Okay, so it seems that a number of people were confused as to the status of this fic. To clear it up: Evaporating is going to have many chapters, and is in no way a oneshot.
Right, to the next item on the agenda. Here's the deal. I have serious doubt in my ability to consistently update on a specific day, so I think what I'll do is say that my technical update day will be Sunday. However, if I can't manage to drag my lazy ass to the computer in time to update then, I'll update twice the next week to even it out. Haha my magical planning skills. I have a terrible feeling I will crash and burn and make people hate me.
Well. Before I start babbling about nonsense, I'm going to end this Author's Note. Enjoy chapter two of Evaporating!
I'm the girl who is lost in space, the girl who is disappearing, always forever fading away and receding farther and father into the background.
Makarov entered the enormous, hollowed-out tree without knocking. "Porlyusica? Are you here?"
"What do you want?" the irritable old woman grumbled from a corner. She stood over a table, sorting through bundles of herbs. "I'm busy."
"I need your help," Makarov said, settling down on a stump. His old friend snorted.
"Of course you do. Why else would you be here?" He ignored the jab.
"Do you remember Juvia Loxar?" he asked her.
"Blue hair, water mage, always talks in the third person, madly in love with Gray Fullbuster," Porlyusica rattled off, not looking up from her task. "And I suppose you're asking me because she's dying of fatal injuries from some mission to save the world from destruction and you want me to heal her."
"She is dying," Makarov said shortly. "But if it were just wounds, I would have Wendy handle it." He ran a hand over his balding scalp. "Are you aware that Juvia is actually made of water? Her whole body." Porlyusica's ears perked up despite her. She couldn't help it – she found such unique medical conditions utterly fascinating. "And now she's evaporating."
Slowly, so as not to let Makarov see her interest, she allowed her hands to stop moving. Her back was still to him. "And you want me to find a cure."
"Yes. She claims there's no way, but I can't sit by and do nothing while one of my children dies." He stood, and bowed low, bending as far as his old body would allow. "Please, Porlyusica." The old woman turned deliberately to face him. She wouldn't have asked him to do such a thing – she had already decided she would help.
"I suppose, if you're willing to go this far," she said carelessly, sweeping past Makarov. "I'll see what I can do. Bring the girl here in three days."
Juvia walked down the path that led to Fairy Hills, shading her eyes with a hand. She did her best to ignore the sharp sting along her knuckles, but it was no use. Whether she noticed it or not, she knew she was dying.
No, not dying. She didn't like saying it like that. It tasted wrong on her tongue. She didn't feel like she was dying. It was more the feeling of disappearing, as though she were dissipating smoke. It wasn't a physical sensation, but rather, simply the knowledge that as she walked, little pieces of her were breaking away from her skin and dissolving into the air. She supposed, in fact, that people were inhaling those little pieces of her.
Juvia wondered if Gray had breathed any of her in when they were hugging earlier. The thought of bits of her body being inside of him made her shiver with happiness.
She arrived at the large dormitory building and sighed at the relief the shade brought to her hand. The stinging had become a faint burning, and it was traveling down the back of her hand into her wrist. As she paused to let her skin cool, she looked up into the sky. The cool blue reminded her of home.
Juvia blinked. "Juvia had forgotten," she muttered to herself, turning away and entering the women's dormitory. "She still has to tell them."
In her room, the blue-haired girl sat on her bed with a piece of paper and a pen. "But what should Juvia say? She can't tell them through a letter so easily!" She flopped back on the bed, dropping the pen and paper. "No, no, no. Juvia can't go. Gray-sama is here. Juvia doesn't want to disappear far away from Gray-sama." She closed her eyes, thinking.
Abruptly, she sat up. Leaning over to pick up her would-be letter, she uncapped the pen and began to write. When she was finished, she ran outside and deposited the letter in the mailbox. Then she slipped back inside.
~THREE DAYS LATER~
Gray was not watching the doors. He wasn't even looking at anything near them. In fact, he was facing the opposite direction. But that didn't stop him from listening for the sounds of Juvia entering the guild. "Ridiculous," he muttered to no one in particular. There had to be something wrong with him. Juvia could take care of herself. She didn't need him to worry about her. Besides, doing that would just encourage her further, which was something he didn't need. To top it all off, it wasn't any of his business what was going on with her. Maybe she was just tired.
"Has anyone seen Juvia today?" the master called from the second floor balcony. "I have something I need her to do."
There was a general chorus of no's and Makarov sighed. Porlyusica was bound to get angry if he took much longer.
"Master, is there something wrong with Juvia?" Lucy called from the bar. "She wasn't acting like herself a few days ago, and she hasn't been to the guild since." Maybe it was his imagination, but Gray could have sworn the lines in Makarov's face deepened, as they did when something when was weighing on him.
"No, she's perfectly fine. I just have a special errand for her to run," he said, coming down the stairs and taking up his usual position on the bar. Gray got up from his table with a sigh and ambled over to the request board. He hadn't ended up taking a job the day before, and he was starting to run low on cash.
Ten minutes later, he was still looking for something interesting. "What's with these jobs?" he muttered disgustedly. "Babysitting, finding a lost puppy, delivering a package? Where are all the good jobs?"
Mira noticed his plight and came over to help him. "Ah, you see, a lot of people took jobs yesterday, so for now all that's left is the boring ones. But if you're short on money, you might as well take a few of these. It's better than nothing, and the pay isn't terrible." She smiled at him. "And anyway, someone should do them, or they'll sit there for the rest of time."
Gray scowled and tore off three at random. "I'll do these," he grunted, stomping away.
"Thanks, Gray!" Mira called sweetly after him.
Still fuming, he nearly trampled Juvia as he left the guild. She blinked in surprise. "Gray-sama!" Gray glanced at her, debating the necessity of apologizing. "Good morning," Juvia said, beaming at him. He squinted at her. Something was different about her.
"Your cheeks are kinda red," he observed. Juvia put a hand to her normally pale skin, looking at her feet.
"Ah… Juvia's skin is sensitive to the sun," she said quietly. Before Gray could reply, the master noticed her.
"Juvia! Come here, there's something I need you to do!" he shouted. Juvia glanced up at him, then looked at Gray from the corner of her eye. He was staring straight ahead, clearly bored.
"Ah, yes, Juvia is coming!" she called out, hurrying into the guild. Makarov hopped off the bar when she reached him.
"Right then, let's go." Juvia frowned in confusion.
"What are we doing?"
Makarov led her back out of the guild. Gray was nowhere to be seen. "We're paying Porlyusica a visit," he said in a hushed voice. "She's agreed to help you with your…condition."
"But–"
"Just be quiet and come with me," he commanded sharply. "You didn't really think you could tell me about this and then expect me to sit back and do nothing, did you?" His tone softened. "I wouldn't be able to forgive myself."
"Juvia is grateful that you wish to help her," the young woman said, after a long pause. They entered the forest where Porlyusica made her home, and Juvia closed her eyes to listen for the sounds of water. A faint trickling sound from the west caught her ear, and she smiled involuntarily. "But Juvia is ready to go. She has lived for a long time already."
Fairy Tail's master snorted. "Say that when you're my age."
The sounds of the forest filled the silence as they walked. The leaves rustled softly in the breeze, letting in shafts of sunlight to pierce the forest floor. Ancient roots snaked across the ground, coated in spongy green moss. Birds called out to each other in short trills and flew overhead, flashing bright colors.
"We're here," Makarov announced suddenly, stopping in the midst of a collection of particularly old trees. He approached one and walked up the few steps leading to an ornately carved door. His fist knocked against it in three short, hard raps, before he pushed it open. "Porlyusica, I brought her."
"Good," said a female voice. An old woman emerged from inside the tree. Juvia was fairly sure she'd seen her before, when she was caring for some of the others. She was an old friend of the master's, a healer, named Porlyusica. "Don't just stand there, girl, come in," she snapped at Juvia.
"Juvia is sorry," she murmured, coming forward nervously. Come to think of it, she'd heard that Porlyusica didn't like people.
"Just sit there," Porlyusica ordered her as she stepped into the tree, pointing to a stump that seemed to serve as a seat. Juvia sat obediently, looking around the room. It was sparsely furnished, with a few stump-seats, a long table in one corner, and a thick carpet on the floor. Small windows were cut into the trunk here and there. Porlyusica was rummaging through the herbs strewn across the table, her back to Juvia. Finally, she turned around and stared at the younger woman. Juvia fidgeted uncomfortably. Porlyusica had piercing crimson eyes that seemed as though they could see straight through to your soul. "So, Makarov tells me you're evaporating."
"Yes, Juvia is."
Porlyusica grunted. "Well, no need to look so gloomy. I'm going to do everything I can to help you." Juvia stiffened instinctively at the word 'gloomy'. "So, do you know anything about this condition?"
"Juvia has heard that this has happened to other people like Juvia, who are made of water. But no one has ever found a cure." Porlyusica frowned.
"Does exposing yourself to water do anything?"
Juvia shook her head. "Not as far as Juvia is aware. It may slow the process down temporarily, but after Juvia loses contact with the water, she is back where she started." Porlyusica's frown deepened.
"Why now?" she wondered, mostly to herself.
"What?" Juvia asked, surprised.
"I don't understand why it would suddenly begin now. Why not when you were born? Water is always evaporating, even underground."
"Ah," Juvia breathed. She hadn't expected anyone to notice. Not so quickly, anyway. "Juvia can explain."
Cliffhangers are my guilty pleasure. Anyway, I just realized I didn't do the disclaimer last chapter. Oops. I don't own Fairy Tail, guys. Although wouldn't it be great if I was Mashima in disguise, planting my plans for Gruvia on FanFiction? I wonder... ;)
So, remember to review, favorite, follow, and all that jazz! I love getting your reviews, and the stuff you guys say in them is pure ego-steroids. Like, seriously. (I really shouldn't be typing 'like' into my sentences, but screw it.) I adore you guys.
Theories, anyone? What do you think the cure is (there is going to be one!)? If your idea is really good, I might even change my plan and use that instead. Leave a review and let me know. Thanks for reading!