36th: Frozen Tear
Summary: She wanted to see a real winter, one with snow and all these things but the rain didn't let her.
As long as she could remember, snow had fascinated her. It was like rain in a way but on the other hand, it was nothing like the cursed downpour that followed her wherever she went. And the other people liked snow – especially the children. Sometimes she wondered if she had been less socially awkward if snow would have been following her wherever she went. Snow Woman sounded far nicer than Rain Woman in her opinion as well.
But no matter how much snow fascinated her, she had never been able to actually see this amazing thing because whenever she tried to get a job in a region where it snowed quite a lot, her rain ruined the whole thing in a few minutes.
Gajeel, the only member of Phantom Lord who had some kind of respect for her, had laughed at her when she had nearly cried as another mission which had been supposed to get them close to snow had turned out to be another disappointment.
Juvia liked the cold. Unlike the terrible heat in the desert which destroyed water, the cold preserved it and formed it into something more stable, more reliable. Maybe this was the reason why she was frozen – never mind the pun – for a whole minute as she met the Ice Mage, Gray Fullbuster. He made frozen water look so beautiful and yet so strong, that she wouldn't have minded it if he had formed her as well.
Maybe this was why she eventually lost the fight – she was too awed by his skill to make something special out of ice. Juvia was no form mage – maybe because she lacked the skill, maybe because she lacked the patience to dedicate so much time into creating something.
Gajeel-kun had once compared her to a river, seemingly calm and peaceful but with hidden strength hidden in the depths. Maybe this was how she was deep inside.
The rain had finally left her after Gray-sama had defeated her because in the end, she had realised how empty and meaningless her life was – the life she had always lived only for herself. To live for someone else, to live for a guild – the idea made suddenly sense to her.
And so she changed her ways. She changed her hairstyle as visible difference to mark the start of her new life. She started to wear prettier, brighter clothes and she found herself happy for the first time in her whole life.
But there was still one thing left to do. She had to see real snow – and not only from afar and not magically manipulated snow. It had to be real snow.
Levy was the one she asked if there was a quest that would make it possible for her to visit a region where it regularly snowed and the Solid Script Mage had the solution. There was in fact a mission but from what Gajeel had said, he fully intended to take it for himself. Well, this was nothing a combined pout of the both blue-haired woman couldn't fix and so they made their way to a little village where the Midwinter Festival seemed to last the whole year.
And for the first time in her life, Juvia could enjoy snow. It was a feeling that moved her deep inside. This had to be the feeling of a mother feeling her unborn child for the first time. This had to be the way an author felt when he finally finished his novel.
This feeling seemed to mark an end – the end of pointless hope and growing desperation – and the beginning – the beginning of a new time, one full of friendship and happiness.
And so, a single tear fell from her eye.