Halfway across Fiore a few days later, Gray was hiking down a mountain to get to the temple that held the only real clues he'd been given about the creature that had taken residence inside of Juvia. Makarov told him about the place the saint wizards had raided and where it was, but it had taken a while to cover that much ground.

Even after three days, the idea that Juvia had been taken over still made him cringe and each time he recollected how he saw whatever it was moving, he practically shuddered in horror.

As he pulled himself to a point where he expected to see this temple, the only thing he saw was an enormous pile of rubble.

"Shit..." he mumbled under his breath as he created a slide of ice to get down to the ruins.

As soon as his long descent started, he noticed that the air was unnaturally cold and became colder the closer he got to the ground. By the time he put his feet down on the grass, he was shivering from it even under his clothes and even with his incredible tolerance to cold. Somehow, that tiny little area nestled between the mountains felt colder than the worst night of a winter in Brago.

And then, a sound he wished he'd never have to hear again:

The sound of Acnologia's wings flapping and the wind it caused were things that he had mentally catalogued as experiences that were terrible and hopefully once-in-a-lifetime.

No such luck for Gray Fullbusuter, but when he turned and looked up, it wasn't Acnologia. There was a crystalline dragon that seemed to be covered in scales made from ice. It hovered above him, staring down at him, and he stared up at it in fear.

It slammed down to the ground less than ten meters from him and Gray barely managed to cover his ears before it shrieked loud enough to send him to the ground. The sound deafened him for a few seconds, and he was so cold then that he could barely make his body move.

The dragon – which was significantly smaller than Acnologia but looked no less capable of killing him – moved forward to loom over him and lowered its snout to Gray.

"Why are you here, Human?" a low, booming male voice asked.

Gray nervously stammered, "No reason. I just came here to find out about something. I will leave right away. What I came for probably isn't here."

When he tried to get up, one of the dragon's feet knocked him onto his back and then pressed him into the ground, talons just on each side of his head. "Human, I want to know where the vessel is. If you came here you must know what they made here. Where is it?"

The dragon wanted to know about Juvia, and that scared him more than his present circumstances, which were unquestionably frightening. Gray stared up at the monster and thought about using magic to try and escape, but as wonderful as fate was, it was an ice dragon he'd run into and he assumed the dragon would just eat his ice and then spit it back at him.

"I am not going to tell you anything about that. So do what you're going to do or let me go," he finally managed to say.

For that comment, the dragon roared in his face and moved one of his claws just enough to drive the tip through the ice wizard's left hand.

Gray hadn't ever felt pain like that in his entire life, and after failed attempts to flail about in pain and scream, the pain went away because his hand and arm started to freeze thanks to the indescribably cold claw stuck in the wound.

The dragon pulled his claw out and left a frozen hole in his hand, which he could no longer move thanks to numbness and destroyed nerve endings.

"Tell me where the vessel is!" the dragon growled again.

And when Gray couldn't even bring himself to speak, it shrieked at him again.

Shivering, Gray managed to force his chattering teeth to be still just long enough to say, "…no."

The dragon lifted his foot, and although his captive wanted to flee, he was too cold to make his body function normally. Gray squirmed a little in vain, but found himself flat on his back when a single claw was held next to his throat.

It raked up to his face, and then back down to his throat and then to his chest, ripping his clothes in places and leaving shallow wounds from his head down to his waist. Then, it sank into him again, slowly, right where his Fairy Tail mark was and then pushed through until it sank into the ground under him.

If one of his lungs hadn't been all but destroyed by this, he might have screamed. The fact that his blood froze on contact kept him from bleeding to death within seconds, but if blood wasn't flowing to his heart and lungs, he'd die very soon anyway.

Gray coughed, and a spray of blood erupted from his mouth. He gasped for air, but he couldn't breathe, and then he realized that he was dying. He was going to die there on the ground alone, killed by some beast that was looking for Juvia, and there wasn't anything that he could do about it.

Forced to accept that he was going to die, he suddenly felt precious seconds tick away like the last few grains of sand in an hourglass. He was so cold, he couldn't breathe, he was dying, and there was nothing he could do about it. Knowing this monster was probably going to make his way to Fairy Tail made him even angrier, because he couldn't even warn them.

Then he remembered that he had a magic spell that could stop any foe, but at the expense of his life, which was over anyway.

Summoning whatever strength he had left, he flattened his feet against the ground and willed his arms to move. His lips moved, but no sound came out, and he put every last ounce of energy into Iced Shell.

He felt his body turn to magic power, and then to ice, at which point he didn't feel cold anymore and he wasn't hurting.

The dragon seemed shocked and enraged when things suddenly started to change, and it attempted to resist the spell, using Dragon Force to turn completely into ice. None of that helped the dragon, and Gray lost consciousness.

XXX

Makarov put his hand over his heart when he felt a tightening, and thought at first his bad heart was having a problem. But he knew it was something so much more than that after a few seconds. A bond had broken, and he stood there and wondered who it could have been and how it happened.

Was it Juvia, devoured by the monster within? Or Gray, who had gone off on his own to investigate? Or maybe that monster had chosen to take someone else for whatever reason. Whoever it was, he would find out who was responsible and then he'd find some way to react that would somehow lessen the blow.

Whatever the answer was, he fought the urge to turn back and go home.

He threw open the doors to a chateau beside a quiet lake and leapt twice to get to the second floor, then stomped down the hall to the source of magic.

Jose Porla was sitting in a chair in his study when Makarov burst through the doors.

And he just smirked.

"To what do I owe this pleasure, Makarov?"

Makarov's expression darkened. "I've come here to make good on the promise I made that day – that if you ever hurt my children again I would erase every trace that you ever existed."

"I have retired to this lovely home. You see, I don't have a guild to manage thanks to you and I haven't been near Magnolia or had contact with anyone associated with your guild in seven years."

The old man used Titan magic to grow to a size just big enough to fit under the vaulted ceiling. "Listen to me, Jose. If you intend to know tomorrow, you will tell me what you did. You told me that you found whatever that cult made. You said it died."

Jose chuckled, exhibiting a dark sense of fascination. "If you're here, then that means it happened, hm? Didn't keep a close eye on your rain woman, did you?"

"Tell me everything!"

"Why? I have no reason. I'd die if it meant the destruction of your guild and you."

In his youth, Makarov was not a wise, kind, or particularly gentle, and managed to rack up an impressive list of sins. Destructive, emotional, and often heavy-handed, he'd dropped a hammer or two in his day and this man – this man that was partly responsible for the horrors unfolding at Fairy Tail – was daring to deny him the knowledge that he wanted.

Over the next hour, Makarov destroyed Porla's home, put marks on his body that were never going to heal, and didn't even stop when the man reluctantly agreed to surrender information.

Beaten and bloodied, Jose was left a wounded mess, barely able to move his mouth. Whatever rage that he incurred with his petty guild war was nothing compared to what Makarov gave him, and once Makarov was finished breaking him, he realized the old man had likely come alone just so no one saw him in this cruel, vengeful, merciless state.

Porla murmured, "After the ten saint wizards fought the cult…it was about five years. One of my Phantom Lord mages investigated aberrant weather in that region. He determined that it was magic of origin, but could not find out how it was being made. The client was very important. I went to investigate and I found the center of the storms was an orphanage where everyone blamed a gloomy little child for the rain. I took her from there and gave her the name Juvia."

"Where?"

"The orphanage in the valley. It is my belief that Juvia involuntarily turned to water and washed away from the temple during a storm. No one there had any idea what she was or where she had come from."

Makarov said, "What was she made to be a vessel for?"

Jose sneered. "Haven't you figured it out yet, Makarov? Her body tells much of the story. Normal humans may be able to turn themselves into an element, but they can never go back. Juvia can turn to and from water more easily than a normal person can change clothes."

That much was true, and when he remembered Iced Shell, it was a case of that exactly. Once the flesh changes forms, there was no going back. Yet he had witnessed those that could break this rule. Natsu had used dragon force to turn into pure fire, and Laxus could freely change from lightning to flesh and back again. The only thing that they had in common was their dragon slayer heritage, although they were the only two that had been known to do this.

"Are you saying that Juvia is a dragon slayer?"

Porla said, "Haven't you ever wondered why the cult didn't simply make a new vessel? The one they made vanished, but instead of doing what they did again, the've spent almost two decades searching for her. Juvia has something that cannot be replaced. Your grandson has one too.

"The lacrima was so powerful and she was so young that it overwhelmed her completely. While in my guild, Juvia was isolated, disturbed, and when she was young, viewed herself as being a separate entity inside of her mind. Even as she grew into an adult, she seemed at least subconsciously aware of her dual nature and always spoke of herself in third person, as if there was something else there too."

Makarov fisted his hands. "So those children that died whose bodies failed to accept the lacrima."

Jose tried to stand, but fell back down again. "The only other thing that I know is that once, she was called to a job to make it rain on a farmer's crops. She disappeared for a month and had no memory that any time had passed and no recollection of what happened."

"Why do you think this is large enough in magnitude to destroy my guild?"

"Do you remember the cult's temple? The monster on the floor was a dragon with six heads. In mythology, there's a creature called Hydra who has numerous heads and must live in the water. According to legends, when it died, a pearl came from its body. But you know what Hydra is, because it's hard to research Acnologia without hearing that name. A sweet love story, no? A human kills a water dragon and her mate spends an entire millennia punishing humankind for it."

Makarov was silent for a while, so Jose said, "If I was you, I would take that girl underground to hide the scent, and I would kill her and destroy every shred of evidence that she was ever there. That dragon is going to come for you again. We both know that."

The old man shook his head. "Maybe you didn't learn, but we don't give up. Any member of Fairy Tail would die for the guild."

"That's good, because we both know if you continue along this path, none of you will survive."

With that, Makarov walked away, wandering back into the forest on the path that led to the closest village. He felt nauseated, disgusting, and terrified, and nothing scared him more than the fact that by keeping a possessed Juvia there, he was practically making a future clash with Acnologia inevitable.

They were fortunate to have Fairy Sphere and to be on a deserted island during the last attack. If Acnologia attacked Magnolia, his decision to keep Juvia close might result in the deaths of thousands. And when the Magic Council got wind of it, they'd attack with the Etherion.

XXX

While he was traveling home, the sun set on Magnolia and as the possessed Juvia was walking home from the guild, Gajeel's voice called for her.

She turned, and seeming as normal as ever, waited for him to catch up with her.

He seemed cross, aggressive, and looking for a fight. The real Juvia was trapped inside of her body but unable to do anything to stop her body's actions. The only thing she knew is that Gajeel didn't make that face at her, so she knew he must have figured it out somehow.

No one knew her more than Gajeel, so if anyone in the guild might be able to see she wasn't acting like herself, it was him.

Juvia was scared, and she didn't want to see Gajeel punished because of his friendship or his love for her. Since he was the first friend she'd ever had, she was so scared. And she wanted him to have enough sense to not do what it looked like he was about to do.

Yet inside of her own body, she couldn't do anything but linger and try not to look at the huge six-headed water dragon that was using the space in her body to hide in plain sight. It was vicious, ate humans, and even if she tried to speak to her, it never said anything back. She felt like the dragon regarded her as a pest, barely acknowledging her presence.

Gajeel said, "Juvia? No. You're not Juvia. I don't know the hell you are, but you smell like Juvia and you're not."

Hydra made the same confused expression Gajeel had seen countless times. "Gajeel, what are you talking about?"

"Prove you're Juvia!"

"Gajeel, I'm confused, but I guess if it will put your mind at ease…"

It suddenly started to rain, and Gajeel was perplexed. "But, Juvia hates fish. You ate fish today. Juvia is left-handed. You've been writing with your right. You're not Juvia. I don't know who you are, but I'll beat you out of her if that's the problem!"

'Please don't. Don't hurt him!' Juvia pled with the monster.

And finally, it spoke to her, in an ugly, low female voice that sounded somewhat old. 'Will you cry for this one like you have for the strangers that nourish me? You are mortals. In the end, you are all corpses.'

Juvia made some attempted to regain control of her body when she felt the power surge forth, but her power was nothing compared to Hydra, whose name she did not even know.

There on the secluded path that led through the woods from the guild to the girls' dorm, Gajeel watched familiar blue eyes darken.

Hands that had defended him and lifted him when he was broken reached out and transformed into dreadful claws. The bloodlust that suddenly appeared scared him, and a wave of water came toward him.

Hiding within that wave was his possessed friend, claws bared, and the cuts were lethal and made without even a second of hesitation. There was never any time to use his scales, and even if there had been, she was far, far more powerful than he and there was never any chance that he'd have lived more than a few seconds.

But Gajeel wasn't used to playing by these rules. He thought there would be a battle and then he'd save Juvia. Mages rarely killed one another in cold blood like this, because there was rarely a reason to do so. Besides, fear of the Magic Council was often the difference between a beating and a murder. The only warning he had that this fight had different rules was the splattering sound his insides made when they hit the ground.

Juvia shrieked into the watery prison, and then kept screaming, making threats she knew she couldn't make good on.

The monster made no less than twenty more swipes, which strung blood, bones, and body parts all over the path. She killed because she couldn't let Gajeel tell anyone, but then everything else was merely for fun.

By the time it was over, Juvia was in a near catatonic state, eyes staring blankly forward into the watery abyss of her body.

The dragon picked up Gajeel's heart and shoved it through her torso into that abyss, where the monster ate it and made criticism about how terrible her dear friend tasted.

And all she could think is that these things weren't supposed to occur. Fairy Tail was a place that was happy and bathed in light, so how? How could someone die? How could Gajeel die?

It didn't take long for the smell of blood to travel to the guild, where it was picked up by Laxus and Natsu at practically the same moment. The smell of Gajeel's blood was thick on the air, and at first, Natsu was confused. Wendy had just gone home, so the only other person that might have smelled it was Laxus, although by the time Natsu looked up to upstairs overlord, he was already leaving.

Natsu bounded after him with Happy, and barely beat Laxus to the scene where Wendy was standing on the path, mouth and eyes wide as she and Charle gazed upon the scene of gore.

More on instinct than anything, Laxus put his hand over Wendy's eyes and turned her around.

"Wendy, have Happy take you back to the guild. Tell Mirajane. Tell her that absolutely no one should step foot outside of the building and anyone who is not there should be," Laxus numbly ordered.

Charle protested, but Happy flew almost ten times faster than she did in short spurts, so by the time she opened her mouth to protest, Wendy was already back inside of the guild and she was flying after them.

And Natsu just stood there, staring. "Wh-What the hell happened here? This scent is Gajeel but…but this…is this even a person? God…what's happening?! The guild is right there and I didn't hear a fight. Who can kill someone like Gajeel just like that?"

Laxus looked back toward the guild. "The reason you didn't hear a fight is because there was no fight. Look around you. There's not one sign that a fight happened here."

Natsu was shaking, almost unable to believe anything like this could have happened. And it happened right next to the guild, on the path where almost all the girls walked to get home.

"Natsu, do you smell any scents that should not be here?"

The fire dragon focused as hard as he could. "No. Maybe they hid their smell."

Laxus felt it was more or less his job to do whatever his grandfather would have done had he been in Magnolia at the time. He was the only active s-class wizard in town and he was also the oldest of the ones who were worth their salt. Plus, he was the oldest because he'd seen things like this happen before. Wizarding was dangerous; people died sometimes.

There were a lot of things that bothered him, like the fact his grandfather had practically run off on his own without explaining why. Before that, when he'd tried to take a job, Makarov asked him to stay in Magnolia for a while and that if Erza came back, make sure she stayed in town too. He thought that meant that maybe there would be some kind of guild event, but by then he believed it was to protect the guilt.

Laxus looked around, trying to find any clues, and finally knelt next to a femur that barely had any flesh attached to it. When he touched it, Natsu made some excited utterance to communicate that Gajeel wouldn't want him to, but a glare quieted him.

Then, Natsu saw him flexing his fingers and looking at his hand strangely.

There were deep cuts into the bone that had clearly been made by something extremely sharp, but the angles were different and they came in sets.

"We have to inform the Council, right?"

Laxus stood up and shook his head. "Natsu, burn this mess and everything around it. Don't leave anything behind."

"I can't burn Gajeel! Gajeel is my friend! What…stop it, Laxus, I can't…"

"The Magic Council is our enemy. Informing them about this would only mean Fairy Tail has another enemy interfering. If you can't do it, then leave and I will."

Please Review!

Thanks to ivory9elektra11fullbuster, Sangami, Starjade101, Deichanlover, Amanary, chocolate and caramel, archangel-Angelo, shadowsaver, Yukari Hiwada, and superduperizee for reviewing!

AN: I realize this is fanfiction, so calm down and remember this is a Gruvia. That is all.