loved Juvia, shown her kindness and only ever done what he thought was best for her, and this was how she repaid him? Had anything been real at all, or had she just been manipulating him this whole time, dancing him around like a puppet on a string?

He had let himself be pulled in by her mystery and glamor, used her as an escape from the contented boredom of his everyday life, and he had paid a price. The fairy tale had fallen down around him, the spun-sugar fantasy crumbling to dust. He should have known better.

But he was not going to roll over and die here. He would make Juvia undo whatever magic she had put on him. She could take her skin and curse back and leave him in peace. He would make her.

He lunged at her, but stumbled over his own flippers and didn't make it far. He cursed his heavy body and clumsy limbs in a string of sputtering coughs and grunts.

Juvia rose to her feet and stepped back. "Juvia understands that Lyon-san is upset," she said in a terribly reasonable tone. "It's a lot to take in. It's a lot for Juvia too. She needs to figure out what to do now. She cannot go home, of course. She should not stay here either, too risky. But she has enjoyed getting to know Lyon-san's friends, and she is curious to meet Gray-san…"

Lyon growled and snapped and staggered forward a pace. He did not want this lunatic anywhere near his brother or his friends. Gray was coming any day now—what would he think when Lyon was gone? This was their chance to make things up, and Lyon would not be stuck as a damn seal.

"Maybe Juvia will stay for a little while," Juvia said. "If she can deflect suspicion for Lyon-san's disappearance. But then she supposes she will have to move on." She smiled again, and her eyes lit up with adventure. "She can make her own life now, do whatever she likes. She is free."

Lyon lunged at her again and got a little closer than before. Juvia swayed out of his way and wagged a scolding finger in his direction.

"That's not very nice, Lyon-san."

Lyon only growled and tried again. Juvia backed away, and he could have howled in triumph as he clumsily flopped his way across the rocks after her. She was backing up to the edge of the overhang, jutting out high over the sea below. She would be trapped.

"Really, Lyon-san," she said. "It's not that bad. Well… Juvia did not enjoy it, but Lyon-san will do better when Sherry-san already loves him."

Lyon snarled and threw himself forward. Juvia's heel caught on the edge of the ledge. She hovered poised halfway between land and sky, with the ocean crashing on the beach below. He had her. She had nowhere to go, nowhere left to run.

If Lyon had been watching more closely, he might have noticed that there was no fear in her eyes, only resignation. He lunged.

"In another life," she said, "Juvia might have loved Lyon-san too."

She swayed nimbly to the side, and his teeth snapped at the air where her leg had just been. Swooping down, she pressed her hands flat against his side and heaved. He tipped over the edge, scrambling uselessly for purchase with his clumsy flippers.

He caught only a glimpse of Juvia's bright-eyed smile as he tumbled through the sky and crashed into the sea.

Note: Oops? This was the long con lol Sorry, I had ulterior motives all along.