Juvia and Meredy

Juvia's emotions were on full alert inside her head as she and Erza were locked in battle with Meredy of Grimoire Heart on Tenrou Island, Fairy Tail's "holy land" and the site of the guild's S-Class exam in the year X784.

Some might have mistakenly assumed that this encounter was part of the test, but Juvia was no longer eligible after failing the first phase, and Erza, already an S-Class mage, had played her part by defeating Juvia and Lisanna, thereby helping to weed out the less qualified candidates. Moreover, the flare had been fired, signifying that the test had been canceled. So when the Dark Mage appeared before them, the two immediately realized that this was an act of aggression done by a criminal who was willing to stop at nothing, not even killing them, to achieve her organization's goals.

"Oh no, this girl's tough!" Juvia's Fear said as Meredy knocked Juvia to the ground with a fierce attack and blasted Juvia with another spell as she lay in the water that had pooled around the combatants.

"She's clearly looking down on us," Juvia's Disgust said as she heard Juvia was ranked 13th on Meredy's kill list. Counting Exceeds and non-participants, there were roughly two dozen people in question, so her ranking meant she was of relatively little consequence.

"With this gap in p-power, do you b-blame her?" Juvia's Fear said.

"Come on, are you going to let that stand?" Juvia's Anger said. "I mean, Juvia and Lisanna-san didn't do all that well against Erza-san, but seriously..."

Anger looked at the other emotions, and noticed that they barely seemed to be listening to her. While Juvia fought for the sake of her guild, she seldom felt as though her battles were personal, and did not often bear hatred toward her enemies. In fact, the man she loved more than anyone else had once been one of those enemies.

"Don't despair," Juvia's Joy said. "We've got Erza-san with Juvia. Erza-san's fourth on this girl's list, behind Gildarts-san, the Master and..."

As Meredy announced that she most wanted Gray dead, everyone gasped in horror.

"Did you hear that, ladies?" Juvia's Anger said, looking up from a newspaper that said "GRAY-SAMA MARKED FOR DEATH BY GRIMOIRE HEART: Juvia, Other Fairy Tail Members Also Targeted." The others turned to her. "This lady wants to kill Gray-sama! There's only one way to deal with people like her"

The other emotions nodded. Juvia's greatest source of Joy was Gray, the first person who had dispelled the rainclouds around her. Juvia's Sadness was due to Gray's rejection of her, as she hoped he would return her feelings. Juvia's greatest Fear was for anything that would happen to Gray, and she had nothing but Disgust for those who would try to harm him.

Juvia's Anger pressed a button labeled "Emotion Overdrive." "Gray-sama Island," which featured a large statue of Gray with his shirt off, resonated, and "Magic Island," with a large fountain on it, spewed water high into the air, signifying that it was in high gear.

"Go for it!" Juvia's Joy said. "We've got what it takes to defeat her and save Gray-sama!"

Juvia launched a series of powerful attacks against Meredy, putting her on the ropes. On Joy's suggestion, Juvia sent Erza away to find Wenday.

"Are you sure you want to send our most powerful ally away?" Juvia's Fear said. She remembered that of all the top three on the list, Gildarts had left the island, Makarov had supposedly lost to the enemy's leader, and Gray, while the subject of Juvia's admiration, was not quite at Erza's level of power and skill.

"This girl obviously didn't come here alone," Juvia's Sadness said. "Wendy probably needs Erza-san more than we do, if she isn't already..."

Juvia's Sadness fell silent, not wanting to vocalize what she was thinking. Juvia had long since forgotten that she'd been trying to get rid of Erza so she could look for Gray by herself.

Juvia continued her assault on Meredy, and appeared to gain the upper hand.

"We've got this," Juvia's Joy said. "It's only a matte of time until..."

Meredy then cast a strange spell on Juvia that caused her to float and glow for a while, but had no apparent effect. Clearly, it was not a direct attack, unlike the majority of the spells Meredy had used so far, but while Juvia suspected that Meredy was about to play her trump card, she had no idea what it was.

"What's this?" Juvia's Fear said. "I don't have any memories of a spell like this."

Most mages used a variety of well-known spells, but some used magic that was not well known, or was believed to have been lost. Grimoire Heart, with a variety of rare, exotic and long lost spells, was thus an unprecedented challenge to Fairy Tail.

Fortunately for Juvia, Meredy soon described what had happened. The spell did nothing on its own, but it linked her and Gray, resulting in them sharing the same feelings, including pain.

"A Sense Link with Gray-sama?" Juvia's Fear said. "I... don't like the looks of this!"

"In other words, we're intimately connected with Gray-sama?" Juvia's Joy said. "What better state of being could there be?"

But when Juvia was struck by one of Meredy's attacks, Gray felt the same pain on his wrist that Juvia did when the attack landed.

"Oh no..." Juvia's Fear said. "When Juvia gets injured, Gray-sama will come to harm too?"

"The solution's obvious," Juvia's Anger said. "Take this woman out, and Gray-sama's in the clear!"

Juvia launched a counterattack on Meredy, knocking her back. Juvia continued on the assault and struck with a whirlpool, only to have the sensory link include Meredy the moment before the impact. Juvia felt the force of the impact, and she knew Gray did, as well.

"Oh no, this is terrible..." Juvia's Sadness said. "Now, if any one of us gets injured- Meredy, Gray-sama or Juvia- the other two will also feel the pain! We can't beat her as is."

"Th-that's insane!" Juvia's Fear said. "Does she really intend to die along with us?"

The other emotions remained shocked. Juvia had faced many dangerous enemies, but in some ways, there was no more dangerous enemy than one who would even sacrifice her own life to win. When enemies feared death, they could be forced to flee or be persuaded to surrender. Even if they continued to fight, they would likely rule out any reckless or self-sacrificial tactics, and might hesitate at a crucial moment. None of these applied in Meredy's case, and with the Sense Link in place, it was highly likely that neither she nor Juvia would survive the battle.

"Ugh!" Juvia's Anger said. "If she wants to kill herself, that's fine by me, but she'll be dying by herself!"

"What is this feeling?" Disgust said. "Juvia's not leaning against anything, and neither is that woman, so..."

Disgust was unable to complete that thought. She realized that Juvia and Meredy were experiencing what Gray was feeling as well, and once Meredy realized this, she would be certain that the link was in effect.

"Kill herself..." Juvia's Fear said. "Watch out! She's trying to commit suicide! We've got to stop her!"

Juvia's Fear moved quickly and opened a panel to hit the "Self Injury" button. Juvia jammed a watery blade into her own calf.

"OW!" Juvia's Anger said. "What was that for? Now Gray-sama and Juvia are hurt, too!" She ripped apart a newspaper with the headline, "MEREDY INCLUDES SELF IN SENSE LINK: Juvia Injured, All Three Lives At Risk"

"Look!" Juvia's Joy said. "The blades are breaking! We stopped Meredy's suicide attempt!"

"Not for long," Juvia's Sadness said. "If she's willing to give he life to kill Gray-sama, she's dangerous. And she might have felt the pain, but her leg isn't hurt like Juvia's is."

"Come on, keep trying," Juvia's Joy said, as Juvia made another attempt to reason with Meredy.

"She's had her chance!" Juvia's Anger said. "We're doing this the hard way"

Suddenly, a sad Core Memory floated up to the projector and began to play.

"A memory, at a time like this?" Juvia's Fear said. "Is this what it's like when your life flashes before your eyes?"

"It's not Juvia's life," Sadness said, as she saw a girl in the midst of a ruined city being taken in by a young woman named Ultear. Juvia's emotions soon surmised that it was Meredy.

The memory was soon replaced by another happy Core Memory, about Meredy and Ultear talking on Grimoire Heart's airship, and bonding with each other.

Suddenly, before their eyes, the two control centers fused into one. Five more emotions, each representing their counterparts in Meredy, appeared. Off in the distance, behind Juvia's main screen, at the rear of Meredy's control room, was a "Ultear Island."

"Hello," Meredy's Sadness said. "I'm Sadness, and these are the rest of Meredy's emotions."

"I'm her Fear," Meredy's Fear said. "I can't believe what our Anger almost pulled."

Juvia's Fear nodded in understanding. Meredy had her own reasons to live, so it seemed only natural that fear of death would give her pause as she prepared to take her own life.

"I'm Anger," Meredy's Anger said, "and Fear here seems to have forgotten how much that Gray jerk hurt Ultear." She crumpled up a newspaper with the headline, "JUVIA AND MEREDY EXCHANGE EMOTIONS." "How dare Fear give up a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to kill Gray?"

"Yeah, it's definitely once in a lifetime if it's the last thing Meredy does," Meredy's Fear said.

Meredy's Joy nodded in agreement; she did not see any happiness in Meredy giving her life for the sake of Ultear's revenge.

"I'm Joy," Meredy's Joy said. "The others only let me out when we're dealing with Ultear, but I'm confident I can get more of a role in the future."

"I'm Disgust," Meredy's Disgust said, "and just what are the rest of you doing in here?" Meredy's Disgust paused. "Wait, don't tell me; you're Juvia's emotions?"

Juvia's emotions nodded. Their host's habit of referring to herself in the third person made introductions simple.

"We were hoping you could explain all this to us," Juvia's Fear said, "since Meredy's the one who put up the Sense Link."

"Yeah, in other words, this is your fault," Juvia's Anger said, glaring at her counterpart in Meredy's mind.

"Wait, look!" Juvia's Joy said.

The others turned to the screens, both of which showed Juvia was embracing Meredy. This went beyond her own emotions; Juvia understood perfectly well how Meredy felt, and Meredy was starting to do the same, so both were overwhelmed with emotions beyond either of their control.

"Well, Anger?" Meredy's Disgust said. "What do you have to say to this now?"

"Nothing," Meredy's Anger said. "Now that things have progressed to this point, it's out of my hands. What about my counterpart?"

"Me?" Juvia's Anger said. "I figured out I was in over my head since Meredy put the Sense Link on herself, as it meant that we couldn't just beat her up."

"Maybe that isn't the solution, Anger," Juvia's Joy said. "Perhaps Meredy now understands why Juvia loves Gray-sama so much, but also feels compassion for her, an enemy."

"You know, you may be right," Meredy's Joy said.

The sense link was soon severed, and both women's headquarters began to drift apart from each other.

"Well, looks like this is goodbye," Meredy's Joy said. "I'm glad Meredy didn't do anything she'd regret this time."

"True," Meredy's Sadness said. "Ultear would be devastated if anything happened to her."

"I'm glad you see it that way," Juvia's Joy said. "See you around."

Almost as suddenly as they had come into contact, the two sets of emotions and their headquarters were one again separated. An exceptionally rare event had occurred, adn while Juvia and Meredy still had their differences, they had gained an understanding of each othe.

Juvia collapsed, unconscious, but thankful that Gray was out of danger for the moment. The battle was far from over, so there was no guarantee that everyone- or anyone- from Fairy Tail would make it through, but Juvia promised to do her utmost to make it so.

Author's Notes

Thank you for the reviews

GirlFish: I'll consider doing some of those people at some point in the future

As for this chapter, this was the first idea I thought of when brainstorming this.

Of course, I ran into some challenges here, mainly how long to make the "sharing emotions" scene. It's an interesting experience.

Juvia

In the past, Juvia was primarily focused on Sadness, although it's hard to tell how unemotional people like her are. These days, Joy comes more to the forefront, although Anger is somewhat prominent. Sadness still has a somewhat prominent role, with Juvia's worries over Gray (possibly in the same sense that Sadness is Riley's mother's lead emotion).