Hey people..
I know, I know, I said I'd be quick with this chapter, but so much keep happening for me.
Some of you have probably figured out what's gonna happen, which is a little disappointing on my part, but I'll live. The thrill of plot twisting you guys is pretty good, so at least act surprised? (I kid you, give me your honest opinion!)
Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail.
Not again. Not this feeling again. Why was this always happening? She had worried for two weeks, refused to eat or sleep for his sake. She had stayed up every night, in case he would wake and not be all alone in the dark. She had washed his face countless times, just so he wouldn't be uncomfortable. She had done this, and been happy doing it. It had all been worth it when he finally woke up and looked into her eyes. She could tell how confused he had been, how lost and worried. Did he really have to go through that again? That same worry, that same uneasiness?
His eyes were once again unbearably closed. It was painful, just watching him had Juvia to utmost exhaustion. It didn't matter how tired she was though, she would stay awake as long as he wasn't.
Her pale hand was once again connected to his as she sat at his bedside, staring at his unmoving eyelids. Her eyes traveled over his eyelashes, then his nose, over his lips and down to the necklace on his chest. The small sword looking pendant shined beautifully silver, with a blue rim stone in the middle. The water mage reached out and let her fingertips trace over the cold metal. He had never spoken of the necklace before. He wore it all the time, but not once had he explained why. Was it just an accessory, or maybe something precious to him? A momentum from someone, or a cheap fashion item? Juvia's mood descended when she thought about how little she actually knew about the ice mage. What did he like to eat? What was his favorite color? What did he do on his days off? Of course she mostly knew the last one, do to following him around. The water mage flinched at the thought of never knowing all the small, but important things. Gray had never been much interested in talking about himself, nor his feelings for that matter.
They had gotten closer lately, there was no denying that. She had held his hand many times now, which was an act Gray never would have agreed to in the past. Maybe he liked Juvia now? The water mage blushed at the thought and pinched herself mentally. She shouldn't get her hopes up, Gray wasn't very honest when it came to feelings, she supposed. Though all she wanted now was for him to open his eyes. She didn't care if he never returned her feelings, nor if he hated her. All he had to do was wake up, all he had to do was survive and live. That's all she wanted, even if it meant not being with him.
"Are you alright?"
Tears had formed in her eyes, so she quickly wiped them off, turned and let out a sigh. Levy supported herself on crutches and betrayed her body's scream for relaxation. A small smile housed her lips as her eyes traveled from Juvia to the unconscious Gray. Seeing the water mage's worried features, she spoke again. "I guess not.. Huh?"
Juvia, having seen how much she troubled Levy, forced her face into happier folds, however hard it was to smile at the moment. "Juvia's fine." She said, unconvincingly.
"No, you're not." Levy stated, seeing through Juvia like glass.
Turning away from the smaller mage, Juvia trapped her lower lip between her teeth in shame. She had lied to Levy's face. She felt guilty for lying to someone who was concerned about her, but she also felt greatly irritated that she couldn't hide her feelings better.
"Juvia's sorry." The water mage apologized. "Juvia just.." She couldn't finish when her voice let out a sob.
After a small breeze, Juvia's eyes widened when two arms locked around her neck. Levy had discarded her crutches on the floor and embraced the water mage, who was greatly distraught.
"You don't have to be sorry.. I understand." Levy said, a comforting smile in her voice. The smaller mage's hand patted Juvia on the head, making tears well up in the water mage's eyes once again. Juvia instantly put her arms around Levy too. The two of them had gotten closer since their trip together, so Juvia didn't feel a need to hold back on her emotions, not that she could in front of Levy anyway. The little mage had a way to just make people spill their guts, she just knew how to comfort people the right way. No wonder Gajeel liked her, Juvia thought to herself.
"How's Erza-san doing?" Juvia asked when the two girls had separated.
"The same, it's always the same." Levy said bitterly, but sent a small smile Juvia's way. "I feel like we do nothing but sit at each other's bedsides lately." She sighed.
Juvia knew she was right. Gray had told the water mage about how they waited at Levy's bed when she got injured. Juvia herself, had waited for two weeks with Gray when he didn't awake. According to Levy, Gray had spent a great deal of time by Juvia's bed when the water mage collapsed do to lack of sleep and nutrition. And now Juvia was waiting for the ice mage to wake once again, they really did nothing but wait.
Why couldn't they just catch a break? It really felt like nothing good had happened recently. Friends got injured, Leon died, once they thought the worst was over, something else just happened in it's place. Juvia hadn't been happy for a while, mind the times she had spent with Gray. Having become closer was wonderful, but it all came down to nothing if Gray never awoke, or if Juvia somehow got gravely injured. She didn't want to get left behind, nor did she want to leave him behind. One day something horrible was gonna happen and they would get teared apart. Juvia feared that day with all her being. Nothing could be done to stop fate's turning.
"It's gonna be fine." Levy reassured, as if she had read Juvia's mind.
The water mage nodded, not sharing her fears for the future.
"I'm sorry, but I really have no idea what's going on." Tanarou sighed, as his eyes followed the pacing Makarov.
"Why would this happen? What do they want?!" The master seemed utterly confused, yet anger simmered under his skin. Codename had no right nor reason to attack his guild, so why would they? What was their purpose in doing such an useless act? What did they hope to accomplish?
Taizou, who had planted himself in the corner of the room, seemed extraordinarily bored and not interested in the situation at all. Handling his small knife playfully, he drew in a hardened breath and sighed loudly, annoying both Makarov and Tanarou.
"Taizou, go contact my son. Tell him to be here within two hours." Tanarou ordered, making Taizou spring to life, salute and storm out the door of Makarov's office.
Makarov looked to his old friend, a worried expression plastered on his face. "Tanarou, don't involve Keir in this, I don't want him getting hurt." He stated.
"No such thing, Keir would be happy to help. Plus I think he would enjoy being around some kids of his own age." Tanarou smiled. "We need all the help we can get if you plan on duking it out with Codename." The large man sighed.
"Thanks, old friend." The master smiled sadly and ran two fingers through his mustache. "I just worry of your warning, are they really that powerful?"
"I'm afraid so. I've only met the master once and I will never forget that day." Tanarou's eyes shined with darkness for a slight second, before he regained his indifferent attitude.
"What makes them so dangerous?" Makarov asked, but noted an unusual noise from the guild hall. Something crashed, something shattered, someone yelled.
Ignoring the obvious oddness of the sounds, Tanarou answered. "It's a secret weapon, they call it-" Interrupted by Natsu bursting in through the door, both the elder men snapped out of their conversation.
"Master! You gotta see this!" The fire mage shouted, panic and excitement flaming in his eyes.
"Natsu, we're in an important meeting!" The master shouted back, cross about the interruption.
"This is more important, trust me!" Natsu let out in a loud voice, slightly out of breath.
After having looked at Tanarou with apologetic eyes, the master followed Natsu out the door, through the hall and towards the sickbay, all the while the fire mage was quick on his feet.
"Natsu, slow dow-!" The master stopped dead sentence when he entered the sickbay.
It was chaos. Some were running around screaming in panic, while others were sat at the floor looking helpless and defeated. What on earth was going on? Gajeel was shouting about wanting to leave his bed, while Levy tried her best calming him. She looked in pain, but did a well job of hiding it to talk rational with the enraged iron mage. Lucy jogged her way to Natsu when he entered to room with the confused master. Mirajane ran from person to person trying to calm them down. Juvia was still bent over at the sleeping Gray's bedside, her eyes threatening to close despite the noise from the panicked. Erza's face portrayed confusion and slight fear, as she stared at her upheld hands. She studied them front and back, seemingly surprised by something. Not noticed by her, on her left lower arm shined a purple rose that bloomed over her skin and kept growing.
"Silence!" Makarov yelled, successfully muting the room filled with mages, as if the entire scene was put on pause. "Now, what is going on in here?!" His voice sounded slightly angry, a tone he regretted a little.
"Master, everybody knows, about Codename, about everything!" Mira explained quickly, but took a firm hold on the little man and dragged him to Erza. The red head was still staring at her hands in absolute confusion, that slowly turned to dread. "Erza is awake and this is worse." Mira commented.
"I don't have any magic power." Erza said quietly, yet it felt like yelling in the dead silence of the room.
Makarov was now also confused to the brim of irritation. "What do you mean Erza?" He asked calmly.
"I can't use any magic." Erza said, once again in an ominous tone. The purple rose bloomed yet another flower head over her elbow, from which deadly thorns grew. Strange.
Tanarou, who had entered the room after the master, quickly stepped up and took the teen's arm in his hand. She flinched slightly in surprise, but remained calm. Some admired Erza for her attitude, losing one's powers must be overly dreadful, yet the armored mage said nothing and stayed rational.
"I've seen this before.." Tanarou spoke to himself, running a hand through his stubble. The gears in his head turned as he tried to remember, studying the growing rose closely.
"How far is it gonna grow?" Lucy asked mortified, looking at the expanding flower on Erza's arm. Yet another branch grew, filled with thorns.
Tanarou reached out and let his hand touch the growing mark, but immediately withdrew his hand like he burned it. "It's protecting itself." He stated.
"What's it doing to her?!" Natsu sneered, anger clear in his tone.
Tanarou looked to the fire mage for a split second, then back to the poisonous purple mark. "I don't know exactly, either it's blocking her magic power from being released or it's stealing it from her. Either way, it's bad." He explained.
The deadly, but beautiful rose spread it's final head on Erza's shoulder, where it instantly stopped shining and settled down like a tattoo. The red head stared at it with frowned eyes, immediately trying to summon a weapon, any weapon. It did not work, she concluded when nothing happened. She really had lost her powers!
"Juvia saw the same mark on Gray-sama some time ago!" Juvia suddenly exclaimed, making everyone turn to her at the mentioned ice mage's bed.
"Are you sure Juvia?! When?!" Makarov asked her quickly.
The water mage seemed overwhelmed by all the attention and therefore stuttered when she spoke. "Ju-Juvia's not sure, she saw the purple rose on Gray-sama's forehead around three we-weeks ago." She frowned nervously around on all her guild mates and swallowed a small lump in her throat. "It wasn't Juvia's intention t-to hide it!" She panicked slightly.
"It's okay Juvia, I know it wasn't your fault." The master said reassuringly, making his way to the bluenette. "It's just really important to get all the information we can."
Juvia nodded and looked back on the sleeping gray, there was no denying how handsome he was when he slept. Juvia shook the thought out of her head as quickly as it had entered. There was no time for that!
"Argh, so many questions!" Natsu sneered, slightly irritated.
"Is Gray gonna lose his powers too?" Lucy asked, her gaze wandering to Tanarou.
"It's possible." Was all the man answered before he went back to thinking deeply.
His statement only seemed to rile up the guild members even more. One thing was for Erza, an s-class mage to lose her magic power, but for Gray, another member of the strongest team to lose his, was doom in disguise. Mumbling quickly ensured in the room once again.
In that exact moment, Gray mumbled an awakening sound, making everyone silence themselves to listen. Juvia lightened up and gripped his hand even tighter. The master, Natsu, Lucy, Tanarou and Mirajane gathered around his bed as well.
Dark blue eyes opened slightly, blinked a few times and looked around cautiously. His brows frowned slightly when he stared around on all the faces. Then his eyes widened in fright and he jumped up into a sitting stance.
"Gray, are you alright?" Makarov asked, reaching out to calm the teen. Instead of calming however, Gray flinched and backed up against the head of the bed, clearly confused.
"W-what?! Where is this?!" Gray's voice sounded from his mouth, only slightly more panicked.
"Gray-sama it is alright, you are save." Juvia said, confused yet happy. "This is Fairy Tail, you are home."
The ice mage was breathing small, quick breaths, seemingly having a panic-attack. "Wha-! Who are you people?!"
Dead silence.
I was conflicted whether to end the chapter here or continue, but when I tried writing on I got stuck for weeks. I therefore decided to put this out and leave the difficult part for next chapter. I've kept you guys waiting for so long and that is unacceptable on my part, so I'm really sorry.
I really hope you're not ready to kill me or give up on my story. I've gone through a very big change in my life, so I had no time to write at all, I hope you guys can forgive me :/
To all loyal readers out there, I love you guys and thanks for staying with me :)
I leave you with this and I'll see you all in next chapter, which I can guarantee will be here surely, but maybe not shortly.
