It hurt. Everything hurt. Her head, her leg, her back. Pain pulsed through her constantly, keeping her in a state of full agony. It wasn't helping that everything was black. She was surrounded in it, as if her entire world had been submerged to the bottom of the ocean. There were noises however. They were muffled, sirens, voices, maybe even an engine somewhere. She tried opening her mouth to cry out, nothing seemed to happen. And then she went under.
"What?" Gray yelled into his phone. He had been at the hospital for hours, his back ached from sitting in the small waiting room chair.
"I'm sorry," the old lady on the other end of the line told him. "I'm afraid Lyon hasn't been in here in weeks."
Gray scowled, where was that icy bastard?
"That's alright ma'am, thanks again." he said, frustration clear in his tone.
"Who was that?" Gray looked up as Lucy sat down next to him, handing him his iced coffee, as requested. He nodded his thanks.
"Just the old lady who runs the place Lyon works at."
Lucy nodded. "And?"
Gray sighed.
"Well she says he hasn't shown up to work in weeks."
Lucy raised a brow quizzically.
"That's strange."
Gray shrugged, "Not really, just means he's out on a job."
"Job?"
"Yeah, he works for an Ice sculpting company, he's probably somewhere doing some venues or something. Tch, rich people and their ice."
Lucy sipped her beverage, Gray assumed it was green tea, knowing how Lucy didn't like the bitter taste of coffee but still needed the caffeinated boost.
"Gajeel texted." she told him.
Putting the straw to his lips Gray took a well earned sip. Relaxing a little as the cold spread down his throat.
"He said he'll be here soon."
Gray scowled.
"About time Metal head got here."
Lucy said nothing, and a grave silence built between the two.
"Gray…" Lucy started, her eyes already brimming with tears.
"About what the doctor sai-"
"I don't care what he said." Gray snapped angrily.
"He doesn't know shit." he turned away, fuming. He clenched his fists and desperately tried to calm his breathing. Juvia is fine, Juvia is fine, Juvia is fine… He repeated the words over and over again, praying that they would be true.
"Ladies and gentlemen this is your driver speaking, this bus is experiencing some technical difficulties, I'm afraid all passengers are going to have to exit the vehicle and wait for the next bus...it should be arriving shortly."
A collective groan rose from the many passengers. After waiting for 40 minutes in the cold, they had boarded a bus that had been going about as slow as an elderly lady's scooter, and now it was broken down. Unloading in a more or less orderly fashion, the huge group stood miserably on the sidewalk. Gajeel pulled out his phone, he didn't have time to waste here, dammit. Juvia was in the godforsaken hospital and he needed to get to her. Tapping his foot he took a step into the street, peering down the road to see if any buses were approaching. Nothing. He growled under his breath, this was insanity! Not to mention his fingers were practically freezing off. Checking his phone, the bus wasn't supposed to arrive for another twenty minutes. That was nearly how long it would take to walk the rest of the way. He paused. Muttering a few curses Juvia would not be proud of, Gajeel began walking to the hospital.
The walk was long, and the air around him freezing. Digging through his multiple coat pockets Gajeel prayed he had brought a pair of gloves. Fumbling around, his hands touched some sort of wire. He pulled it out, careful as to not disturb the other contents in the pocket. His earbuds! He gave a small smile, at least he could listen to some music now, distract himself from what could be waiting inside the hospital. Plugging them in, he placed a bud into each ear. His finger hovered over the screen as he noticed he hadn't even checked the second voice message. Hesitantly he tapped on the app, dialing his voicemail code.
"You have one unheard message." The robot woman informed him.
"To hear this message press one. To dele-" He tapped one.
"Playing message."
All was silent, and for a moment Gajeel thought he hadn't hit the right button until he heard it. A small hiccuping sound. The sound Juvia made when she cried. His hands began to shake, it
couldn't be. He strained his ears hoping to hear anything else.
"G-Gray-sama…" he heard her whisper through choked sobs.
"Juvia is sorry!" her sobbing intensified.
"Juvia will make it up to you…" The message ended, a hollow beep rang in his ears.
"The message is completed, to delet-" He shut off his phone.
Juvia only ever cried this much when horrible things happened or...she had been drinking too much. Gajeel felt sick, she had been drunk. She had been out, drunk, in the middle of the night, alone. Heart spurring, he broke into a sprint.
A/N: So...I know i said we'd figure out what happened to Juvia but it really didn't feel right giving away any more than that. Sorry. Hope you enjoyed though ^-^ Also for that person wondering what the pairing are, here are the current ones in this story: Gruvia (obviously) Gajevy, Nalu, I'm also hoping to add in a few others *cough* Lyredy and Fraxus *cough* but we'll see how it plays out. Also excessive amount of BROTPs, you have been warned.