One problem- how was he supposed to kill this girl?

She's always got Wendy or Gajeel by her side. He's never alone with her.

I mean, you could've just did it when we were gathering berries, he thought. But he just couldn't bring himself to.

What was going on with him??

Gray knew Wendy had magic. He could sense it. He knew a bit of magic himself. Before he went to Magnolia, he had a teacher. He was rather weak when it came to magic, though, and he didn't want to practice, solely because he didn't think he's need it in the future.

They didn't trust him yet. He assumed he would need to gain their trust to be able to kill her.

It's been 3 days.

He managed to break his ankle, and naive Juvia convinced him to stay till he was healed.

He didn't on plan on it, but at least it gave him more time. The only problem is that it would be harder to go in for the kill.

"Gray-san?"

Gray spun around, only to see little Wendy waiting for him.

"Dinner is ready," she said.

"Ok . . . I'll be there in a few minutes," he said.

"Ok!" Wendy closed the door behind her.

Gray took a deep breath and got a pen and paper from the dresser.

It was time to start planning.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jellal was outside, looking over the nearby lake.

"Hey, Blueberry."

"You can't call me that, 'cause you're a blueberry yourself, y'know?" Jellal said.

"Why'd Mom and Dad call me 'Rosemary' if I'm actually a Blueberry?"

"Mother told me that she found a beautiful blue rose that was the same color as your hair."

Rose grabbed her hair in fists. "It wasn't quite the hair she wanted," she grumbled under her breath.

"What did you say?"

"That must've been a real ugly rose," Rosemary piped. "A dark blue rose? Almost black? People might think it's cursed or something! Have you ever seen a really dark colored flower, Blueberry?"

Jellal thought about it. "Nope," he admitted.

"That's what I thought," Rose said with a grin on her face. "Anyway, you never did take off Reiki's helmet, did you?"

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that. Why do you care so much?"

Rose was tempted to scream, 'cause I want my ship to sail!!' but she didn't.

"I just wanna know who he is," Rose said casually. "Let's go right now?"

"I guess so."

As they walked, Rosemary began to hum her song again. The tune was so beautiful, the birds began to sing along.

"What were the words to your song again?" He asked.

Rose grumbled under her breath. Jellal could only hear parts of the song.

"-she ate-"

"-killed me-"

"-My siblings, they-"

Jellal stopped in his tracks. "What ate you??"

"Nothing," Rose said.

"Someone killed you?"

Rose paused. "Unfortunately, yes."

"Who-?"

"You will know." She cut in. "When the time comes."

She laughed. "I find it quite funny actually, my death. I could've stopped it, really. But my spirit is still alive, so technically I'm not dead."

"You could have stopped it?"

Rose nodded. "But the idiot cheated."

She shook her head. "Anyway!" She said with a new bright smile on her face. "Do you want to know something?"

"Shoot."

"Juvia was adopted."

Jellal tripped over his own feet. "She was?!"

"Shhh," Rose said. "Mother and Father told me not to tell anyone. You were probably too young to remember."

"W-Why'd they adopt her if they had you?"

Rose sulked and grabbed her hair. "She wanted ocean blue."

"What was that?"

"I wasn't what they wanted," she said, her voice cracking. "I wasn't enough for them. Do you know what Mother said when I was 6? 'I want to have a baby girl with skin as pale as snow-"

She gestured to her tan skin.

"-Eyes dark blue, like a storm-"

She blinked her dark brown eyes.

"-and hair as blue as the ocean.' You know what happened next? They went to the local orphanage, and adopted her. She was just what I wasn't."

Rose quickly wiped her tears, and gave him a watery smile.

"Let's go already! Reiki is probably waiting for us!" She said running ahead.

"Rose, wait!" he called, catching up. "You're really pretty y'know?"

"I-I am?" she squeaked, her cheeks tinted with pink. Jellal gave her a warm smile and nodded.

"WELL JOKE'S ON YOU," she laughed grabbing his hand, and running back to the palace. "THAT'S WHAT YOU'RE GONNA SAY, WHEN YOU SEE REIKI'S FACE!"

"Oh- WAIT WHAT?"

"HAHA NOTHING NEVERMIND. ALSO, YOU SHOULDN'T SCREAM, PEOPLE WILL THINK YOU'RE WEIRD."

"Then why are you screaming?" He whispered, as they entered the castle.

"CAUSE NO ONE CAN HEAR ME!" She sang.

Jellal chuckled, and together, they went to find Reiki.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(Don't know why, but I always love brother-sister moments like this. Should I add more? OwO)

Juvia's head snapped up. The birds were singing louder than usual. And they were all singing the same tune, coming from the same direction.

"H-huh?" She said, as multiple birds sat on her shoulders. A specific dark blue robin looked at her and began the sing- with words.

Juvia rubbed her eyes. Was she dreaming? Was a blue bird really talking to her?

"Listen carefully," it sang, beautifully. "Or you might suffer the same fate as me."

She?! Who was 'She??' And why was the bird speaking again?

"My stepfather, her killed me,

My stepmother, she ate me,

My siblings they berried my bones,

'neath the cherry blossom tree."

With that, all the birds flew away, leaving a stumped Juvia.

She laughed nervously. "I-it must've been a joke, right? Wendy probably did something with her magic," she tried to convince herself.

Yet the words kept repeating in her head.

You might suffer the same fate as me.

Was her Stepfather going to kill her? No. She was positive that it was Stepmother who wanted to kill her. But that was almost the same thing.

My stepmother, she ate me.

Juvia gagged at that line. Was that person's mom a cannibal or something? Juvia was almost certain that her stepmother wouldn't eat her.....right?

My siblings berried my bones.

She had only one sibling now. Would Jellal berry her after she died?

Juvia didn't know what to think. She just sat there, still in shock.

Back at the palace, someone gave a silent plea.

Mavis, please let her get my message. She can't die like me.

"Rose? You okay?"

Rosemary straightened. "Yes. Let's go."

They made their way to Reiki's room, and Rose went through the door to check on 'Reiki'.

Erza gave out a quiet scream when she came in through the door.

"Wh-what? Rose you can't just do that, y'know! Wh-what if I was NAKED in here?"

Rose shrugged. "I used to change your diapers. Do I look like I care?"

"I'm older now!"

"So am I," she replied.

"Well, you don't look like it!"

"Get dressed," Rose cut in. "We're going out."

Erza groaned. "I get one legit free day, and you're dragging me outside?"

"Unfortunately."

Erza sighed. She reluctantly put on her helmet.

"YOU BETTER HURRY UP OR I'M OPENING THE DOOR."

"NOOOO DON'T DO IT! STOP!"

"I'M DOING IT!"

"NO NO NO NO NO NOOOOO- Ok, I'm ready."

Rose opened the door.

"Were you two yelling at each other?" Jellal asked coming into the room. "'No no no no' or something?"

"It was nothing," Rose said lazily.

Jellal squinted at Erza.

Erza began to get selfconsious. Did she forget her breastplate? Is her helmet properly on?

Rose smirked ever so slightly, as he looked straight at Erza in the eyes.

"You're pretty short for a knight you know?"

"I am? I mean, I am!" Erza stuttered, desperate to hold on to her identity.

Jellal's lips curved upward ever so slightly, Erza wasn't even sure if he smiled.

"Let's get going," Rose said. "Unless you guys want to continue being gay in here."

Erza coughed. Jellal just rolled his eyes and walked out. When he was out of earshot, Erza smacked Rose on her arm.

"What the hell?" Erza whisper-screamed at her.

"You know you liked it."

"No, no, no, NO! I did not like it at all!"

"Let's just go."

Erza continued to grumble to herself, as they caught up with Jellal.

"Follow me!!"

Jellal knew where she was taking them. He had been there many many times.

It was the cherry blossom tree.