Silence in the room, only soft snores could be heard and Juvia decided she had the best sleep of her life. The room was completely unlit, not even the light from outside the window could pierce through the heavy curtains, but hearing her roommate sleeping on the other side of the room made her feel at peace. Well, she did feel at peace for a while until she remembered the events of the night.
How she practically cried herself to sleep in Evergreen's arm and though she needed that, she still felt embarrassed that on the very first day they got to know each other, she just cried on her shoulders. She guessed that her roommate would not mind, just like Juvia would not have if the roles were switched but still ! What if she mentions it to Laxus ? What if she mentions it in front of everyone and they all look at her with a disappointed face, asking why they had to work with such a ridiculous person ?
Juvia quietly got out of bed, and took her shoes with her hand, opening the door as silently as she could before slipping out of the room. She needed to breathe the fresh air to put her mind at ease. How could she even muster those horrible thoughts when Evergreen had been nothing but kind to her all night ? She put on her shoes before making her way towards the first free spot and opened the window and just sat there, breathing deeply, trapped the air in her lungs for a few seconds and finally breathing out as much as she could. The blue haired mage did that a couple of times and when she felt the peace crawling back into her mind, she closed the window.
She needed to stop thinking that way, she knew that, however it was hard to do so when for so long she had to think ahead and imagine every single bad outcome that could happen. At Phantom, she was pessimistic and bad omens would always pursue her, and she was not even talking about her inability to stop the rain from falling. She legit thought she was jinxed by life with how much bad stuff happened to her, and to prevent that she had to overthink everything. With a sigh, and the disgusting realisation that she did not brush her teeth, she found Freed, fully dressed and ready for the day, coming out of his own room.
Juvia was about to hide, or to play pretend she did not see him or recognise him until he spotted her. And they just both freezed. Juvia did not know how to act around him since the face he made back at Magnolia Station and from what she could see neither did he.
Awkwardness started to really sink in and Juvia was ready to put up a front and greet him as if they were good friends but Freed greeted her with a soft nod and was about to turn around when she called his name.
Freed stopped in his tracks and looked at her with a raised eyebrow. And the water mage did not understand why she called him in the first place but now that she got his attention, she recalled the conversation she had with Evergreen last night and that she needed to know.
"Juvia wanted to apologise to Freed. She feels like she is the reason why Freed is mad at her and she is deeply sorry about that." He just looked at her with… what was even that expression ? Disgust ? Disdain ? Or was he just surprised she had the audacity to talk to him ? She needed to flee and get out of here. Her conversation with Evergreen ? Never happened and if she talks about it, Juvia will deny until her death.
"Of course not everyone needs to like Juvia !" she blurted that out with a high pitched voice, so much so she was actually cringing at her tone. Processing that she just worsened her situation she became as red as a tomato. "But look at the time, she needs to prepare for the arrival at the station ! Have a nice day !" She would have run faster than a hare if it wasn't for the hand that gripped her wrist.
She turned her head and she saw that he was as surprised as her, maybe even more. She eyed his hand then him and he quickly let go of his grip on her and stood there, immobile. Juvia did not understand what was happening and she was about to ask him what was wrong when he sighed and stared at her. And those eyes… Juvia just wanted to hug him until the sadness in his eyes disappeared.
"I am the one who should be apologising." And this took her by surprise. So there was a reason behind his attitude and she was not even aware of it. How rude of her ! She was just about to speak but he didn't let her.
"You did absolutely nothing wrong. I am the one who should be apologising to you."
Now that was new. She was not used to Freed looking so heartbroken, in fact she was not used to Freed at all. He always kept his distance and if it wasn't for his reaction back at Magnolia's station, she would have never taken this seriously or thought that maybe he did not like her. Fairy Tail is big, she meant it when she said not everyone needed to like her, she understood that she was not close with some people of the guild, she knew she always talked to the same friends over and over but she just believed that despite not being on a daily speaking terms with everyone, that perhaps they were all in good terms. And to be quite honest, she hated sadness. She hated how sadness could change a person's expression so much, and the guilt behind the eyes of the man in front of her just made her uncomfortable. Despite how much she wanted to comfort him, she just did not know what to say. And fortunately for her she didn't need to.
"I have never forgiven myself for what transpired… some years ago. What I did to you. It is unforgivable and I just find myself unable to seek your forgiveness. Because how could you ? The pain must have been unbearable and yet you are still smiling and willing to talk to me, as a friend." His voice was painful to hear. Juvia never thought he would be carrying so much in him.
She had long forgiven and forgotten what happened during those stupid games. She remembered the extreme pain she felt when thunder hit her, but the fact that he tortured himself for all these years was proof enough that he knew that he made a mistake and he regretted it. She took the time to carefully choose the right words for him and when she noticed his brows furrowing and his lower lip quiver, she sighed and acted before thinking. She carefully searched for his eyes, so that he would look at her and put her hand on his cheek, guiding him to face her. She was surprised, and hesitant as to the boundaries of Freed regarding touching but, it looked like he did not mind at all, he was just… surprised. And that's only when she got his full attention that she began her speech.
"Juvia is truly grateful to Freed for having been such an amazing friend to her all these years. Despite having forgiven you a long time ago, you held on to your grief of hurting her and punished yourself, all on your own." she stopped, but only for a moment, only to giggled a bit and make sure he was still looking at her. " Freed can stop feeling guilty about that. Juvia is fine, the guild is fine, everything is fine. Past is not something we should dwell on. So let's start anew, alright ?"
Freed was in pure disbelief. He knows he hurt her badly in the past. Words that cut deep and a magic he knew would make her suffer twice the pain any person would. And yet here she was, telling him that he had been the one in pain ? He just couldn't believe it. What could he even answer ? He closed his eyes, to collect his thoughts mainly and finally he gave in. Juvia was… Juvia. She was just this nice and he just needed to accept her kindness to him. He reopened his eyes and gave her a little smile, mostly because he knew he was trying to keep his tears from falling. He had been an idiot to her in the past, he didn't want to act like it again in front of her. He sighed and took her hand that was still in his cheek on his own.
Juvia was confused, but when she watched him get on one knee, and to her complete surprise, he softly kissed her fingers. She furiously blushed, reminded of all the times Lyon Vastia did the same thing to her in hope of winning her favour. However, and she was grateful to that, she knew that it only was the way Freed was. She heard people say that he took on the role of a knight seriously and had a lot of mannerisms.
"Miss Juvia, I will forever be grateful for your forgiveness and will do my best to be worthy of that."
She found it amusing and truly honorable. Freed was very much like a character straight out of a fairy tale. And she truly was happy to count him as one of her friends now, she knew how loyal he was to the ones he loves. He raised his head to look at her and she gave him the kind of smile that people only do when they truly were happy, pure joy. Before she could speak, someone did.
"Well, well, well ! Am I interrupting somethin'?"
Juvia quickly glanced at who was speaking and saw Bicklslow, with his helmet in his hand and most importantly with a sly smile on his face. She furiously blushed and tried to explain that it was a misunderstanding while Freed got up lazily and glared at him as if he was a nuisance, and that only made Bickslow laugh.
"Relax! I was only joking !" Freed sighed and Juvia wanted to hop off the train and hide in a hole. She glanced up at Freed and relaxed.
They were good now, she did not have to be afraid of his judgement of her and could go to him if she ever wanted to strike a conversation with him for a few minutes. She really could not wait to get to know him, though she did not expect anything as deep as Evergreen last night but she could only hope to at the very least learn his favourite dish or learn a bit more about his magic.
"Seriously tho, what were you doing ? Confessin' ?" Bickslow dodged the sheath of Freed's sword and snickered. He looked at Juvia who was trying to convince the green haired man not to fight while in the train and he tried to sneakily grab Juvia's hand when a very pissed off Evergreen, still in her nightgown, threw her fan at Bickslow.
"You know I need my beauty sleep because when I don't, my skin gets all itchy and it's always because of you that my sleep is ruined! You stupid little-"
"This train will arrive at Backlava's station in thirty minutes. Please make sure-"
"You're lucky we have to prepare but I will not forget this." Evergreen stormed into her room while Juvia and Freed looked at Bickslow who got silent. It was clear that it was not the first time he woke up his teammate and Juvia had to admit that she was scary.
"Evergreen is right, Juvia needs to pack her things too now that she is awake." Freed nodded and Juvia took some steps before stopping in her tracks. "Do you think we have to wake up Laxus-san ?"
"No need, he is ready. He will join us at the train station. Until then Miss Juvia, don't forget any properties of yours in the train." He gave her one last smile, the ghost of a smile in fact, and pushed the other man to go to his room in order to keep him out of Juvia's hair, which she silently thanked. Of course she does not hate the man, it's just that… she was not used yet to Bickslow's rather embarrassing antics.
Juvia quickly joined Evergreen who once she noticed the water mage, immediately started ranting about how her teammate lacked manners. Juvia listened to her as she grabbed whatever item she had thrown out of her travel bag yesterday. Time passed quickly when Evergreen needed help finding her brush, which Juvia thought would be sad if they could not retrieve it, it was very pretty but she had a lot of fun, despite trying not to let Evergreen know, it's not like she was having fun at her because she lost something, but rather, everytime she thought she found it or whenever she -gently- hit herself with the bed or with her bag, she would make the funniest noise or comment and this was funny.
Soon enough, the train finally arrived at their destination, Backlava's station. Juvia and Evergreen were chatting together followed by Freed and Bickslow who was playing with his babies. The little group checked one last time their bag on the platform to make sure they did not forget something and just as Juvia zipped her bag, Laxus stepped out of the train.
He looked dizzy and to be quite honest, did not appear to have slept at all. She observed him from afar, sighing of relief once he stepped on the platform and breathed in deeply.
"He's a dragon slayer after all, did not have a good time on board but don't tell him I told ya that" whispered a very amused Bickslow. Juvia jumped a bit when he whispered in her ear but that quickly was replaced by a feeling of guilt.
She could not help him but she did feel guilty for not having checked on him. She had one of the best nights of her life thanks to him for offering her a chance to sleep on a nice bed while he probably was turning in his bed, trying not to throw up. She was about to go to him but the blue haired man tugged at her sleeve and shook his head. She let Bickslow lead her towards where Evergreen was searching frantically for her second pair of glasses and let Laxus get back on his feet discreetly.
Laxus, once able to breathe the fresh air, felt better. No longer his head felt as if it could explode at any moment, nor did he feel like his stomach suddenly became a master in acrobatics. He was slowly getting better. He raised his head towards the sky. Clear sky. He sighed and hoped that this mission would go quickly and without any problem so that he could have a real good night's sleep to make up for that horrible one he just had to go through. He hated the fact that he forgot the pills Wendy always makes for all the dragon slayers of the guild. He clearly pictures them sitting on his desk, smirking at him.
He sighed one last time before checking his team. Everyone was there, and Juvia was alright. He caught Freed looking at Juvia with a smile on his face as she explained, rather excitedly, how this was the first time she had a ticket given her access to a sleeper. He thought he heard them talking while he was desperately trying to get up from his bed but decided not to listen and ask the rune mage later as it gave him a headache whenever he tried to do that, however it seemed that everything ended well and there was no need to pry on what happened between those two. Juvia seemed integrated and it was the perfect timing, right before the actual mission started. He was rather concerned about the animosity his friend seemed to feel towards the water mage and how it could disrupt the well being of the job.
Laxus took his travel bag and joined them. Upon his arrival, the Thunder Legion looked at him expectantly, waiting for his orders. Juvia was actually very impressed with how coordinated they were and how they looked at him with attentive ears. Never a team reassembled so much… well… to a team. But as she listened to Laxus asking first and foremost if they had a good night's sleep and if they had enough energy to prepare for the walk, she could not help but smile at how Laxus really took on seriously at his role of leader. Perhaps a bit too much. That made her smile even more, something the blonde caught on.
"Something funny, Lockser ?" Every head turned to her, which made her embarrassed. For all the admiration and respect she held for Laxus, she hated whenever he called her out in front of people. She waved her hands and shook her head.
"Nothing at all ! Juvia was just thinking about how good of a leader Laxus looks !" He raised an eyebrow at her, while Freed frantically nodded to her statement. He really should have more faith in her, she is a cultured person and he needs to ask her if she wants to meet him for a chat about all those qualities that made Laxus a great leader. Juvia shrugged her shoulders innocently and despite the fact that Laxus knew she was mocking him, he let it slide seeing that they needed to get going.
"We need to meet the commissioner of the mission, which is an hour long walk. I know that we have not yet taken anything to eat but I will give each of you two protein bars to go with your flask, which I hope are full." Laxus then searched in his bag for said protein bars and indeed gave each of them two different flavours. After they all put it in their own bag, except for Bickslow who was already eating his first one, Laxus took a few steps forward.
"Follow me and keep an eye on each of you. If you need to take a break, do not hesitate to ask for one." The last sentence was directed to the newcomer of the group. Laxus waited for Juvia's acknowledgement and once that was made, he turned around and started the walk that awaited them.
The walk in itself was nothing too hard. Freed was a step behind Laxus, his hand rested on top of the sheath of his blade and did not utter one word since the beginning of it all. Bickslow and Evergreen however did nothing but bicker between each other. From waking her up everytime too early for her liking to her annoying habit of picking up a fight with anyone who dared think differently from her, Juvia wondered how Laxus even managed to get them all always in such high spirits. But she did not dislike the mood of this group. She had the pleasure of observing them all as much as she wanted, being placed behind everyone else, but her eyes would always dart back at the leader of the group.
Throughout the whole walk, he did not hesitate when choosing the path to follow, did not raise his voice or talk at all when the two comrades started to get into a really heated argument, he would just glance back at them and the group would remain completely silent, until of course they find something else to argue about. Juvia admired that. Laxus was constant and knew what to do or how to do it and yet he was flexible. His magic really fitted him well, she thought. Powerful. The kind of mage who did not need to prove he was powerful and respected, his charisma and presence were proof enough.
Juvia did not mind walking that long, she actually enjoyed it a lot. She would go on walks by herself from time to time, especially at night. Magnolia at night was absolutely stunning and she enjoyed the quiet much more than she thought. It was not long before they could see the outskirts of a village, a dozen smoke colones elevating to the sky. People were either in their kitchen or warming their houses, Juiva guessed. She heard Evergreen and Bickslow, the former sighing and the other one shouting "finally".
Once they finally reached the village, they were greeted by a woman, who appeared to be in her mid-forties. She bowed her head when they arrived in front of her and the group stopped.
"Good morning and welcome mages of Fairy Tail. I am Cleme Entine, head of the village. I trust your journey to our humble village was not troublesome." Laxus bowed his head lightly to reciprocate her greetings.
"Good morning ma'am. I am Laxus Dreyar, and this is my team, Evergreen, Freed, Bickslow and Juvia, thank you for having us here." Each member nodded and so did the lady. Then she showed a house behind her.
"Please follow me to my house to settle before your job, I will give you all the information I have gathered so far as well as food and refreshments."
The little group followed her and Juvia did a little scanning everywhere around her. The houses were built with stones, some of which were missing here and there, as well as a grand place. Probably the place where the villagers would rejoice whenever something worth celebrating took place. A little boy waved at her from his window and she smiled at him and waved back. Finally they entered the chef's house and it was really modest to say the least. Only the necessary items were there and she was quite surprised because all the previous heads of clans and mayors of villages had at the very least one item symbolising their status. The guilds terrorising the village must have been ransacking their home a lot. However her house was big, she will give her that.
"I have prepared your rooms, I have two rooms available for guests. I deeply apologise for the inconvenience, the other rooms are… not available. And our inn is being repaired for the moment." She bowed once again and this time it was Freed who spoke up.
"Do not feel sorry for that. We are thankful you found the time to prepare rooms for us." The lady actually smiled a bit at that. She was thankful. People usually think that Fairy Tail mages, or those coming from big guilds need a five stars stay but they were far from the truth. Juvia could only feel sadness at how she probably felt guilty for not being able to receive them as she would have wished she could.
"Thank you. You will find one of the rooms upstairs, take the left and it is the third door, with a yellow door. The second is on the right, with a green paint on the door. I will let you settle in properly and prepare some food, please take your time."
She left in one of the numerous doors and based on the smell, she guessed it was the kitchen. Bickslow was the first to rush upstairs "First arrived claims the best spot!" he said and they all followed him, at their own pace.
Once again, Juvia was paired with Evergreen and the two women were quite happy with that. Evergreen planned a lot of things to do once they'll get back to Magnolia and asked if she could do her hair if they ever get the time once the mission is done. Juvia was loving it. She came thanks to her friendship with Laxus and ended befriending new people, finding a great friend in Evergreen. She never would have thought that they would get along so well. And she got to resolve an unspoken problem with Freed ! She did not know what she liked more, befriending them all or being able to go on a job with Laxus. Of course, she preferred saving those poor people from the dark guilds surrounding them… But she had every right to enjoy a little bit of happiness too.
Ten minutes later, Laxus and the rest of his team finished settling in, and Cleme was waiting for them in a dining room. A big one at that. The table was set up with various dishes to not upset their stomachs with something they might not be familiar with.
"Please, take a moment to eat. It is not much, however I hope you will appreciate some of our cultural dishes."
Laxus, with one look at the table and the headmaster, sat down and the thunder legion did the same, with Freed and Evergreen saving a spot between them for the water mage. Laxus took note of that and all of them ate. Laxus not that much, he never had a big appetite but did finish his plate out of respect for the person who prepared it. Freed was the same, but did engage more in drinking a special brew their host gave them. Evergreen mostly ate fruits while Bickslow ate much more than all of them combined, says it's because his magic consumes too much energy and he needs to fuel before the big effort. Juvia ate two servings as well as some fruits. She was hungry and all that walk only worked up her appetite, though she did question if she was eating too much compared to them, only for each of them to offer her what they liked and Juvia always said that it was not polite to refuse a gift.
After an hour, the room was cleaned, thanks to Freed and Juvia who insisted on helping, and a map was laid out on the table. The mood changed radically, from light-hearted to serious. On the map were several red points, all at approximately the same distance from each other. The team was all around the table, heavy expression on their faces as Cleme pointed to each point.
"Those are the locations of the guilds that have been continuously attacking our village for the past month. We live off mining, particularly gold. They strike every time the miners come back to the village with what they managed to collect so that our artisans may start their craft. Scarf, jewelry, clothes… you name it. We live thanks to our hard work." Cleme's tone was passionate. Everyone could see the leader she was and how proud she was of her community. However, she sighed to regain composure and resumed talking. "We used to have a caravan of merchants coming to buy our goods but now, they stopped coming after one of them had been attacked by one of the guilds. There are three in total. The Hellhounds up North, the Sunpikes in the Southwest and the Chaossins in the Eastern area."
Laxus took note of the places they each were at. One at the forest, one near the mountains thus near the mining site which made it his top priority, and the last one near a river or a lake, the map did a shitty job at describing the body of water. He raised his eyes to the water mage of the group who was glaring eyes at the map. He figured she would like to take the one near the lake or whatever it was and he would allow it, but he needed to assess with whom she would go. For the next few minutes, he was planning in his head who would be best suited for each area and what dynamics would work with their new addition.
"I know you will defeat them but please be careful. I can only pray for your safety but they appear to be unhinged and resemble beasts more than humans in their behaviour." Cleme whispered the last part and hugged her wrist.
No one could see under the thick sleeve she was wearing but they could only assume that she hides something to corroborate her claims. Juvia felt her blood boiling. People aggressing others were enough to make her mad but scarring to life someone and hurting them to the point of having them traumatised was enough reason for her to give hell to those guys. She exchanged a glance with the blonde dragon slayer, who had the exact same thought. The room fell silent until Cleme sighed heavily.
"Mages of Fairy Tail, I count on you to free us from a terrible fate." Her voice was solemn and yet all they could hear was the loud plea behind her voice and she left them alone.
"We have to split up, that much is evident. My only problem is that someone will be alone and I don't appreciate this." Laxus had each hand on the table, right next to the map and was scanning the map as he talked. He decided to pair Juvia with Freed, as both of them seemed to be close enough to not self-destruct the mission. He knew that each member of his team knew what he was about to say, just like he knew that they would all volunteer to be the one alone but he could not risk their lives. He was about to proclaim that he will be the one alone when her voice rose up exactly when he was about to speak up.
"Juvia will do it! Juvia wants to be the one alone during the job." Her voice was determined and so was her gaze while looking at the leader of their group standing in front of her. He frowned a bit, because he did not like this suggestion, in fact he hated the fact that she even suggested it in the first place.
"You won't. I did not see you fight enough to assess if you truly can be alone taking care of an entire dark guild." It was Juvia's turn to frown because where was this even coming from ? He was the one suggesting she needed to take on more dangerous jobs and now he stated otherwise. She will not back out from this fight, she will prove herself to him, to them, to everyone in the guild.
"Does Juvia need to remind Laxus that if he did not touch the job at the same time as her, she would have taken it, ALONE?" Evergreen tried to interpose between the two. She knows that those two are friends, but they weren't that close and the way it was going she was afraid that it would escalate quickly.
Laxus was protective of the people he had under his command and would never do something that could hurt them badly. But as she put her hand on the water mage's shoulder, she removed it with a little nudge and slammed her hands on the table, startling Evergreen who was not expecting her to be that determined and shocking the men in the room, starting with the very man she was going against, all the while never once breaking eye contact with him.
"Juvia will be the one going alone against the dark guild near the lake. You guys should stay together because you already know how to work together while Juvia is a new addition to this team. Also!" she raised her voice when Laxus opened his mouth to argue with her. "It is near the very element Juvia controls, she will have plenty of ammunition to get rid of them quickly. And if you guys stay together, you will be able to finish faster and join Juvia and help her."
Laxus stared at her, hard. His gaze was heavy on her and she felt uncomfortable being scrutinised like this but she remained strong. If she showed him that she could falter under his gaze, he would call off everything and even worse, would take on the burden of being the one going alone against those guys.
Laxus on the other hand was having contradictory feelings. She was not wrong, he did say that and indeed the water made him choose to send her there but he wanted to send her there with Freed. However she did have a point, they had been teaming up for so long they knew how each of them fought and knew how to adjust if needed.
Of course he also acknowledges her strength, she is ranked third most powerful female mage and was among the top ten of the guild. But he was concerned about the "what-ifs" that sending her alone there could bring. He would have to answer to his grandfather first and foremost, then to Mirajane and Lisanna whom he knows are friends with her. Worse, he would have to deal with those two braindead best friends she has, Gajeel and Gray. And now that she also befriended his team, they would never, despite what they could say to him, move past that he was the reason she got hurt.
But she looked at him with such determination, he could see himself in her. The desperate need to prove herself, to prove that people could depend on her even if lives were at stake. How many times did he plead his old man back when he was younger to let him join seasoned mages in S-class ranked jobs, how many times did he train and push his limits just so that he could show to everyone his strength ? Laxus sighed in defeat.
"Fine. You will go alone." It took Juvia a few seconds to register what he said before her eyes glimmered and a big smile appeared on her face. She high fived Bickslow who immediately after ruffled her hair while laughing. Freed and Evergreen smiled while looking at her, happy they witnessed someone strong enough to stand up to Laxus. " However there is one condition, which is not negotiable." She turned around as soon as he said that and she watched him walk towards her, until he was a step away from her.
"If you think that it is too much for you to handle, if you get hurt enough to not be able to continue fighting or if you are having second thoughts, you send a firework to the sky and you survive until one of us gets here." His tone was cold and he had the most serious face she ever saw on someone. And truly, she was grateful that he cared so much about her well-being.
She nodded and she could have sworn she saw his eyebrows twitch for a second or two but she decided best not to comment on it. They stayed like that, staring at each other, Laxus trying to find something to add, while Juvia just looked at him with her signature smile, he sighed and ran his hand through his hair. He just had to trust her on that.
"Freed, you are with me, we'll take on the guild near the mines. Ever and Bickslow you go and take on the one near the forest. Does everyone agree with the groups and their location?" The Thunder Legion all agreed silently, already getting their mind ready for the battle ahead of them. "Now, everyone gets ready, you know the drill by now." Laxus walked past all of them but stopped right before stepping out of the dining hall. He slightly turned his face to meet confused blue eyes.
"I only want the guild masters as prisoners. I have no use of the rest."