Friendship: Ritual
Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail.

When she was just a girl,
she expected the world.
But it flew away from her reach,
and the bullets catch in her teeth
Life goes on, it gets so heavy,
The wheel breaks the butterfly
Every tear a waterfall
In the night, the stormy night, she closed eyes.
In the night, the stormy night, away she fly'd
(Paradise ~ Coldplay)

She did not know long they had held her captive. She had begun to count the sunsets and sunrises and was thus conscious that she was awake on four days since then. She was not sure if the number of days were right, though. She did not know how long she had been out of it in the orb. Plus she was sure they somehow drugged her food.

She had always felt her magic was stronger in the night than it was in the day. Jose had made an experiment with her, when she had first joined Phantom Lord. Her powers were strongest in the night of the full moon, while weakest on the day before a new moon. Her powers were almost non-existent on lunar eclipses. But that did not explain why she felt so weak in the day. She felt like she had a fever and could not stay awake. She slept through the day often, either that or she was in a daze.

Whenever she was 'only' in a daze she could hear a familiar voice asking someone in front of her cell, how she was. The other voices that replied stated things like "Tonight she was shuffling around the room quite a lot.", or "This morning she suddenly stopped making sounds.", "I think she is almost ready for it." All those responses did not really make sense to her. Of course she was soundless in the day, she was sleeping. Because of a diurnal way of living she was awake in the nights. But what did they mean with she was ready for 'it'? What was 'it'?

She only hoped Gajeel had gotten away from them. That he returned to the guild for help. If the smoke had a similar effect to him than to her, he would not have the strength to do something about her being captured. Even if Lily was with him. Whatever it was they had planned for her, she had come to the realization that Gajeel and Lily alone could not help her. She could not even help herself.

The door was thrown open and Juvia woke up with a start. She had fallen asleep against the concrete wall, with a blanket around her, bathing in the moon's light. It was bright day and she felt as though there was no magical strength left in her body. Two cloaked men came in and the figured it were the two that had captured her in the first place. "The guards told us you're almost ready. We thought it may be time to tell you a bit. Seeing as you will never get out of this. Your heritage is part of a prophecy. You will help us in the Moon Ritual.", the one with the higher voice stated and dropped a box full of things on her bed.

Moon's Ritual? The only Moon Ritual she had ever heard about was the Moon Drip. But what did she have to do with it? She thought about every thing she knew about the Moon Drip but it did not make any sense to her. The Moon Drip was a ritual to wake up Demons and monsters. Gray-sama had told her so. "But Juvia has nothing to do with waking Demons or the Moon Drip.", she stated. The one with the deeper voice chuckled "It's got nothing to do with the Moon Drip. We strife towards a much larger goal. Think about your legacy. Why did you parents leave you to the orphanage?", he asked.

Juvia shook her head "Juvia has no idea who her parents are, or why they left her. Juvia does not even know if her surname really is Loxar. Juvia only knows that was she was left at the doorstop of the orphanage on a rainy night in December. Do you know, who Juvia's parents were? Can you tell her?"

The man with the bass-baritone laughed mockingly at her, his voice contrasting Juvia's mezzo-soprano, that had gone up due to her excitement. "Are you sure you really want to know about it? It may not be what you wish for. No Fairy Tale family romance. " "Juvia does not care. Tell her." "Because you are begging so cutely, I'll tell you about the story of your parents. Your mother was part of a vagrant guild, that traveled among the towns of our kingdom. Her name was Aquariana, she bore no surname, for it was unusual for her guild to do so. Aquariana was a young woman, who longed for love. She wanted nothing more than a man to love, and to be loved by him. She had obtained a book about water mages, being interested in the source of her magic. There it was said that the moon influenced all sorts of water: the oceans, the lakes, the rivers, the water that was made by magic. They were passing a place not too far from here, the so called Lunar Temple, and you mother came to the conclusion that she as a water mage would have a connection to the Moon's Goddess Luna, who was said to have been a water mage, as well. Thus she went to the temple and begged the Goddess for true love. Her prince, so to say.

"Luna granted her wish, three days later she met your father a young equip wizard that had only recently joined a mercenary guild. It seemed to have been love at first sight for both of them. Two years later they were married and your mother was pregnant with you. Your mother never told your father about her begging the Moon Goddess for your father, which would become her biggest mistake. Because their loved was 'arranged' by Luna you had her magic inside you. This led to the circumstance that you were born under a full moon, with moon white eyes, and skin as pale as a moon. Your parents thought you were blind at first, but on the next morning you woke up with the ocean blue orbs you have today. Your father could not understand what had happened and thought you were the daughter of an eye-magic mage. Which he was not.

"He sent your mother away and brought you to the orphanage leaving you at the doorstep. Are you happy now?"
"It doesn't matter if she is or not. Tomorrow it won't matter any more. Moon witch tomorrow night will be the time of the ritual. Afterward you will be dead, anyways."

I know I promised an update every week, so technically this is late. But I guess it is alright... Suffered from writer's block, you know. And since I'm sitting in Starbucks and have nothing to do until 4 pm I thought: Why not write? I suppose I only get/got this online when I return/-ed home, I don't trust Starbucks' Wifi...
SavFFLover(Guest)- I guess it was intense. Yes Juvia is strong and Gajeel could rescue her, but please remember that I have a plot line planned out for this story ;)
~Liliana-chan