Juvia POV


The other Gray, who I have learned is named Ice, brought me to a quaint tree house in the forest.

The room is painted in various shades of blue and contains a small bed, neatly made, two straight-backed chairs, a washstand, a bureau, and a small pinewood table. There is white linen curtains stretching right to the floor, and a strange looking painting on one of the walls.

The composition of the painting is curious. My eyes are moving from place to place, unable to decide what the focus of the piece is. I can only imagine that the art reflects the chaos inside the artist. The colors are vivid, almost to the point of garish. The stroke lines are bold and the images from out of this world. It is both stunning and headache inducing, like a novel condensed onto a single page. But my attention is snapped back to the moment at hand when I feel rope brush against my skin.

Ice binds my wrists behind my back and ties my ankles together so I cannot escape, before laying me down on the king-sized bed. Glancing to the side, I can see that there is a framed photo on one of the nightstands.

It portrays two people I don't recognize, a boy and a girl, standing together. The girl has a smile on her face, but the boy is frowning. Yet I can see the soft hue of red in his cheeks, which tells me he's somewhat happy. I turn my attention back to Ice after looking around the room. He has a seat in a chair, and then stares at me for a while.

"Do you mind untying Juvia?" I asks, breaking the silence.

"No. I don't know what the hell has gotten into you, Aqua. You've done a lot of strange stuff in the past, but...you've slacked off, pulled pranks, and there was that one time you even stole my underwear...but now you're siding with the enemy? What is wrong with you?"

"They are not the enemy, they are Juvia's friends!" I argue. "You are Juvia's enemy and Juvia does not ally with you!"

"Ugh...how long are you gonna keep up this charade? You aren't Juvia, you're Aqua."

"Juvia is Juvia and Juvia is the water! But Juvia is not 'Aqua'!"

"Now you're just rambling..."

"Just let Juvia go so she can get back to Gray-sama and her friends! They must be very worried about Juvia!"

"You aren't going anywhere until you're back to normal. I'll be damned if I let you be seen by Master when you're like this. Although she might not kill you, Dragon will find out, and that maniac will come running..."

"What do you mean? Paw is the maniac, not Dragon."

"Don't you remember what happened last year? I yelled at Master for being reckless and jumping down a void hole. Dragon hunted me down afterwards and started attacking me...if you hadn't shown up when you did, he probably would've killed me."

I go silent, at a loss for words. Dragon hasn't seemed like the kind of person to do that.

"I swear, that guy is so dedicated to Master...it's actually kind of scary," Ice comments. "How much do you wanna bet that he has some kind of shrine to her in his room?"

"Juvia doesn't know about that, because she isn't who you think she is. You must be mistaking Juvia for someone else."

"That's not possible, because someone who looks exactly the same and sounds the same as another person isn't realexcept with identical siblings."

He thinks that Juvia is someone named Aqua, but Juvia isn't. Hold on...can't the dream people here take the form of people from our world? Maybe someone here has taken Juvia's appearance, and Ice thinks that Juvia is her.

"Listen, Aqua...just be quiet or I'll tape your mouth shut," he says, glowering at me. "I'm going to keep you here until you give up this foolish act, and nothing you say is gonna make me set you free. It's for your own good, after all."

I cease talking as I try to formulate a plan of escape. But with how intently Ice is watching me, it seems like freedom is impossible on my own.

Gods of magic, if you can hear Juvia right now...please, give a sign to Juvia's friends that she is here. Juvia cannot do this alone...

It's at that moment that a small dove lands on the windowsill of one of the open windows. I make eye contact with it, and I could've sworn that its eyes widen.

"Help, please..." I whisper as quietly as I am able.

The dove flies off into the night, but the sound of the bird flapping its wings causes Ice to look over.

"A dove? In a place like this?" he watches as its form fades into the distance. "I thought only nocturnal birds lived in this area..."

"It must have gotten lost," I take it as a sign that help is coming, and attempt to get his attention off of it.

"Probably. Hope the little thing finds its way home..."

Ice starts intently observing me once again, and I'm unsure if he is actually blinking or not. But I cannot care less as I lay there staring back at him, and hoping that help will arrive soon.

I wait for what feels like hours upon hours, before I finally notice something in my peripheral vision.

What's that?

Peering over at the window where the bird had previously been, I glimpse a familiar ivory-haired girl peeking into the house. Her sapphire eyes scan around the room, before coming to a rest on me.

"What do you see?" I can hear Wendy's voice say softly.

"Juvia's in there, and she's tied up," Lisanna whispers back.

"I KNEW IT! I knew the Juvia with Gray wasn't real!" Natsu's voice loudly exclaims, shattering the silence.

"Natsu, shut up!"

Iceof courseheard them, his head whipping toward the sound. His eyes shift into a glare as soon as he sees Lisanna.

"Shit! He saw us!" she doesn't whisper this time.

"A trespasser peeking in through a window?" Ice growls. "Typical..."

"HELP!" I call out, knowing this is my chance. "JUVIA IS UNABLE TO USE HER MAGIC! HELP!"

"Shut UP!" he commands, turning his attention back to me.

Ice gets up from his chair so quickly that his chair is knocked over, and he runs over to me. He roughly grabs me, swinging me up off the bed bridal style.

"I gotta get you out of here."

"Put Juvia down!" I yell, trying to struggle but his grip on me is too strong.

"OI! LET HER GO YA' BASTARD!" I hear Gajeel bellow.

The air is suddenly rent by the sound of breaking glass. Glittering fragments shower the ground in sharp silvers, and I just barely see a fist shooting out, punching Ice in the face. The pajama clad man falls to the floor, holding his now bleeding nose with his hands.

Strong arms stop me from hitting the floor, and I turn my head up to see Gajeel holding me. He tears the ropes from me effortlessly, and then sets me down. I rub my sore wrists, before smiling at him. "Thank you, Gajeel..."

"Don't mention it," he grunts, before turning his attention back to Ice. The latter has a stony glare carved into his dark eyes, and is clearly unhappy. The others pile into the tree house, careful to avoid the glass shards on the ground.

"Aqua! Snap out of it already!"

"Juvia has already told you, Juvia is not Aqua! Juvia is Juvia!"

"These freaks brainwashed you or something! Come back!"

"Listen, didn't you see Gray and notice he looked exactly like you? Well, you're not Gray, and Gray's not you. The same case is with Juvia and this Aqua person you're talking about. So just please stop trying to take Juvia, because she's not who you think she is," Levy attempts to explain to him.

Ice tries to get up off the floor, but Laxus places a foot down on his chest.

"Shut up!" he hollers. "And get off of me you-!"

"He's not going to listen," Rogue speaks up from close by. I almost jump, not even noticing his shadowy presence here until he spoke.

"No shit," Laxus keeps his foot in place. "Find something to tie him up."

Erza takes the curtains off the window and begins utilizing them to tie Ice's wrists and ankles together, but he won't cease squirming.

"Could someone hold him still?" Titania seems to be getting annoyed.

Natsu goes over and holds Ice's ankles together so the requip mage can bind them.

"Dammit, I said GET OFF!"

Almost immediately after Ice has screamed that, a powerful blast of energy is released from him. Bright as a fallen fragment of the sky, it sends everyone flying into the walls of the house.

I'm dazed from the attack, and it seems like the others are as well, but I can still feel Ice picking me up his arms once again.

"All of you better fucking listen when I say that you won't take her from me!" he snarls. "I mean it! If you ever try to come near us again, I will not hesitate to kill you this time!"

He doesn't waste another second as he dashes out of the tree house as fast as he possibly can. It takes me a few moments before I find myself able to struggle against his hold again.

"Cut it out, Aqua!"

"No! Juvia has told you time and time again! Juvia is not Aqua! Juvia is-!"

All of the sudden, Ice comes to an abrupt stop and drops me to the ground.

"You know what? If you want to have this fight, then so be it!" he growls, getting into a stance. "If beating some sense into you is what it takes then don't expect me to go easy on you!"

I quickly roll out of the way as he attempts to attack me. I get to my feet, only for Ice to unleash another blast of energy, which causes me to slam into a nearby tree.

"Agh!"

Before I can escape, I feel a hand grip my neck, holding me in place.

"You haven't used any of your abilities...are you that dedicated to this charade?"

Grabbing onto his wrists with both hands in attempt to pry them off, his grasp proves to be stronger than expected.

"Give it up already, Aqua. You've lost, and this is really getting old."

"J..Juvia...is not...AQUA!"

Summoning up my strength, I hit Ice with a high-pressured jet of water which knocks him from me. I inhale deeply, gasping for breath as I peer at Ice. My former captor is now flat on the ground, groaning softly.

"JUVIA IS JUVIA! And no one else!"

He props himself up on his elbows and stares at me with a dazed look in his eyes.

"Water magic? But how is that possible? For as long as I've known you, you've never..."

Ice's voice trails off silence, only for his eyes to go wide a few moments later.

"So all along, you were telling the truth...?"

Without even apologizing for his actions, he disappears in a similar way the other dream people teleported. And go figure, as my friends were just arriving upon me.

"Juvia! Are you alright?"

"Where did that other ice prick go?!" Natsu demands, looking around.

"Juvia is fine, and he disappeared," I reassure them. "Juvia doesn't think that he'll bother us anymore."

"What makes you so sure?"

"He realized that Juvia was not Aqua when Juvia used her magic against him."

"Are you sure about that?" Sting seems doubtful as well. "He seemed really stubborn."

"He was, but trust Juvia."

It's then that I notice somethingor rather, the lack of something. "Where is my beloved?"

"Gray is...uhh..." Lisanna seems reluctant to speak.

"Gray-sama is what?"

"Gray...is...with the other you...and he's alone with her..."

"WHAT?!"

"We didn't know that it wasn't y-!"

I don't hesitate as I turn and start sprinting through the forest as fast as I possibly could.

"Hey, wait for us!"

"Don't worry, Gray-sama!" I yell as I run. "Juvia is coming!"


Review plz?