No fear
Chapter one
Juvia stared out at the city of Crocus that was below her balcony. Everyone else was inside, drinking and partying while she was nothing but a bag of nerves. She had already proven that she was nothing but dead weight and she shouldn't even be on the team at this point. Everything was all fun and games when it was Fairy Team A vs Fairy Team B, but now that the situation had gotten a bit more serious, she was the last person that they should be sending out there.
She'd messed up big time. As far as she was concerned, she was the only known water mage. One that was strong enough to have an influence on the weather just by her feelings. She used to be feared in Phantom Lord and she had way too many nicknames to be able to even go through them. Yet when it came to the naval battle, she was so focused on trying to win the attention of a man who didn't even love her like she loved him, that she got her guildmate injured. If she had been the one in the sphere, Minerva probably wouldn't have been able to even touch her. With all that water, her water body would've been constant.
Juvia sighed as she bent forward and leaned her arms on the railing, lying her head on her arms. Silent tears slipped out of her eyes as she remembered how the others had to rush forward to catch Lucy's injured body. She had been so banged up and Juvia couldn't blame anyone else but herself. It was all her fault, just like usual. She could never do anything right at all and it hurt to know that she still hadn't changed her ways. What was it that Freed had said?
"Once a Phantom girl, always a Phantom girl."
She had come to Fairy Tail for a fresh start, as a way to right all her wrongs, yet nothing about her had changed. She was still the same selfish girl who did nothing but care about herself and her feelings, just that she lacked the rain while doing it this time. She hadn't learned a single thing while being at Fairy Tail.
"Juvia?"
She sprung up immediately as she used the back of her hands to dry her eyes. She didn't want anyone to see that she had been crying and luckily, she could control the way she looked with her water magic very quickly. She turned around with a fake bright smile.
"Hello, Natsu-san. Juvia is just having some fresh air. Was there something you needed?"
She watched as the dragon slayer stared at her with a blank expression on his face and Juvia couldn't help herself as she felt like crawling into a hole somewhere and dying. Lucy was his best friend, his team mate and his partner. Of course he should be angry with her for getting her hurt. It was her responsibility to own that fight in the water ring and she let the whole guild down. Even though they were all from the same guild, Juvia was hoping that maybe people would've rated her a bit high on the winning list.
"Whatcha doin' out here?"
"Juvia just said-"
"Don't lie to me."
That silenced Juvia. The lie that she had formed on the tip of her tongue fizzled out as her eyes widened, almost as if she were afraid of Natsu's tone. He was stern and if that's something that Natsu wasn't, it was stern. Natsu was carefree and jolly. For him to be like this, Juvia felt like she was disturbing a sleeping beast in the worst way.
"I can smell the salt from your eyes. Gotta say you're good at maskin' the scent, but I already smelt it before you were able to get rid of the smell. Are you okay? Who made ya cry? Who I gotta beat up? Was it that ice prick? I'll go and slug him one in the face for ya-!"
"Why Juvia?"
It was Natsu's turn to get cut off as Juvia stared at him, a hard look on her face. She guessed that he didn't know what she meant by that question, so she asked it again after some moments of silence had already gone by.
"Why did you pick Juvia to replace you in the team fight? There are many others that you could've picked, like Elfman or Freed. Even Cana-chan or Levy-chan would've been a better replacement than Juvia. So Juvia is going to ask you again. Why Juvia?"
The tears wouldn't stop now. "Why would you pick the most useless member of Fairy Tail to replace you when she's already proven time and time again that she can't be trusted? She got her nakama injured really badly all because she's cocky. She lets herself get easily distracted by a man who doesn't even give her the time of day and that's the sort of girl you're letting replace you in the final battle? How can you even still look at this person and still think that they deserve to still be a part of your guild? HOW?!"
Juvia really hadn't meant for all these words to come rushing out of her and there was a crack of thunder, a stream of lightning all before they got drenched in the torrential rain drowned them both. Natsu stood there, staring at his crying guildmate, unmoving as Juvia's shoulders bounced up and down from her weeping. She didn't bother to dry her tears this time, not when the rain was soaking her face anyway.
"How did you look at Juvia and think it was okay to let her into the guild?" She whispered brokenly.
She didn't know when it happened, but she ended up in Natsu's arms. He held her close to him almost as if he was never going to let her go. Juvia couldn't help herself as she clutched the front of his jacket, as if trying to hold onto something that would stop her from falling apart.
"Because when I look at you, I see a person who has come too far to give up now. I don't see useless, I see strong. You're the only person I trust the most to take my role. Everyone makes mistakes from time to time and I can definitely tell ya that there were times in this competition that I definitely fucked up. You just gotta know when it's time to pick your battles. Who cares if you fuck up one day? All that means is that there's room for improvement. We learn and grow everyday and that's what makes you one of the better members of Fairy Tail. Not a lot of people can hold their hands up and say they were wrong and then join the guild that put them in their place, y'know? I admire that inner strength within ya and I know you're gonna fuck someone up tomorrow!"
Juvia couldn't help it as she laughed while crying through her tears. She felt Natsu's arms tighten around her and she fell deeper into his embrace. She didn't realise just how much she had needed a hug from someone and she felt like no one would've done a better job than Natsu, not even Gray.
"Don't ever call yourself useless again, we've all got our own parts to play and I know you'll do yours better than everyone else. As for the Gray part, want me to go and beat it into him?"
The rain lightened before it stopped completely and Juvia shook her head with a smile. She moved back and away from Natsu and he removed his arms away from her. She laughed and shook her head.
"It's okay, but thank you for the offer. Juvia is sorry for off loading onto Natsu-san like that. It was very uncalled for."
Natsu laughed. "Ushishsishi, nah it's okay. But seriously, Luce don't blame ya at all and none of us do too! Don't be so hard on yourself, I just know you'll give everyone hell tomorrow."
Juvia nodded. "Thank you. Juvia also hopes that everything goes well on your side tomorrow too."
Natsu grinned. "It sure will!"
If Juvia was being honest, she was confused as to why she was the one who was being called. Something more dangerous than usual had taken place and it had to do with End retriggering something within Natsu. Mest, Warren, Erza and the rest of Team Natsu were probably the only ones that were better suited for helping him out. The last time she checked, her and Natsu hadn't really had any time to themselves. Hell, even Gajeel would be a better person to send up there.
When she got up to the master's office, she saw the said people that she had already thought of sitting there, minus Gajeel. He's still out on a job with Levy. They all glanced up at her and she nodded stiffly before wandering up to Makarov's desk. The old man gave her a soft smile.
"Good morning, Juvia. Sorry for troubling you as you've just gotten back from a job. I'm sure you know what I've called you here for."
Juvia nodded slowly. "I know why I'm here, I just don't know why I'm here. Did he make a request for me or something?"
Mest shook his head. "No, we're just sending members of his team to him one by one to see how he responds to everyone else. We're trying to see if he can at least get a reaction out of him, but he's not even looking at anyone. He's not really in his right frame of mind to request for anyone."
Lucy sighed, which garnered Juvia's attention. "He does this thing where he'll look at you and you think you've gotten through to him, but he's actually looking right through you. I don't know what's happened, but he's just been sitting there, silent as well. He hasn't even tried to escape. As you're the next person he seems to spend more time with outside of the team, we decided to call you in. Is that okay? If not, we can get Gajeel."
Juvia shrugged lightly. "I'll see what I can do, but if he didn't respond to you or Happy-chan, I doubt there's much I can do. Still, there's no harm in trying, right?"
The old man agreed. "Please follow Mest and Warren. They'll guide you through the motions. We'll be watching from my crystal ball in here."
Juvia nodded silently and left the room with the other two mages. They entered the room where Natsu was sitting and he didn't even react when they accidentally slammed the door shut. Warren turned to glare at Mest and he looked apologetic. A ghost smile flickered onto Juvia's lips very faintly as she focused her attention on Natsu. He was bound to the chair with anti magic chains and she wondered just how they had managed to subdue him and put him in them in the first place. He seemed to be snarling at something, but he wasn't making any eye contact with them, so Juvia guessed that he wasn't angry with them.
"So what exactly are we dealing with here, Warren-san?"
"When I try to communicate with him telepathically, it's like talking to a wild animal. Mest has said that usually comes down to something traumatic happening. That can be from head trauma to psychological trauma. On their last job, he got hit with some dark magic that threw him into this state. It probably tapped into the dragon side of his dragon slayer magic. Originally we thought it was End's power and that was in the text that we sent you, but Lucy has confirmed that it can't be End."
Juvia hummed and was surprised when she saw him twitch. He moved his head up and his eyes caught hers. She gasped internally at the sight of his red slitted pupils. In all honesty, she never envisioned seeing Natsu with red eyes and she had to admit that he made it look really good. His body thrummed with energy and heat that she could feel from where she was standing and she wondered why no one had mentioned it. Didn't they feel that? If it weren't for her water body, she would be sweating buckets. She watched as he stared at her, but really stared at her. He wasn't looking through her like Lucy had once mentioned. He was looking directly at her and it made the two men step away, as if there was something very wrong with this sight. He looked feral, untamed, unrestricted, but it didn't frighten Juvia. It did the complete opposite and it drew her in.
Just like that, Natsu rolled his eyes and kept his head back. The woman smiled again as she nodded to Mest and Warren. They were bothering him, but she was welcomed to stay. "I'll see him by myself then."
"But-"
"By myself."
The two men wasted no time in leaving and Natsu raised his head to look at her. She really didn't understand what was happening here, but Natsu seemed to like her better than the other 2 right about now. She stood there for another moment before walking over to where he was sitting. She sat down in the seat opposite him, never breaking eye contact once. Juvia couldn't really remember if she had blinked since the other two men left the room, but it wasn't like she really needed to.
"What's going on, Natsu?"
All she received was a blink for an answer and she waited to see if he would actually speak. When he didn't, she let a tired sigh escape her lips and she sat back in her chair, glancing over at the clock. She had just returned from a solo job when she had been called up to Makarov's office. She was tired and hungry, but helping out Natsu was more of a priority than eating and then falling asleep, so she had agreed to see what she could do.
She noticed the way that he was fidgeting with his hands and she frowned when she felt how hot he was running. With how many times they had come into contact, Juvia always sensed how hot Natsu's neutral body temperature was and it was always at a rate that was definitely higher than everyone else's. She knew how hot his body got when he used his magic too, but this seemed to be hotter than that. This was like the same heat that he released whenever he was in dragon force. She put two and two together when she remembered that Warren said his mind was like a wild animal's. He was running off of his dragon seed right now.
"Do you trust me?"
He still didn't speak, but his eyes softened at the question and Juvia was glad that he could at least understand her. She held up her hands to show him that she had nothing in there and she watched him glance at both hands before looking back at her. It didn't seem like much, but the water mage saw just how much he relaxed. She knew that Makarov and Erza's keen eyes would have seen the same thing through the crystal ball.
She then reached out for his hands and when he didn't move them, she came into contact with them. She hissed loudly at how hot his hands felt, but she needed to hold her hands there. There was steam forming between their hands as she continued to pour her water magic through to him. She knew she wouldn't have enough magic to keep him calm enough, but that was all she could do for now. To think that he wore anti magic chains and his magic was still running at a high temperature like this, it was truly baffling. She slowly released his hands and the door behind her opened up. Makarov was the only one to come through.
"You're the only one he responded to so far."
Juvia nodded and leaned back in her seat, not removing her eyes from Natsu's. "I see. I can feel his fire magic running at temperatures that would usually be going off during his dragon force and Warren said his mind is blank, almost as if talking to a wild beast. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do in this situation. I mean, I could just calm him down as much as I can using my water magic, but dragon slayers have more magic than an average mage."
Makarov smiled at the girl. "But you're not an average mage, so I doubt it will take you that long. I'm not sure if this might be too much to ask, but could you move in with him to help him get back on his feet? Luckily, the dark magic shouldn't last that long, but it's also for precaution. We don't exactly know why he's acting like this, but the dark magic probably attacked his dragon seed and we need it to wear off."
Juvia sighed and rubbed at her face. It would be easier if a member of his team could look after him, namely Lucy, but it didn't look like that was going to work out. She looked over at Natsu who was staring at her and she just crumbled. They may not be close friends, but Natsu has done a lot for her. It was time she was able to pay him back for all the nice things he's done for her. She nodded her head at her guild master with a smile.
"Sure."
So, how was it? I hope you guys like it so far.
Praise and criticisms are encouraged, or just from hearing from you guys again too. Much love to you all.
Lolita-chan