Long overdue update time! Sorry it took me so long. I've been insanely busy with classes and exams, and since my last update five of my family members have died, and I just couldn't motivate myself to write anymore and it's been a hard couple of months. But I'm back!
(Also, I'm getting surgery in a few weeks so I'll try to pump out another chapter or two before that happens, because I know after my surgery I won't be writing for a little bit.)
A big thank to everyone who commented with ideas and thoughts for my OC! I tried to incorporate bits and pieces from all of you, and I'm sorry if your idea wasn't used or you don't like how I made him): but some ideas came after I made him and others just couldn't be fit in… And if it really makes you that mad then go write your own story with them in it (;
I went with the name Zori, and he would be younger than Juvia BUT PLOT TWIST: BECAUSE OF TENROU ISLAND HES OLDER. Juvia went from being one of the oldest in this group to the baby. So ha :P
(Actual ages will be covered later)
Alrighty, enjoy chapter 3!
The water mage's outburst had caused a lot of the guild's members to look her way. Levy and the other girls at the bar exchanged worried and confused glances with each other as their friend continued to re-read the paper in her hands with wide eyes.
"Is everything alright Juvia?" It took her a few extra seconds, but Juvia finally tore her eyes from the letter and looked to Mira.
The utterly defeated and whiney tone that Juvia answered Mira with made Cana laugh. "Noooo, nothing is alright anymore! Juvia's guests are coming earlier than Juvia was expecting!"
"Ha, ouch, that sucks-" Cana's head snapped up and she stared at Juvia, looking completely lost, "Wait. Guests?" The water mage nodded. "As in more than one person?" Another nod. "WHAT? We thought you were sneaking a guy into your room for a few nights?!"
Levy and the other girls around the bar gave Cana accusing looks. "No, you, Lyon, and Happy thought that! We all just thought it was a secret boyfriend or something!"
"Juvia has no such thing!"
"Well maybe you should have said something earlier about it!"
"Juvia only found about all the rumors this morning! Juvia had no chance to clear anything up or explain!"
Their shouting caused the other occupants in the guild to look their way. Gajeel couldn't help but laugh at the sight before him: the five women arguing over the miscommunication, with four of them looking a little embarrassed, and one looking absolutely defeated by life.
Soon enough, Juvia dropped out of the argument and held her head in her hands.
At this point the uncalled for rumors were the last thing on her mind. Obviously it was all cleared up now, but she was feeling rather stressed. Sure, she had finally stocked up on food for her old friends and air mattresses for the girls that would be staying with her, but she'd really been looking to using the next few days to give everyone a little heads up about the fact that she was having some company so they'd maybe be on good behavior. But apparently none of that was meant to be.
Lyon tore his attention from the arguing at the bar and looked to Lucy, Gray, and Natsu, and with a small smirk said, "Well I guess this is good new! Now Gray doesn't need to worry about any competition."
The fire and celestial mages let out laughs at his statement while Gray scowled. "Will you shut up? I wasn't worried about any kind of competition!"
Lyon just smirked more. "Riight, of course you weren't worried.." The disbelief in the visiting mage's voice was annoyingly apparent, and it made Gray scowl even more.
"Whatever."
"So does this mean you'll be heading home Lyon? Since there's really no mystery boy for you to meet anymore?"
Lyon was silent for a few moments while he thought about Lucy's question. He had stayed at Fairy Tail for the past few days solely to see the mystery man, and maybe to tease Gray about it too, but since that was just revealed to be nothing but a mindless rumor (that he accidentally helped start) he really didn't have a reason to stay.
"Hmmm, I guess it does. I don't think that being away from my guild for much longer would be a good idea. They're all probably wondering where I am at this point. I'll be heading out tomorrow morning." The others at the table nodded in acknowledgement. No more than five seconds after did their attention shift to Erza.
The scarlet haired woman had opened the guild doors, presumably to leave for the day, and was now just standing there watching something outside. It was a little weird.
"Juvia." Her stern voice echoed through the guild and Juvia was up and standing behind her in an instant. Gray noticed that water mage seemed to think she was in trouble, as she was twiddling her thumbs and looking rather nervous.
"Y-yes Erza?"
"These people that are coming to see you, they wouldn't happen to have a dog, would they?"
"Umm, kind of…?" Erza turned and quirked an eyebrow at the blue haired woman.
"Kind of?"
"They travel with a wolf, actually. He's not really a dog, but Juvia supposes he could be considered one…"
"Would that," Erza turned again and pointed to a large grey wolf that was walking towards the guild, nose to the ground, "be said wolf?"
Juvia peered around her friend and a look of absolute delight spread over her face. "KIMOKE!"
The canine's head shot up, its ears tall, and its tail began wagging at a rapid pace. It released a loud howl before sprinting forward.
Seeing that she was in the way, Erza moved to the side of the entrance and almost instantaneously Kimoke reached his destination.
He collided with Juvia, knocking her over, and began to nuzzle against her face, loud whines of pure happiness escaping his throat.
"Juvia missed you too Kimoke!" The wolf just whined more and added loving licks to Juvia's face. Lucy and the rest of the guild couldn't help be smile at the scene.
"That's adorable!"
"But now she's gonna be covered in dog slobber…" Lucy elbowed Natsu in the side. Leave it to him to completely disregard a heartwarming moment.
Fairy Tail found itself gathering around the scene, forming a sloppy U by the entrance. Gajeel was by the doors, and seemed to be the only one who noticed that there was a person headed towards the general direction of Fairy Tail. 'Probably one of the people staying with Juvia.' Whoever it was was too far off for Gajeel to see well, but he could hear them.
And apparently the wolf could too, because he jumped off of Juvia and quickly went the doors, sat, and released another howl. This caused a chain reaction of the approaching person to yell to the dog, err wolf, which in turn caused everyone else to notice that someone was headed their way.
The voice that yelled out was definitely feminine. "Kimoke, I told you no running off like that! Very bad!" From her distance, all anyone could tell was that she was a brunette with shoulder length hair and that she was wearing dark brown gladiator sandals with a turquoise high to low skirt, and a black crop top that had triangle cutouts in the collar. She moved quickly and sure enough the distance between her and the guild was down to 15 feet.
And then her eyes landed on Juvia and she all but sprinted at her. "JUVIA!"
A warm smile spread over the water mage's face as she spread her arms to catch the girl. "Juvia missed you, Talia!"
It was a fairly short hug, and when they parted the girl, Talia, turned her attention on the mages behind her friend. Bright green eyes danced over all of the unfamiliar faces with curiosity. "So this is the guild you joined?"
Juvia nodded at her. "Yupp! This is Fairy Tail! But Juvia will introduce you all when the others get here." That statement caused Talia to abruptly look back to Juvia and then the road leading away from the guild.
"They were right behind me though!" Everyone looked out and saw no one. Gajeel raised an eyebrow.
"Did Talia happen to run at all?"
Talia turned back at Juvia with a sheepish smile. "Ummm, maybe a little?" When Juvia shook her head the brunette, the girl scratched the back of her head. "Sometimes I forget they suck at keeping pace… BUT," Talia clapped her hands together, "sucks for them! Now introduce me to everyone!"
Lucy took notice of the light accent that the girl had. 'She must not be from Magnolia.'
"Since we'll probably be waiting a little while now, Juvia supposes that she could." She turned to the guild and smiled at them. "This is an old friend of Juvia's! Her name is Talia, and Kimoke is her companion."
Talia raise her right hand and waved it lightly. "Hiya! Nice to meet you all!"
Erza stepped forward, and held out her hand to Talia, "Welcome to Fairy Tail, Talia! It's wonderful to meet you."
Talia looked at Erza's hand with slight confusion for a few seconds before giving her a bright smile. "It's wonderful to meet you too! But there's no need to be so formal with me." The scarlet haired woman was about to ask how she was being formal, but stopped when the older girl closed the gap between them and gave her a light hug, followed by a peck on both cheeks. It was a gesture that no one in Magnolia, or anywhere Fiore for that matter, did anymore. "A friend of Juvia's is a friend of mine!"
Juvia could see the slight confusion on Erza's face over the uncommon greeting and felt the need to explain for Talia, who was at this point being given more personal welomes by Lucy and the others. "Talia isn't from Fiore. She was born into a gypsy camp in a different region and was brought up learning much older mannerisms."
"A gypsy camp? I thought gypsies stayed with their families their entire lives?"
"We do." Erza and Juvia turned to Talia, who was now over by Lyon. "But I was separated from mine and wound up in Fiore when I was twelve."
"How'd you end up with a wolf though?" She looked over at Lyon. His question was to her, but his attention was on the grey wolf that was now lying at Talia's feet.
"Kimoke's pack traveled with my camp and he followed me around everywhere I went. So when I got separated from everyone, so did he."
"Ah, I guess that makes sense."
"Sooo, Talia, are you a ma-"
"THERE YOU ARE!" Lucy was interrupted before she could get her question out. Everyone looked over to see three boys coming their way with very annoyed expressions plastered on their faces, with two very uninterested looking girls behind them.
The one who shouted had snow-white hair that was slicked back and maroon colored eyes. He looked like he was the oldest of the group, and he wore khaki shorts with a white button up shirt with its sleeves rolled up to a little past his elbows and the top three buttons undone. He was glaring at Talia intensely, and in response the younger girl began to fidget and look anywhere but at the group of people who were fast approaching.
)))((())))((())))((()))(((
Gray wasn't really sure what to make of these people. The only one who had acknowledged Juvia and everyone else in Fairy Tail had been Talia. Juvia had confirmed that the other five were also her old friends, yet they had yet to even say hi to the water mage.
The white haired boy was giving Talia a lecture about wandering off in unfamiliar towns without Kimokee or anyone else with her and how she should know better than to do that, and one of the girls was helping him out with it. She had long copper colored hair that was tied up on a loose ponytail and, despite the heat, she had on a red flannel and black tights with brown ankle boots.
The other three were just standing by them saying nothing, though Gray noticed one of the two boys kept glancing over at Juvia. It probably shouldn't have, but it annoyed the ice mage to no end.
"Pssst, Juvia…"
The water mage turned around to Lucy and Levy. "Yes?"
"Why aren't the three who aren't yelling at Talia introducing themselves? Or acknowledging you?"
"And why are those two even yelling at her for wandering around alone? She looks old enough to take care of herself…" The two were whispering, obviously not wanting the newcomers to hear them.
"Heh, well to answer Levy's question first, Talia and new places don't really mix well. She has a knack for getting into trouble. Azel and Rudy, the two lecturing Talia, always do this when she goes off alone."
The two bookworms nodded, and then Juvia began to answer Lucy's question. "And the three not doing," Juvia spun on her heal and crossed her arms in one swift motion, now facing her five guests, "Are just being antisocial jerks!" Lucy blinked blankly at the answer.
The three's reactions all varied considerably. The shortest of the boys and the one who had been glancing at Juvia stuffed his hands into the pockets of his grey jeans and looked at the ground, a light blush adorning his cheeks.
The other girl, who at some point sat down in the grass, playfully stuck her tongue out in Juvia's direction but made no move to get up.
It was the third and final boy who seemed to get the unsaid message of 'get your butts over here now.' He walked over, hands in pockets and cocky smile adorning his face, and stopped right in front of Juvia. "Ya know insulting your guests is very rude."
"Maybe Juvia wouldn't have to insult her guests if her guests would be more sociable."
The older boy just rolled his eyes and put his arm around the water mage's shoulders. "I'm over here, aren't I?"
Juvia returned his eye roll with one of her own before turning back to Lucy and Levy. "Lucy, Levy, this is Kota."
The two bookworms took in the boy's appearance. His hair was black and a little bit more untamed than Gray's, and his eyes were green, much like Talia's, though instead of her vibrant shade his were dull. He wore a burgundy muscle shirt with black jeans and black combat boots, which Lucy noticed were untied and very muddy.
Kota gave the two Fairy Tail mages a friendly smile and said his greetings, "It's a pleasure."
"The pleasure is ours! It's nice having visitors around, and it's even nicer getting to meet people who've known Juvia for so long!" Levy said with a smile.
The statement seemed to catch Kota's interest. "Hold on, Juvia actually mentioned how long we've known each other?"
"Wha- No..? But Talia mentioned something about being 12 when she came here, so I just assumed it was roughly-"
"Assumptions can get you into hot water, Sweetheart." Kota interrupted the shorter bluenette with an amused smirk. "But we'll clear all that up later. First I think you all should meet the four stooges over there."
And with that, Kota unhooked his arm from around Juvia's shoulders and walked back over to his friends. He lightly kicked the girl on the ground to get her up, and then went over to the two who were still lecturing Talia. Words seemed to be exchanged, and within seconds all six were right by Lucy, Levy, and Juvia.
The rest of Fairy Tail soon joined them, and the proper introductions started.
"As Lucy and Lucy already know, this is Juvia's friend Kota," she motioned to the black haired boy, "and Juvia has already introduced Talia and Kimoke."
Juvia motioned to the other four people, starting with the white haired boy, "This is Azel, Rudy," the copper haired girl in the flannel gave a sweet smile to the mages, "Zori, and Saphira."
For some reason, it was the last two of Juvia's friends who really stuck out. Zori, who was obviously on the younger side of the six, had a boyish charm about him. He had ice blue eyes and dark brown hair that was short, but long enough to be styled with some kind of hair product, and he wore grey jeans with work boots (think timberlands) and a black over sized hoodie. Gray took notice of a purple and red butterfly on his left wrist.
'Not the manliest tattoo the guy could have picked…'
Saphira, who was an inch shorter than Juvia, had long purple hair and silver eyes, and sported a simple black tank top and jean shorts, along with black combat boots. It was a fairly simple outfit, but the bandages she wore were a different story. She had them wrapped around her left forearm, and her right leg was covered entirely by them. It raised some questions in many of the mages' minds, but no one voiced them.
Overall, they were an odd bunch. They all seemed on guard, except for Talia, and they stuck closer to Juvia.
The water mage could feel everyone sizing each other up, and decided to break the silence.
She looked over at Saphira, and Lucy got the feeling that the purple haired girl was the head decision maker. "Shall we all go inside? I'm sure you're all tired from your trip."
Saphira motioned to the guildhall behind all of the Fairy Tail mages. "Lead the way."
Okay, now shit can start to happen.
I promise Gray will be more prevalent in future chapters, also. I just needed to introduce these guys before anyone started really reacting to them! Thanks to everyone who is still reading this despite my long absence. You all rock(:
[Side note: if you see any spelling mistakes or anything like that pleeeasse tell me. I think I got them all but I could have missed some. ALSO, if you have any thoughts or feelings about this story, feel free to share, but be polite and conscientious about it! and if you've got any ideas of things that could happen in the story, please comment or message me! This is pretty much a free for all and I'm game for ideas. I can't promise I'll use it or follow it completely but I can promise I'll consider it.]