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Aʟʟ I Eᴠᴇʀ Nᴇᴇᴅᴇᴅ
Chapter 14 - Lost friends

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"School is such a fucking hassle..." Totomaru complained as he lounged on the couch of Gajeel's home, complaining to no end about school whilst Juvia was focused on her math homework.

Gajeel just snickered, "gihi, you're such a baby, skunk!" the others had to laugh at the little sentence the long black-haired guy said since it was obviously true. It made Totomaru all the more raged - especially at Gajeel's pet name for him.

The guy pouted, folding his arms as he scowled at all of them "am not!"

"Sorry, Monsieur Totomaru--it's the truth, you have to agree~" Sol, in his French accent, spoke out as he too had to laugh "if Gajeel says it then it's the truth. You've been in this group for how long and still don't understand this-?"

"Shut the fuck up, Sol!" the black and white-haired Fiorean spoke out in a harsh set of words, glaring at the man he thought was a friend. Sol just silently snickered, smiling widely and placing a hand over his lips to hide his obvious laugh.

Aria let tears stream down his face as he reclined next to Juvia whom was trying to work "let Juvia work in peace you fiends...she's beautifully trying to pay attention!"

Juvia just shook her head and smirked as she wrote down the math problems she had no problem with "thanks, Aria-"

"Sorry, Ameonna, but you should know if you're with us there is no room for studying..." Gajeel said with a sneer, losing his patience with the bluenette friend of his, leaning over her shoulder to casually watch her write "what has that Meredy chick gotten into 'yer head?"

Juvia looked over her head as soon as she finished her last problem, smiling up at one of her best friends before throwing down her pencil and began packing up "Meredy has done nothing to Juvia, Gajeel-Kun..." Juvia just shook her head as she let out a glare towards her friends "Juvia is just being the good student she is and studying for Mrs. Crandall's math test."

Gajeel groaned, "you serious? Crandall is a bitch-"

"No, she's not, Gajeel-Kun!" Juvia said as she rose to her feet and walked her backpack over to the door before going back to sit comfortably again.

"Yeah, she's not a bitch, Gajeel!" Totomaru backfired, repeating the words of his obvious crush.

Gajeel just deadpanned but flashed his cocky smile "gihi--stop defending your girlfriend, would ya?"

A moment of sweet, sweet silence - what usually didn't happen in that group - broke out between all as the two being spoken about sweatdropped, while one also blushed.

"T-Totomaru-San isn't Juvia's boyfriend..." the bluenette pouted with arms folded, a deep scowl forming her face as she let the words sink in, shaking her head once she saw Totomaru's face towards her words.

Gajeel barked out a laugh at his, what he called, savage womans' comment, pointing his pointer finger at the rejected friend who had a very shocked expression crossing his face "haha! Get rejected, skunk! Told 'ya Ameonna wasn't into ya! Plus, you'd have to get through me if 'ye wanted to date her!"

"S-Shut up you twig!" Totomaru launched himself at Gajeel as the two began throwing fists, play fighting as they always had done.

"Monsieur Totomaru has always been rejected by Ma'dam Juvia--" Sol said obviously,  a slight laugh passing his lips as he got a deep glare from Totomaru.

"Rejection is truly magnificent!!!" Aria spoke out as more tears streamed from his eyes.

"STOP CRYING FOR NO REASON, WOULD YA!?!" Totomaru and Gajeel both screamed at the same time, barking at the big friend of theirs as he continued sobbing.

Sitting back as soon as he slapped Gajeel across the face, Totomaru smiled mischievously "on the topic of Juvia...its nice to finally be able to hang out with ya, babe." he sat comfortably by her side as he slung an arm around her shoulders, making the girl flinch.

Juvia just folded her arms and reclined back, looking to the friend - just a friend - with a glare, choosing not to do anything about the non-sly arm around her.

"I have to agree with the bastard... You're always so busy with swim meets, homework, and what not...whats up with ya? It's like you got new friends..." Gajeel spoke out, eyes growing cold as they stared at Juvia "...did you?"

Juvia flinched at her friend's soft voice he only used towards herself, growing worried "N-no! O-of course not, Gajeel-kun-! You all are the only ones she's got... Plus, it's always been Juvia being busy after or before school - Magnolians at our school or not..."

"Ugh, don't even say that name!!!" Gajeel yelled out loud, leaning his head back as he shook his head at the ceiling "Those stupid cry babies get on my nerves..." Gajeel snarled out, "especially that salamander kid apart of his 'team'. It annoys me how he thinks he's all tough and mighty..."

"Yeh, that lot really do need to be put in place-" Totomaru said with an evil gleam in his eye, his arm still relaxed over Juvia, "I say we pick a fight with em sometime..."

Gajeel, Sol, and Aria nodded in agreement, sharing the same wicked look in each one of their eyes - Aria had it in his eyes even behind the bandana over them.

"That Gray dude looks like he's got a problem 100% of the time..." Totomaru said immediately, which Juvia then peeled his arm from around her shoulder - she becoming very uncomfortable - Toto didn't take note to exactly why she had removed his arm from her, so he just shrugged it off as 'normal-Juvia-behavior'.

"Dont forget about the Lucy chick! She's got looks, I'll tell ya that!" Sol commented, his cheeks falring a shade of pink "along with Erza, they're true eye candy..."

Gajeel chuckled as he looked to the side with a sly look "what about that pipsqueak? You know, blue haired short stuff? She's pretty cute! Especially when she acts all tough and bigger than she is."

"You hitting on a Magnolian there, Gajeel?" Totomaru said with an angry, though smug, eyebrow raise and smirk, making Gajeel glare deathly at his friend.

"Sol was hitting on the other two seconds ago, I didn't see ya jumping on his claim--Get off my dick, Totomaru-!" Gajeel yelled and flipped the birdie, deepening his glare towards the guy who dared to make fun of him.

Juvia bit her lip as she heard them talking about her friends - which reminded her...she was not to tell her Element Four friends about the Magnolians or things would go crazy (especially since there was a rivalry already happening between the two groups).

"Sorry, Gajeel..." the black and white haired boy said with hands up defensively, looking to the side with only his eyes "anyway, aside from Levy, they all look so ridiculous thinking they run the whole school..." Toto snarled, furrowing his brows at the image of the very group "I swear I outta smack that smug grin off of that dude Gray's face once in a while...Something about him pisses me off."

"Haha, yeah--he, too, thinks he's all tough and mighty. Plus, I've heard he's quite the lady magnet...tsk, that heartbreaker..." Sol said, his two fingers twisting the hair of his mustache on his face.

"But you've gotta admit, he's doing a good job!" Aria said while sobbing, causing an outroar-

"SHUT UP ARIA!" both Sol and Totomaru said out loud in a menacing scream.

As they continued talking smack about the group...Juvia grew more and more quiet, wanting to outburst and tell them to stop talking so badly about her friends who truly weren't like what the Element Four was explaining. She frowned as she heard more insults, and as the comments kept on coming, something struck her heart--

--and Gajeel watched as his best friend got thorns stabbed into her skin at each of the words spoken by the other three, and he just had to squint his eyes at her to fully read Ameonna's mind... He frowned once he remembered something, looking to the saddened girl with concern, worry, and confusion everytime her eyes flinched at a bad comment about Gray or the others -

Just what was going through her head?

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After school on Monday, Natsu, Gray, Erza, Lucy, and the addition of Levy had planned to wait for Juvia until after her swim practice to hang out. They thought it was a good idea since it was the only day that week Juvia was off of work.

All five of them sat inside of the gates - Juvia had managed to sneak them in to wait for her - watching the Fiore Highschool swim team practice. They had to admit all of the girls were pretty good, maybe not as good as their own team, but still pretty good. The backstrokes and how fast they could swim were pretty excellent, and Juvia? She was quick. It was like water and she were one compatible mix, working together as partners in crime.

When the practice ended, Juvia was sure to sneak them back out before she went in to change and get a little drier. And as they waited for the particular bluenette, they all chatted.

"That was awesome! Swim teams look like so much fun!" Lucy exclaimed as she held onto Levy's arm, smiling so much it battled the brightness of the sun.

"Eh, I'd rather be eating..." Natsu said a little too seriously as he continued chowing down on the chicken leg he got...from somewhere...? No one knew how or where he had gotten it.

Erza just smiled and placed hands on her hips "Juvia seems so skilled in swimming, I wonder if she could teach me!"

Gray deadpanned "eh, not sure that would work out..." different scenarios of Juvia, and possibly him, drowning because of Erza danced in Gray's thoughts, making him cringe.

Anytime someone tried to teach something to Erza, everything went downhill. Take for instance the time Lucy tried teaching Erza how to dance... Lucy got so sick and ended up puking too much with how much she got spun around. The next time she began her lesson, Lucy partnered Erza up with Natsu who was, unfortunately, not there when Lucy was swung around mercilessly by the redhead. The situation turned deadly as soon as Erza took Natsu's hand, and Gray just let out an embarrassed laugh as he watched it all unfold and thank the heavens it wasn't him dancing.

"Hey, guys! Sorry if Juvia took forever," they turned towards the source of the voice and saw Juvia - in a high ponytail - running towards them with her swim bag slung over her shoulder and a cheerful look on her face.

They all smiled as the girl came to a running stop as she breathed heavily in and out, keeping the smile raising her cheeks "Nah, that's okay" Levy said as she smiled back at Juvia, linking arms with her fellow bluenette "you were absolutely incredible at swimming!"

As they started walking away from the pool, Juvia softened her smile "aw, thanks!"

They all continued walking and kept on commenting on Juvia's performance at swimming that they barely noticed the spying eyes on them, staring at the group furiously.

"How did you even get into swimming?" Gray asked the question that had been burning his mind ever since the day he found out the same bluenette was coaching his sister. He was curious is all...

"Well... Meredy talked it up to Juvia a few years ago saying it'd be something she and I could do... Sadly, once Juvia and her had started, she didn't get the hang of it while Juvia did... Meredy ended up quitting..."

"Oh, that's awful..." Natsu said with a huge chunk of chicken in his mouth, eyebrows knitting together softly.

Juvia nodded with a content smile "but when she quit she encouraged Juvia to keep it up, and now here she is, the top swimmer on the team..."

"Meredy...she's a good friend, keep her forever," Levy said with a hand placed on Juvia's shoulder, making the girl look towards her with a beaming soft smile.

"Juvia promises she will..." Juvia softened her eyes now as well as folding her arms, continuing to walk with her Magnolian friends.

Juvia opened her mouth to speak, but out of no where, someone was faster than her...and it wasn't any of the Magnolias she was with.

"Get away from her, you bastards!" the person the voice came from grabbed hold of Juvia's wrist, pulling her away far from the Magnolians she called her friends. The smile that once was on Juvia's face dropped like a Football player's GPA once she saw whom it was grabbing her wrist tightly like her father always had done when she was in trouble.

"T-Totomaru, what-?" her eyes softened at the sight of the black and white-haired guy who was holding her closely as if Gray and the others had hurt her.

Now instead of grasping her wrist, he had pulled her by her waist close by his side, protecting her from further 'harm'. She was looking up at the guy but his eyes weren't on her, instead they were glaring intensely at the group; Juvia felt the presence of 3 other people behind Totomaru, glaring as well, and she immediately stiffened - what she feared had become reality and happened at the wrong time...her Fiorean friends had seen her with her Magnolian ones, and shit was about to go down...

"It's you guys..." Natsu said seriously, his body stance going scary. Gray, Erza, Lucy, and Levy did the same as Natsu, stepping closer to Juvia to only get to the distance they were at before - Totomaru had stepped back, dragging Juvia with him as if she were his hostage and they were trying to retrieve her "give Juvia back, bud. We weren't hurting her-"

"Heh, yeah right! She's told us about you all...you're in her homeroom and she gets mocked by you!" Toto spoke harshly, bashing his teeth as if some animal protecting his "prey" - Juvia.

The Magnolians looked at Juvia with disbelief, implying they had never mocked her, well, maybe Gray, which was probably what Totomaru was talking about "That was before they got nice-" the bluenette said in defense, but instead of letting Juvia's words sink in, she was pulled out of Toto's arms by Gajeel who now had a protective arm around her.

"If I find out you hurt my Ameonna, so help me I promise I'll bash your faces in with my fists like iron..." Gajeel spoke out, seriousness laced in his voice.

Levy just furrowed her brows and glared at the man who was taller than her "oh, don't get so full of yourself!"

As Gajeel and Levy had a heated glaring contest, Lucy spoke up "We weren't hurting her! We were talking--!"

"Shut up, you blonde headed bitch!" Totomaru, again, said with teeth snarled, obviously heated up with rage that his rivals were, possibly, mind washing his crush.

Lucy furrowed her brows, "what'd ya say!?!?" she stepped forward to start throwing hands, but when Natsu put an arm in front of her, it stopped her immediately. She probably would've taken the opportunity to still step forward, but Natsu's aura seeped into her mind, scaring her to the point where she decided to stay back for her own safety.

"What did you just call my Lucy?" Natsu's voice was growing deadly as his eyes - dark with pure anger - glared at the man who had the balls to even speak.

"A blonde. headed. bitch." Toto said once more, taking Natsu's deathly aura as a joke "what are ya going to do? Teach me a lesson for calling your little girlfriend a dumb blonde? Oh, I'm soooo scared-!"

"Why I oughta--" Natsu threw a punch towards the brave guy, but Totomaru dodged it easily; stepping to the side right before Natsu could land a hit. A smug grin filled his face as he watched the steam coming from Natsu's ears.

"You Fioreans are all idiotic!" Erza said out loud, her aura growing dark like Natsu's, who was continuing his fight with the skunk looking dude.

A deep laugh came from Aria, tears, like always, streaming from the big guys' eyes "Nah, I think it's all you Magnolians that take up the stupidity-"

"You all are so full of yourselves-" Erza said as her brows knitted together, a scowl deep on her lips.

"Same could be said for you, ma'dam" Sol stepped into the conversation now, and while Erza scowled he had a smile on his face "you and your friends are so over the top, especially at lunchtime..." it was obvious Sol was implying that one dah with Bora.

"Well, at least we have the brains to know when someone is hurting-" since Sol was there defending the Fiorean title with Aria, Gray figured he could lend a hand for Erza "-know the positives, would ya? See, if you had a brain, you would've known that... And don't lie to yourself, you are also over the top--so threatened by us Magnolians you decided to lay down business on the first day of school, making fun of the kid with one simple voice crack, which, may I add, you've had to deal with once and plenty more times in your life for yourself. You guys aren't so special..."

Now all four were in heated stares, battling with only their glares and teeth grinding.

Juvia watched silently as both of her friend groups battled over her, maybe not speaking of her, but she knew it all started over the topic of her. She couldn't help but grow angry at her long-time Element 4 friends for barging in.

As she listened to the lame insults they gave one another, she grew more infuriated at how much of a bad vibe she got from the whole scene. She hated being in bad situations because of her father, and there she was, in one at the moment. Hearing all of the negativity tore her heart apart because both friend groups were important to her and she just wished, just once, Fioreans and Magnolians could live in harmony.

Gajeel had let go of her long ago to continue his staring contest with Levy, so Juvia was left with hands clenching into fists by her sides and a shadow casting over her eyes. She found a tear rolling down her cheek and she couldn't stop the sob that choked from her throat, causing all yelling, fist throwing, and mean gazes to pause. All of a sudden, all eyes were on her.

"Juvia...? What's wrong?" Gajeel asked, looking away from Levy for what seemed like an hour and stepping away from her - in their moment of staring they had stepped closer to one another, staring deeply into one another's souls - their faces were super close until they heard Juvia crying. Gajeel, too, hated when Juvia cried, always had. It was because of that damned father of hers he wished to tear the face off of every now and then.

"Juvia's had it... Can't we all just get along for once!?" she clenched her fists tighter and unlike everyone else's auras which beamed with anger, hers was becoming gloomy and overwhelming with sorrow.

Totomaru just snickered, walking over to the bluenette to drape an arm around her shoulders "Juvia, what's up with ya babe? You wouldn't have said this stuff at the beginning of school! It's like...you've grown a soft spot for the Magnolian's..." he let his words sink in as he found himself in a moment of clarity, his eyes growing dark as his arm dropped from her "...have you?"

Juvia just looked at him sincerely, tears welling up at the corners of her eyes. His words were true...she did have a soft spot for those who were supposed to be her Rivals - at least some of them - all because of the specific Magnolians who were there with her.

Totomaru just let out a scoff, stepping away from the girl he was getting negative thoughts from at the moment "you're kiddin', right?"

Juvia hesitantly nodded her head, and once she did, she saw the love for her drop from Totomaru, even Aria (from his bandana), and Sol's eyes. She bit her bottom lip as realization dawned on her - she had just lost friends from just one simple statement. "I-It's not like that, guys--Juvia still loves you all regardless! It's time to start breaking past the line of what we should and shouldn't be doing...and become friends with people of Magnolia Highschool-"

"You're a bitch, Juvia-" Totomaru seethed, hatred for the certain bluenette growing stronger as he stared at her soft, innocent face.

"Hey, watch it-" Gajeel said seriously, glaring at Totomaru.

"No, you shut up, Gajeel-!" Toto screamed, taking bigger steps away from Juvia whilst continuing to talk with Gajeel "open your eyes, goddammit! Just because she's your best friend doesn't mean you need to stick up for her idiotic choices!!!"

"Toto, it's not like that at all-" Juvia tried speaking, but the anger-filled eyes the guy who once had a crush on Juvia - it seemed like he didn't anymore - silenced her.

"I feel betrayed, Juvia. You know how much we hate scum like them!" the guy dropped his name he had for Juvia (babe) once and for all, which made Juvia's stomach churn.

Juvia hesitantly spoke "Totomaru. Seriously, this is ridiculous... You're acting like a child-"

"Don't say that, traîtresse," Sol spoke out with such anger like Totomaru's "you're the childish one here..."

"What? How?!" Juvia screamed, tears mercilessly falling from her eyes.

"Because you're choosing a group you've only known for a month over people you've known for years-" as always, tears streamed from Aria's eyes, but they were serious tears... "that hurts, Juvia..."

"Guys--I said nothing about not being friends with you anymore! I still want to..."

"Well, if you want to be friends with us still, you have to choose us over them and forget all about their existence! Like, not talk to them ever again," Totomaru folded his arms as he raised a brow at Juvia, looking at her for an expected answer "So, choose--us or THEM."

Juvia looked from both groups--The Magnolians who made her feel comfortable-- and then the Fiorean friends she has had forever who didn't really take her seriously.

She looked back at the Magnolian's who were also staring at her for an answer, and her eyes softened and stopped watering--Juvia smiled at them sincerely before she was interrupted by Totomaru's scoff.

"That answers it, then..." Toto's voice harshly said as he abruptly spun around on his heels "let's go, guys-"

Sol, Aria, and even Gajeel, who walked away hesitantly, got further from Juvia and she couldn't help but run after them.

"Guys, wait!" she said furiously, sobs coming from her mouth as she pleaded with them, grabbing hold of Totomaru's arm to only be shoved to the ground.

"Hey!" Gray ran up to Juvia and held onto her shoulders, rubbing them lightly to comfort her.

Totomaru stayed spun around, pausing his walking away from his ex-friend and former crush to glare down at her--scraped and choked up on the ground as tears soaked her face "you've made your choice... God, we should've listened to José and stopped being friends with you after he told us about your betrayal-"

"W-W-What?" Juvia choked out, looking up at who she considered a friend with tears in her sorrow-filled eyes as she held onto her burning, scraped knee.

"José pulled us aside from that one lunchtime and told us to be wary of you because he saw you with some people you shouldn't have been with, which were these Magnolian's...-" Sol began explaining.

"But that's beside the point, Sol!" Totomaru screamed as they all resumed glaring not-so-softly at Juvia "don't ever speak, talk about, or even look at any of us ever again! And if you do...you'll have your consequences..." Toto, Sol, and Aria turned around to walk away again, this time doing so without any interruptions. "I hope the rest of your life is miserable, Juvia." Totomaru said one last time before truly walking away from the girl for good.

Juvia began sobbing uncontrollably as they walked away, cupping her face in her hands as her Magnolian friends stood around her, trying their best to comfort her.

Gajeel was standing still, in the same place he had before Totomaru shoved her towards the ground, going unnoticed to the Magnolians and Juvia as he stared at the girl softly and sadly, hesitantly turning around to walk away with the rest of his group.

Juvia sobbed louder and louder as the people who once were her close friends walked away from her for good...all of their good moments flashed in her mind, making her all the more sad. She cried more and more as Gray hugged her and she got overwhelmingly soothed with the presence of the other friends she chose over her Fiorean ones.

But although she got comforted by them, she still had a heavyweight in her heart...

Never again would she be talking with her life long friends and best friend...ever again.

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Question---

What group would you have chosen? Gajeel/Totomaru/Aria/Sol or Natsu/Lucy/Erza/Gray/Levy?

and...

Is there a person/relationship in this fic you want more written about? I'm all up for writing more of them!!!