Their secret nightly meetings went unnoticed to most of their coworkers after Juvia made Cana and Lucy promise not to tell anyone about it or it could spook Gray away from her. Both women agreed knowing she was right, Gray would retreat if people knew about it before he wanted them to.

Two weeks after their second night, when Juvia arrived at work, she noticed her colleagues were much more excited than normal and when she asked Cana about it, she just smirked and told the blunette she'd have to wait until the night, when they would gather at Fairy Tail later that night.

Juvia shrugged it off, knowing that if it was really important, she would know eventually.

After work hours, Cana dragged Juvia down to the bar and the blunette was surprised with how many people were there. Pretty much everyone who worked at the firm was there and Juvia wasn't able to recognize many of them.

Cana's smile vanished when she caught a glimpse of someone, but before Juvia could see who, Lucy stepped closer to them. "Finally the secret will be revealed." The blonde woman said. "No one tells me what is going on."

"Juvia is excited." She agreed and looked around. Not too far away. Gray stood next to a man with orange hair whom she never saw before. "Look at him. Argh, how can he be so handsome?"

Lucy rolled her eyes. "Maybe you should go home if you are going to ogle his ass the whole night."

Juvia was about to retort, but the stage lighted up and she saw four people there: Erza, Master Makarov, Mirajane and a fourth man with brown hair she never met before. The crowd started to cheer until Master grabbed a microphone and started to talk.

"Since long ago, this has been FT custom and now the announcement of the participants in the Survival Trial!" Master said and Lucy gasped next to Juvia. "The venue for this year's trial is Tenrou Island, the homeland of the first Master."

"What happens in the trial?" Lucy asked.

"It's different every year but the fact that it's hard doesn't change." Warren a man from the IT department, who was next to them, said.

"At any rate, it's a survival trial where Master chooses from all sectors every year. And if you are good enough, you get a promotion to S-class!" Alzack said, excited.

At the stage, Master kept talking: "Strength, heart, soul. I've been watching for each of these things this past year. There will be eight participants. Natsu Dragneel." The crowd cheered and Juvia hear his scream o excitement. "Gray Fullbuster." There was a round of applause and the blunette cheered in excitement. "Juvia Lockser." She froze mid-cheering when she heard her name and was surprise she was even considered.

"Eh? Juvia too?" She whispered and felt Lucy put her arms around her, laughing in happiness. And she barely heard the other names being called. She was chosen for a trial to have a chance to become one of FT's S-class operatives!

Wow.

"So that's it... That's why they were working so hard to increase their appeal because they wanted to be chosen." Lucy said and Juvia finally understood why Gray had been tired and getting as much jobs as he could, to get attention.

"This time only one will be selected to pass from among them. Get into your best condition within one week's time." Everyone started to talk at the same time, but Makarov interrupted them once again. "There are some newbies here, so I'll explain the rules."

"Within a preliminary period of one week, you 8 are to select a partner." Mirajane explained.

"There are two rules to partner selection." Erza said. "First: they must be a member of Fairy Tail. Second: They cannot be S-class."

"The details of the exams will be revealed after arrival to the Island." Master smirked. "But this time, Erza will attempt to block you all from proceeding."

"Eh?" The crowd exclaimed in disbelief.

"I'll also be a troublemaker this time." Mirajane smiled sweetly and everyone groaned in pain. If facing Erza was almost impossible, add Mirajane to the mix and it would be impossible.

"Enough whining." The older man with brown hair said from the stage. "This is a path that all S-Class operative have gone down and we'd like to see what you guys are made of."

"Who is that?" Juvia whispered to Lucy.

"Gildarts. He is very skilled. You probably heard of him at some point." The blonde said and Juvia widened her eyes when she remembered exactly who he was, another frigging legend. It seemed that FT never ceased to amaze her.

"The chosen eight will take their partners with them and gather at Hargeon Port one week from now." Makarov said. "That is all."

Lucy grabbed Juvia's hand and led them to where their friends were already searching for a table. They were all very excited to be chosen and were already planning on what to do next.

"Looks like this year is gonna be pretty tough as well." Gray said, sitting on a booth after Lucy and Juvia sat next to him.

"I'm surprised you all are first-time challengers." The blonde woman said.

"I'm burning now! I'm definitely gonna become S-class!" Natsu said from his seat on the booth.

"This looks like it might be trouble." Wendy, the sweet girl she was, said from across the table from where Juvia was.

"Uh, Elfman! The road to S-class grows farther and farther." Elfman whined – he was the brother of Mirajane and Lisanna and he was a bulky man, full of muscles and a scar from a corner to his eyes to under his ear.

"Everyone, do your best." Lisanna grinned. "But you do know that this is more like a hike through the woods, to bond or whatever."

"Oh yeah, has everyone chosen a partner already?" Lucy asked the pink-haired man next to her.

"I'm going alone." Natsu said smugly.

"You can't! It's against the rules." Lucy reminded him.

"Don't care. I want people to know I can be badass all on my own." The pink haired man shrugged. "I'll have a word with pops to let me go alone."

"I don't mind." Gray shrugged. "You'll be in trouble when it comes to fighting." He called a waitress and ordered some beer for everyone.

"I know you guys are my allies, but this is one thing I can't back down on." Natsu said and made everyone get up from the booth so he could leave. "I can't stay here any longer! Training time!"

"Natsu, it's still nighttime..." Lucy tried, but he was already gone and she sighed. "I swear to god he won't sleep this week, will just train for this." Lucy sat back down and with a small smile, she whispered: "Do your best, Natsu."

Juvia, who had been quiet all that time, said quietly: "Um... Juvia wants to forfeit the exam."

"Eh? Why?" Wendy asked next to her.

Of course the younger woman was surprised, it was a great opportunity for Juvia to pass on, especially if she might get a position as S-class. At FT! But what she really wanted was to fight alongside with Gray. They were good together.

"Because... I want to be..." She mumbled.

"What?" Gray's attention was on the blunette's and she blushed.

"Because... um... Juvia wants to..." She tried again.

Lucy leaned on and whispered in Gray's ear: "She wants to become your partner."

"Huh?" Gray asked and meanwhile Juvia felt the ugly green monster inside her bloom when she saw how close they were.

Noticing the hatred glare, Lucy raise her hands in surrender, showing the blunette she was not pawing his friend's man.

"Sorry," Gray said looking at Juvia "but I've already decided on my partner."

The orange haired man Juvia saw earlier with Gray stepped closer the table. "Long time no see, everyone." He had an accent, so Juvia doubted he was from Fiore. Once she looked at him, Juvia realized that he was a very handsome man.

"Loki?" Elfman was surprised.

"We made a promise last year that if one of us were picked, the other would be the partner." Gray shrugged, then looked to his friend. "I'm counting on you."

"Leave it to me." The man called Loki smiled.

"Since when have these two been so buddy-buddy?" Lucy pouted.

Moving his attention from the newcomer back to Juvia. "This means you've got to fight me seriously. Let's have a heated battle for once in a while." By the way Gray looked at her, Juvia knew exactly what kind of battle he had in mind. Images of the last time they were together flashed through her mind: the way his lips trailed down her throat to her breasts while moving oh so perfectly, making her call his name over and over again.

Her face reddened and Gray was only able to hide his smirk because he raised his mug of beer to take a sip.

"I'll team up with Juvia." Lisanna said and the blunette looked at her direction.

"Are you serious, Lisanna?" Elfman asked, outraged.

"I want in this trip and Juvia has this cute look in her eyes right now." The white haired woman chuckled. "It's decided." Without having too much to argue with, Juvia just nodded but promised to herself to keep an eye on Lisanna – she looked innocent, but she didn't know Gray and Juvia were.... whatever they were and she could very much hit on him.

"Hold on, Lisanna!" Elfman exclaimed. "Who will be my partner, then?"

"Oh?" Lisanna snickered. "But there's someone who's been giving you a heated stare for a while now..." She trailed her gaze to the bar, where a beautify brunette was drinking a glass of wine and looking intently at where they were – especially at Elfman.

"It seems that she's miffed at Fried choosing Bixlow as her partner." Juvia chuckled at how terrified Elfman looked and watched in amusement as he timidly walked towards the woman. Lisanna chuckled and pulled Juvia to the dance floor and she followed her friend.

A couple of songs later, Lisanna looked over Juvia's shoulder and smiled. She winked and took two steps back and turned away. Confused, Juvia turned around and saw the orange haired man who was going to be Gray's partner and he was looking intently at her.

"Well, hello to you." His smile was really beautiful, Juvia had to give him that and if Juvia hadn't been... something with Gray, she would've loved to receive that smile.

"Hi." Juvia smiled.

"Loki." He offered his hand and Juvia took it.

"Juvia." The shook hands.

He gave her his smolder. "I was on an op overseas for a few months and even though I've heard we've got a few new members," he leaned in and whispered: "no one told be how pretty those members were."

The blunette went on her the tip of her toes and whispered back to him: "Juvia will tell Gajeel you called him pretty." Juvia winked and walked away, his laughter followed her.

"I like you!"

Juvia looked around, searching for Gray and when she spotted him talking with Erza, she walked right at him. "Excuse me." Juvia told Erza. "I have to borrow him for a moment."

"Sure." The red haired woman nodded. "And congratulations to both of you." For a second Juvia thought she was talking about them being whatever, but realized it had been about the nomination.

"Thank you." Juvia smiled and waited until the other woman was out of ear shot before talking to Gray. "I think Loki-san just tried to hit on Juvia."

"He certainly did." Gray snorted and rolled his eyes. "Loki hits on any pretty girl. I'd be surprised if he hadn't hit on you." Juvia raised an eyebrow. "Look, he's harmless. He'll flirt with you a few times because that's the way he is. But if it bothers you, I'll talk to him."

"It doesn't exactly bother Juvia, it's just...." Her cheeks reddened and she pointed to him and then herself.

"I'll talk to him without letting him know what is going on." Gray told her. "Don't worry." He was about to leave, but Juvia grabbed his hand and he halted.

"Oh, Cana-san and Lucy-san know." Juvia bit her lower lip.

"What? How?"

"That day last week when we arrived at work together. Cana-san sensed it somehow – I swear that woman has superpowers – I don't know." Juvia explained. "The next thing Juvia knows, Lucy-san is with us in my office and we are discussing lingerie." Gray frowned, trying to make sense of her words. "Juvia made them promise not to tell anyone."

"In Lucy, I believe. Cana, though..." Gray raised an eyebrow. "Well, we'll just have to trust her. No other choice." He shrugged.

"Alright." Juvia looked around briefly before tip toeing and kiss his lips quick. She watched as he walked away from her and sighed. She'd have to talk to Lisanna later about this trial.

#

There was an awkward silence between the three people as they walked home in the middle of the night. Gray had failed to mention to Juvia that Loki was going to spend a few days at his apartment, which meant that it they wanted to keep it a secret, they wouldn't be able to be together.

Sad, but necessary.

"So, um..." Juvia mumbled when they reached their street. "Good-night, then. Nice meeting you, Loki-san."

The orange haired man rolled his eyes. "Really? You two are going to pretend?"

Juvia saw Gray's body tense. "What do you mean?"

"Please. I hit on her and two minutes later you come and talk to me about it and asked me to knock it off? I don't believe it was a coincidence." Loki smirked. "Plus, I saw that kiss you tried to hide. Don't worry, I think it was just me."

"You can't tell people." Gray said, his voice hard. "We work together, it wouldn't..."

"Don't worry, bro." Loki chuckled. "I don't care and no one else would if they knew you two are dating."

"We are not dating." Gray snarled and Juvia tried her best to hide the hurt. "We're just... this is..."

"Not my business." Loki supplied. "I'll tell no one. Go enjoy yourselves. I'll be in your spare bedroom, you gave me the keys. Have fun, at least one of us is getting laid tonight." He winked at Juvia, who blushed hard. "Good night for you."

Once Loki was inside of the building, Gray turned around to look at her. "Well, another person added to the list of who knows." He sighed. "We need to keep it at that."

"Alright." Juvia nodded and grabbed his hand. "Want to come up and have fun so at least one of you get laid tonight?" She giggled when he nodded and pulled him towards her building.

#

"It's snowing." Juvia commented, looking at the window.

"Winter is finally here, huh?" Gray stretched his body and got comfortable on Juvia's bed. The blunette pulled a blanket over them and scoot over next to him to get his body heat.

"So, what exactly happens during these trials?" Juvia asked, her head on top Gray's chest after they had sex, his hand caressing her back without even realizing he was doing that and Juvia all but purred with the action. "We fight each other?"

"I guess. It's my first time as well." Gray answered her. "What I heard is that our skills will be tested, our teamwork or whatever. But this year we have do a vacancy because of Laxus' leaving." He looked down at her and smiled. "You made it in your first year. Not bad."

She smiled back at him. "Is that why you were getting all types of jobs?"

"Yeah. Wouldn't it be amazing to become S-class? To work upstairs?" Gray grinned. "Everyone would know how good we are."

"Juvia likes where she is right now." Juvia said, truthfully. "I'll go and I'll try, but... Juvia won't win but she'll try."

"Don't say that. You could win." Gray told her. "You could win if I were taken down." She raised her head from his chest.

"Excuse me?"

"That first time we met I did manage to shoot you." He looked at her pointedly. "I just assume that I could do it again."

"You shouldn't assume things, you know?" Juvia pouted. "Juvia was in an emotional rollercoaster when we met. She could take you on."

Gray raised an eyebrow, not entirely believing her. "Oh, really?"

Juvia gasped and sat on the bed. "Yes." She narrowed her eyes. "You know how good Juvia is by now."

"Not as good as me." Gray grinned when he saw her getting all riled up. Juvia tried to get up from the bed but he put an arm around her waist and didn't let her get up and brought her back to the bed. "Stop it, you know I'm kidding."

"No, you are not." She huffed.

"I am." Gray kissed her shoulder and down to her neck and she sighed when his hand started to go its way up to fondle her breasts. "If we are being truthful here, you are currently my enemy again and right now you are holding me against my will."

"What?" Juvia tried to process the words, but his hands were making her forget what they were talking about.

"I should be focusing on getting ready for the trial." He whispered on her ear and Juvia had to bit down her lower lip when she felt that he was hardening once again, she could feel it between her ass cheeks and he was slowly grinding his hips on hers. "Instead, I'm fraternizing with the enemy."

"You don't seem too oppose to it." Juvia gasped and reached behind him, grabbing his hair.

"Well, you are distracting me." Gray nibbled her ear and Juvia chuckled. "We can't do this during this week. We need to focus."

"And Juvia makes you lose focus?"

"Maybe."

"Oh, so if we do fight each other, all Juvia has to do is take off her clothes and you'll get distracted?"

It was Gray's turn to chuckle. "It sure would freak Loki and Lisanna out. Well, Loki would ogle you. And it would be an interesting fight." He released her for a moment before pushing Juvia to her back and lying on top of her. "Tonight is the last until after the trial. Get it?" Juvia pouted and Gray kissed her. "After that..." Gray raised a little bit and looked down to her body. "We'll take a couple of days to make it up for it."

"Sounds like a plan." Juvia pulled him down and kissed him. "Let's make it count tonight."

#

During the week that followed, Juvia and Lisanna spent a lot of time together trying to get in sync and Juvia found herself having fun with the white haired woman; she was very nice and Mirajane had taught her a lot about how to defend herself, so all Juvia needed to do was put her back in shape.

Gray maintained his promise and during the week before the trial, they only saw each other when their friends were gathered and their only intimacy was when they were going back home and one of them couldn't take anymore and just grabbed the other for a kiss.

It was usually Juvia's doing, but Gray didn't complain about it.

Once the week was over, at break of dawn Juvia left her dog with Alzack and Viska, whom offered to take Snowball in for a few days to see how their daughter Asuka would act with a pet as Viska loved animals but hadn't been able to have one ever since she got pregnant. Now with 4 years of age, the couple thought that it was time to see if the girl would adapt with an animal at home. Juvia was certain that Asuka became enchanted by Snowball by the way she shrieked when the puppy came out of its carrier and the next thing the grown-ups knew, the dog was running around the house while the child follow, giggling.

Juvia took a cab, picked up Lisanna and both went to the Hargeon Port per instruction and met the other contestants with teasing remarks about winners and losers, but everyone was in high spirits. Once Makarov arrived, they got into the ship.

Two hours later, half of the contestants had already taken off the heavy coats and an hour after that, everyone was on their bathing suits and sweating.

"Hot! It should be winter now, why..." Lucy whined, lying on a chair wearing a bikini with tiny hearts. When Cana was chosen, she asked Lucy to be her partner and the blonde accepted immediately. "I think I'm gonna melt."

Aside from Natsu, Gray and Juvia, the other contestants were Elfman – Mirajane's brother – who took Evergreen as a partner; Cana who brought along Lucy; Fried Justine – the man who made Juvia and Cana 'fight each other' a few months ago – and he chose Bixlow as a partner; Levy McGarden – the girl Gajeel assaulted before they joined FT and some kind of genius with computers – who brought, weirdly enough, Gajeel as a partner (Juvia needed to talk to her friend what that was about); and Mest – a man Juvia didn't know much about because he was always going undercover somewhere – and his partner was Wendy, the sweet med student.

There were people from every department, so Juvia thought things wouldn't be too harsh, right?

"Aren't you hot in that, Juvia?" Lisanna asked holding a cold drink in her hand and already wearing a swimsuit. The blunette was still wearing her dark blue coat and while everyone else seemed to be melting, she was fine. Changes in the climate rarely bothered her, her uncle had trained her so.

"No." Juvia said to her partner. "But if I had to say..." She looked to where Gray was sprawled over a chair, sweating and only wearing swim trunks, with hungry eyes. "Gray-sama's body looks hot."

Lisanna chuckled, fully aware of her friend's crush on the man, but naïve about their secret meetings. "Girlfriend, you so need to get laid."

'So bad.' Juvia whined inside her head, more than wishing the trial was over yet; she missed him.

The blunette saw Gray fan himself with a hand and behind him, Loki was helping Natsu not to go overboard while he threw up – Juvia had forgotten that Natsu became so sick while traveling.

The girls talked for a few more minutes before Loki said out loud: "I can see it!"

Everyone got up from their seats and went to take a look. Tenrou Island was large and with a respectable amount of vegetation and Juvia could even see a waterfall. It was a truly beautiful place.

"It's said that Fairies used to live on this island." Master said from the upper deck and everyone turned around to look at him. "The founder of our firm, Mavis Vermilion, was born in a village that was located here and it's long gone. But her last request was to be buried here and in her honor, we come here every year to have some fun." Makarov sighed. "I will now announce the details of the first exam."

"The first exam?" Wendy asked, confused.

"It's split up into levels every year." Mest clarified to the girl.

"You see smoke rising up from that beach, right?" Makarov pointed and everyone looked to the direction and indeed could see what he meant. "First, head there. There are eight paths there and only one group can enter each path. Here's what waits for you behind each path." Master picked up a control and turned a TV behind him on. It was some kind of map with highlighted paths with numbers from one to eight and three of each had written 'hard battle' with the pictures of Gildarts, Erza and Mirajane. There was a path leading to a 'quiet rout' and the four remaining, two paths met into 'battle' and then another two did the same. "Only the teams that get through this will clear the first exam!"

"In the 'battle' routes, two teams will meet up, and only the winning team will be able to proceed." Makarov explained. "In the 'hard battles' are very difficult routes where you will have to defeat an S-rank operative in order to proceed. 'Quiet' is the route where you can proceed the exam without having to fight anyone." Everyone seemed to enter into battle mode and they were analyzing the map. Juvia looked over to Lisanna and knew that their best shot was to get a 'quiet route', but the possibilities were slim. They had to avoid 'hard battles' at all costs. "Your goals in this first exam are 'ability' and 'luck'!"

"Logically only a maximum of 6 teams can clear this exam." Evergreen said.

"I-Impossible! Gildarts and Erza's roads are off limits!" Elfman groaned.

"So, worst case scenario only three teams pass." Levy sighed in defeat and Juvia saw Gajeel rest his elbow on the top of her head,

"Cool."

Before anyone else could speak, Makarov said: "Now let's begin! Exam start!"

Juvia looked around in confusion and saw that everyone else seemed to not understand as well. "Aren't we... still on the ocean?" Loki asked and his only answer was Makarov's grin.

Everyone started to move at once. Lisanna called Juvia and both went to see how further away from the island they still were – during their week training together, they discovered that they had swimming in common: both were very good at it – and Juvia calculated that it was not a safe distance to swim yet. "Five minutes and we can go." The blunette told her partner.

Meanwhile, Fried and Bixlow were already lowering one of the emergency boats of the ship and Juvia cussed herself for not thinking about that.

"Hey Gramps!" Gray called. "Is that really fair?"

"Well, it's not like this is a race." Makarov shrugged.

Just like her friends, Evergreen was doing the same with Elfman's help. "I've known Fried for a long time, you see." She winked. "I knew he'd do that."

"So long, losers!" Gajeel said from behind the ship, where there was a jet-ski. Levy sat behind him with her arms around his torso as they took off.

"Where the fuck did he find that?" Cana complained.

"You didn't look at your surroundings." Makarov smirked. "They did. I couldn't start a trial in the middle of the ocean without means to get to dry land, could I?"

Juvia nodded in agreement, it made sense. She grabbed her backpack – thankfully she bought one that was water resistant – and took off her coat, shirt and pants so she could stand only in her swimsuit. She put her clothes in the backpack and by the time she was done, they were much closer to shore. With a look at Lisanna's direction, they nodded and jumped on the sea.

#

Juvia felt her whole body ache as she reaches for the refreshments over the table under the tent she was with Lisanna, Mirajane and Erza.The blunette and her partner were able to get first at shore but they ended up choosing a 'hard battle' route.

Their opponent had been Erza Scarlet.

Five minutes later, they were on the floor, unable to fight. To tell the truth, Juvia's hoped of winning fell short when she saw whom she was fighting. She tried to get Erza's attention the best she could so Lisanna couldn't get hurt too much, but Erza had been too fast and Lisanna had some bruises, but nothing serious.

Juvia, though felt way too sore. Dear god, Erza was a monster. Juvia was great at hand-on-hand combat, but the red haired woman put her to shame. She really need some muscles relaxants after everything was done.

Mirajane was currently talking about how her brother bested her and Erza, who was cooking, was surprised.

"What? Elfman and Evergreen are getting married?" She asked.

"Is what they said to surprise me, and then hit me hard." Mirajane said with a smile and a hand on her jaw – Lisanna had bandaged it a few minutes before.

"Wait a minute!" Erza pointed the spoon she was holding towards the white haired woman. "When't the ceremony? And when did they become a couple?"

Juvia was surprised as well, one week before when they were choosing partners, Elfman didn't seem to be that close to Evergreen.

"Mmm..." Mira seemed to think. "It was probably just a plan in order to shake me up. I still need more practice too, I guess." She shrugged and Juvia hid a smile.

"Was it really a plan?" Erza pressed.

The psychiatrist chuckled. "I really don't think there could be anything between them." She stopped. "Yeah, I mean... if they got married and had a kid..." To everyone's horror Mira's expression became sour and she hid her face into her hands.

"Don't cry, Mira." Erza nodded lightly. "Depending on how you think about it, it could be cute."

"Big bro and Evergreen, huh?" Lisanna, who was sitting next to Juvia, said. "They might actually go together." Juvia heard the words but didn't process them because with all that talk about children, she thought for a moment about what her child would like with Gray.

Maybe a little boy that looked exactly like him or a little girl with dark blue hair in Gray's arms and her cheeks got hotter. She shouldn't let her mind drift; they were barely friends with benefits, Juvia knew he had a long way to go to even think about reproducing. Plus, she never thought she'd be a mother.

"Oh yeah, where's Fried and Bixlow?" Lisanna asked.

"They went back to the Guild with Gildarts." Erza shrugged. "Boy are they hasty. They should have stayed to watch the end. More importantly, where did Mest and Wendy go?"

"They sure are late." Mira looked outside the tent.

"Maybe they forgot where to meet us." Lisanna offered.

Grabbing that opportunity, Juvia got up from the table. "How worrisome. Juvia will go look." She was about to leave when Erza started to undo the knot of her apron.

"Then I'll go too. Mira and Lisanna, you two stay here."

'Just when I was about to cheer Gray-sama on!' Juvia thought in annoyance, but coaxed her expression to stay impassive.

#

A few minutes into their walk, they were deep into the woods and Juvia followed the other woman, hoping she knew where she was going. They were in a comfortable silence until Erza broke it.

"So, Juvia." She asked and Juvia hummed to let her know she was listening. "When are you and Gray telling people about what's going on between the two of you?" The blunette stopped walking and stared at Erza with wide eyes. Erza also stopped and turned around, a knowing smile on her lips. "Don't look at me like that, anyone who knows Gray can see that he is happier. It took me a bit to work it out, but I saw you kiss him last week after the nomination. It was sweet, really."

"It's not..." Juvia tried. "We are..."

"It was about time that boy found someone. I know he is skittish with relationships, but everyone would enjoy the good news about you being together."

"We are not." Juvia tried to explain and Erza looked confused.

"What?" Erza frowned. "You are not dating?"

"Oh, no." The blunette shook her head and her curls bounced. "We just... we sleep together. As friends." Her cheeks grew hotter.

"Oh." Erza's cheeks pinked and Juvia thought that maybe she didn't have much experience with the opposite sex, not with her history with Jellal. "I'm sorry I assumed you..."

"It's fine. We are just having fun." Juvia pushed her concerns away. "But could you please not tell anyone?" The blunette asked. "It's... better this way for both of us."

"Yes. Sure. Don't worry." Erza nodded and cleared her throat, still blushing. "But if you ever need to talk..."

"Thank you." Juvia said, truthfully. Erza turned around and they resumed their walk for about twenty minutes until they saw someone trip and fall. They ran towards the person and Juvia immediately recognized the blue hair.

"Levy?" Erza kneeled in front of the girl. She was all battered up, dirty.

"What happened? Those wounds..." For an awful moment, Juvia thought Gajeel broke his promise somehow. That he did it again.

"Erza... Juvia..." Levy looked so relieved it broke Juvia's heart. "Someone attacked us. Two guys Gajeel is fighting them on his own but I don't know how long he can take." Erza and Juvia helped her up. "He has no guns. Please, help us."

"Where is he?" Erza asked and Levy pointed the direction she came from. "Come on, lead us there." Levy found her footing again and ran in front of them, leading them.

A few minutes later, they finally arrived and there were three men on the ground, unmoving. "Gajeel!" Levy yelled and ran faster.

"What the..." Erza was surprised.

"Gajeel-kun." Juvia's eyes widened and she couldn't believe that her friend looked that way bloody nose, hi face was swelling and he was unconscious. Juvia could count in one hand the times she saw him that way and it scared her.

"Gajeel! Hang in there!" Levy ran to him. "Gajeel!"

One of the men on the floor laughed, but other than that didn't move. "You're already... finished." He breathed. "The main force will arrive any moment now. People that no one can stand a chance against are coming." He coughed. "We call them the Seven Kin of Purgatory."

"Seven Kin?" Juvia breathed while Levy cried over Gajeel's unconscious body.

The man went quiet and Erza reached for the small bag she had on her. She took a flare and raised up. She grabbed a satelite phone and dialed. She waited a moment before she spoke, her voice all business: "This exam is being put temporarily on hold. Condition red! Enter battleformation!" She heard the answer and while she did that, Juvia helped Levy with pulling Gajeel up from the ground. "Understood, sir." She finished the call.

"Erza-san, what do you plan to do now?" Juvia asked.

"For now, let's look for Mest and Wendy. There's a possibility that they can't find camp and are wandered lost.

"I'll take Gajeel to the camp." Levy said and it was best; neither was fit to fight whichever enemy that was coming to get them.

Erza nodded to Levy. "Tell the situation to Mirajane, she'll know what to do. Tell her everything." The blunette walked slowly, trying her best to walk holding his weight – for a girl her size, she was quite strong. Once she was out of sight, Erza turned to the man on the ground. "Now, what your goal is?"

"Hmph. Like I'd cough up anything to you." Erza was in no mood for playing around and just kicked the man on the stomach and he coughed a few times. When she was about to do it again, he raised his hands. "Zeref. Zeref is on this Island."

Both Juvia and Erza gasped. "Impossible." The red haired woman said.

"He is here." The man's smile was boarding on psychotic. "Master Hades said that he was resting here. Away from the world, medidating about how to make our world better."

"I can't believe this." Erza whispered and then looked at the man. "This is FT's Island. Are you trying to cause some kind of disorder? You are trespassing."

"The army Master Hades is in direct command of will be here soon. I wouldn't underestimate the 7 Kin of Purgatory if I were you." Erza punched him on the face and he finally lost consciousness.

"Erza-san..." Juvia looked at the other woman. "What do we do? My guns are at my bag back in camping. And he is saying there will be at least seven more coming..."

"I..." She stopped and looked up, her forehead frowning in concentration and Juvia tried to know why when she heard it: helicopters. "What the hell...?" From between the high trees, they watched as five helicopters flown above them.

"Parachutes." Juvia told Erza when she saw a man jump from the helicopter, followed by three more. The blunette looked to her friend. "Four men, they'll most likely land at our five o'clock. What are your orders?" The red haired woman was Juvia's superior and she'd have to wait.

Erza nodded. "Let's get them."

#

Juvia tried to make no noise as she followed the red haired woman and when she stopped, so did Juvia. She could hear men talking and Erza signalized Juvia to hide behind a tree. Just like Juvia said, there were four men with assault rifles, and by the way they behaved, ex-military.

Looking to where Erza was, Juvia saw her point to the men and then signalize they should take them down. Juvia nodded and, since she was closer, she'd go in first and Erza would have her back since she had a knife and was ready to throw it.

Quietly, Juvia snuck behind the men and once she was close enough, got one in a choke holder and when the others realized what was happening, they raised their guns but got distracted when one of them fell down with a knife on his leg, screaming in pain.

"What the fuck is going on?" One of the men pointed his guns to the general direction Erza was and the other pointed at Juvia. The man she was holding was losing consciousness and she needed to move fast if she wanted to avoid to get shot.

Juvia saw the opportunity when one of the men shot in Erza's direction and the guy pointing the gun at her looked over his shoulder. She let the one she was holding fall on the ground, grabbed the rifle and before he even knew what happened, she shoved the back of the gun onto his nose and while he was confused, she turned the rifle around and shot him on the shoulder and the other on the back of his thigh – she tried to not kill them, just made them unable to fight.

"Clear." She shouted while she kicked the guns away from the men.

Erza came from between the plants and she looked impressed. "Good job." Juvia nodded, grabbed a rifle and tossed into the other woman's direction. "Thanks." She pointed the gun to one of the men moaning in pain on the ground. "What do you want?"

"Screw you." He panted and before she could say anything else, they heard helicopters again and more people using parachutes. "Ha." The man laughed. "You might try to stop us, but Master Hades wants Zeref and nothing will stop him. He needs to control this world."

"In your dreams, sicko." Juvia used her gun to knock the man down and checked their pockets. She found plastic handcuffs and restrained two while Erza did the other two.

"There are more falling east." Erza told Juvia. "We need to take down most of them until help arrives."

"Help?" Juvia asked, grabbing some ammo.

"Yes." Erza was doing the same. "I called Gildarts and he's returning. It'll take him an hour or so to come back with Freed and Bixlow. I assume he called the Coast Guard, but it's going to be a while until they arrive."

"Goddammit." Juvia curse under her breath.

"Everyone in this island is here because they can take care of themselves." Erza told her friend. "They are out there doing whatever they can to survive and protect each other. Don't worry." Juvia thought of Gray, but shook her head. He would be fine; he could take care of himself and he had a partner. Their friends knew how to fight, knew how to survive. They would be okay. "Come on, Juvia."

The blunette nodded and followed Erza through the woods.

#

They met the second group of men five minutes later and that time, bullets flew around, but taking the guys by surprise, they were in advantage until they heard another helicopter fly over the island and a few seconds later, an explosion.

Juvia, who was on her knee while shooting, looked over her shoulder at the direction of the sound and Erza yelled at her: "Concentrate on the enemy in front of you!"

With a final look of concern, she slipped her focus back to the guys in front of her.

"Clear." Erza said after the men were down and they heard shots coming from another part of the island and they shared a look, but focused back on the current events.

"I'm out." Juvia said when she checked her ammo.

"Me too." Erza answered and they were about to step to where the men were lying down groaning to get more ammunition and when they stood up, someone shot and Juvia felt a burn on her arm and both women dove behind trees. "Damn it! I thought we got them all!"

"Juvia!" Erza asked, seeing Juvia hiss and grab her arm.

Juvia panted, trying to contain the pain and took her hand away from a moment to see the damage – it was way bloodier than she expected to be – and saw that if just a few inches to the side, it would've hit the bone. Thankfully it was through and through and slightly superficial, she'd just need stitches. It hurt like hell, though, but she could move her hands. She assumed no nerves were damaged and even if it were, they were more pressing problems there.

"I'm fine." Juvia panted and tried to push the pain away, she'd have to ignore it. "Who is the shooter?"

Erza hesitated for a moment, her gaze lingering on Juvia's wound before she looked up. "I can't see whoever it is."

"We need to get him, take him down." Juvia said. "He saw me, not you. I can be bait while you go around to get him."

"I think he knows there are two of us, but it's worth a shot." Erza nodded. "Are you okay?"

"Good enough." The blunette assured. "Go. Juvia is without ammo, but she'll make noise and walk around here to keep him occupied, you go."

"Roger."

Juvia left the rifle, as it was dead weight to her and she'd have more chance if she get one of the guns the men dropped.

She made as much noise as she could while moving leaves, stepping on falling branches and once in a while she'd hear a gunshot close to where she was and a couple of minutes later, she heard the telltales of a fight and knew it was time to stop hiding. Juvia left her hiding place, ran between the unconscious men and grabbed a gun without stopping and when she arrived behind a big tree, she saw Erza fighting with a young woman with short pink hair and Juvia almost dropped the gun: the girl couldn't be more than twenty.

The girl had some sort of stick in her hand and a gun on a holster around her waist. And she had a look on her face, a look Juvia saw in the mirror years before, when she was still in the military.

Erza was a few feet away from the young woman and raised a hand to Juvia when she raised her rifle, telling the blunette to stand down. The girl barely looked in Juvia's direction by the corner of her eyes. "You'll be 13th place."

"Juvia, step down. I'll take care of her."

"Erza Scarlet... You'll be 4th place." The pink haired girl said.

"What are you ranking?" Erza asked.

"It's the ranking for the order I've decided to kill you in." The grin on her lips was scary.

"Ridiculous."Erza snarled.

"This is important." The pink haired was so fast that even Juvia saw it coming: she raised the stick and made a sound Juvia barely recognized as electricity and she felt it on her leg. Juvia had been tasered before, but nothing as powerful as that. Her whole muscles spasmed and she dropped her rifle. "13th is just trash, I'll take care of it quickly."

Juvia fell on the ground and she could hear Erza yelling something, but she was a little out of it. That was way too powerful to be a simple taser. Juvia started to make out the words while the women fought.

"..second place is Makarov." The pink haired girl said. "But I think Hades-sama beat me to it."

"Master is second place?" Erza asked.

"There's someone who I've ranked far ahead of your Master. First place is Gray, Gray Fullbuster."

"What? Why Gray?" Erza asked, but Juvia was already feeling angry.

"The man who killed Ultear's mother. The man who hurt Ultear. The man who hurt my Ultear! I'll never forgive him! I'm going to tear him apart!"

It felts as if a bolt of energy went through Juvia and she was suddenly getting up – the girl with pink hair had her back to her and she was pulling the gun towards Erza and Juvia saw for a moment panic in Erza's expression.

Juvia jumped on the girl and grabbed the gun just as it shot, missing Erza by a few inches. The girl tried to punch Juvia and it barely hurt, and Juvia twisted the arm until the gun was dropped and the blunette pushed her away.

"'Can't forgive'? That's my line." Juvia said between gritted teeth. "Whose life did you say you were after?"

Her hatred was probably coming out from her in waves because she heard the girl: "Wh-What's with her? She's only 13th."

"H-hey... calm down." Erza muttered.

"Calm down?" Juvia never felt as angry in her life before. "This woman is after Gray-sama for her irrational needs. How could I possibly calm down? There's no way I'll forgive her!" Juvia strode towards the girl and punched her on the face and the pink haired woman took two steps back before Juvia did it again. She didn't even realized had started to rain. "Erza-san, please leave her to me." The blunette said while the girl was touching her jaw in surprise. "You need to hurry and find Wendy. And Gray-sama too."

A second of silence and then Erza's answer from behind her. "Understood. I'm gonna leave it to you, then."

"4 will not escape." The girl muttered and tried to go for Erza, but Juvia intervened and with each hit, Juvia hit back and once Erza was nowhere in sight, the girl pushed Juvia away so they could take a breath.

"It's mysterious, isn't it?" The girl asked but Juvia didn't drop her guard. "That over this one person, Gray, one person can hate him and another could love him. Even with just the same person, there can be different ways to see them and feel about them."

"It's a mark of being an individual. That's what it is to be human." Juvia said.

"I've got good luck, to have killing Gray as my objective and to meet someone who has such strong feelings about him." She reached for her satchel and took something that looked like a tablet. "For the sake of Ultear, I put my life on the line. Around this island, our men are putting on bombs and the last time I heard from them, they were fighting a four people: a man with orange hair, a blonde woman, a brunette and a man with dark hair. The only man with dark hair in this island that paired with a man with orange hair, is Gray Fullbuster. I know, I researched." Juvia felt cold down her spine when the girl showed her the tablet. "And our men have a lot of explosive with them. I think that an explosion would kill him. It would make me happy. My Ultear would be happy."

"What..." Juvia breathed.

The pink haired girl hunched over and grabbed a sharp piece of a broken branch and held it close to her neck. "I connected those bombs to my vital signs without other people knowing because I knew that I might not be able to kill him – he is bigger and stronger. But I made sure that even if he killed me, like he killed Ultear's mother so... I have a plan B." She looked down to her satchel. "The moment I die, all bombs will explode, so, he will die. And so will we." Juvia's eyes widened as she understood that inside that satchel, she had enough explosives to kill them both, explosives she intended to be for Gray. "I can just kill myself."

"Stop it!" Juvia yelled.

"I do not fear death." The girl said and raised the branch, fully prepared to put it in her neck, but Juvia was faster and grabbed her hand before she could kill herself. "Stop it! I have to do this! I could kill him! I could kill him!"

"There's another option, all of us can live!" Juvia said while holding the struggling girl. "Although we may defeat our enemies, the people from FT would never take their lives!

She tried to fight away from Juvia's grasp. "How incredibly childish! I'm going to kill Gray for the sake of Ultear-"

"Even you smile." Juvia said when the girl calmed down a bit. "Even you have someone important to you. You talked about someone called Ultear? You seem to love this person and I bet he wouldn't want you to die. Everyone Juvia loves is in this island. Every single person." Against all odds, Juvia felt her eyes sting as they watered. "Live. You live. Juvia.... Juvia lives for the ones that she loved. You've got, too! If you have love in your life then you must keep on living!"

The girl's body was relaxed. "Live?"

"Live." Juvia nodded. "I've been on the job too, I know it's hard, it's difficult to find that someone, but when we do... Don't let go. Don't give up and it will be worth it."

Before the girl could say anything else, Juvia felt the same jolt of electricity she felt a few minutes before and her body clenched. She didn't even realized she'd let the girl go, just that whoever was behind her, chocked her again once she fell on the ground and then three more times before she lost consciousness.

#

"Juvia!" She heard Gray's voice and she frowned, her whole body ached and she could barely move anything. She heard a shot and she could feel her consciousness slowly returning. "Snap out of it. Come on, don't do this to me now."

"Gray-sama?" She muttered as she blinked a couple of times and sat that they were behind a huge fallen tree.

"Yes." He sounded relieved and helped her to seat. "We need to act fast, they have Zeref."

"What?" Juvia breathed and could feel that she would be sore for a couple of days, not to mention her bullet wound.

"I'm sorry, but I need to take care of Ultear and I need you to prevent them to take Zeref away."

"Yes, of course." Juvia tried to stand up, but fell back down when her legs gave in and Gray put an arm around her. She pushed him away. "If it's Gray-sama's orders, pain like this is nothing." She winked and he frowned. "It's fine."

"If you are not up for it..." Juvia shut him up with a quick peck on the lips. "Do you have another gun?" He shook his head. "Let's hope he doesn't either. Which direction did he go?"

Gray pointed to their left, "He was unconscious, a girl with pink hair took him." She nodded. "Go. I'll cover you."

#

"Hold on!" Juvia asked the girl with pink hair. She was a few meters in front of Juvia. In any other circumstance, Juvia would've catch on them before long, but she needed to lean on trees the whole way because her body seemed to hurt. She finally connected in her mind what was that made her feel that way: it was a cattle prod and it hurt like hell.

"What about all that stuff you said about love?" The girl yelled over her shoulder – she was also not moving fast because she was carrying an unconscious man; Zeref.

"I don't want to argue wth you!" Juvia yelled, holding onto another tree – her legs seemed to be jell-o.

A blonde man appeared in front of them and started to yell. "Meredy!"

"Zancrow?" Juvia heard the girl – Meredy, it appear to be her name – say in surprise.

"Just where were you planning on taking Zeref?" The blonde, Zancrow, yelled and Juvia looked at every action and noticed that he had a gun on his waist. "So, you were planning on betraying us along with Ultear after all? Well?!" Meredy muttered something Juvia couldn't hear. "You are no longer part of Grimoire Heart!"

When the man, Zancrow as Meredy called him, came and started to badmouth Ultear to the girl, Juvia wanted him to just shut up because the girl obviously had a deep bond with the woman she assumed was the dark haired one she left fighting Gray-sama. And that man looked like he was quite strong and neither she nor Meredy were in condition of fighting. And he had the person both Juvia and Meredy were trying to get custody of.

Zeref.

The man, who created so many monsters through brain washing, brought misery for other people; he was alive.

Zancrow punched Meredy on the face and took the unconscious man away from the girl and started to walk away.

"Wait... Zeref is Ultear's future!" Meredy stopped for a moment and said in a lower voice "My future." Juvia was powerless. Her whole body hurt and she couldn't do a thing without killing herself in the process. Her mind was racing; trying to think of some plan, any plan, but the blond man looked too strong.

"So naïve... " Zancrow smiled towards Meredy. "How long are you going to keep spouting that crap?"

"Ultear promised..." Meredy whined, looking like a lost child, instead of the polite serious young woman Juvia met few hours before. "If I can make bring him to us, he will make the world better. A world where people are not killed... Like my parents were."

"But the one who killed your parents was Ultear-san!" Zancrow seemed to enjoy himself very much saying this.

The look on Meredy's face was of shock and incredulity. "That is... a lie..." Juvia heard her, but she seemed to be talking to herself than anyone else.

Juvia hated it. She hated the way the man from Grimoire Heart started to laugh like he was having the time of his life while a young girl's heart was being ripped apart. The blunette wished she had her body fully functioning to take the grin off his face.

At that time, all they could hear were the laughs and the heavy rain. None of them realized that Zeref was awake until he spoke, barely a whisper: "Acnologia."

"Ah?" Zancrow looked to Zeref in confusion. From where Juvia was, she could see the abnormal eyes the black haired man had. She froze in fear with that look. "Eh?" It was all Zancrow was able to say before it happened.

Zeref took the gun from the holster on Zancrow's waist and shot the blonde man on the chest three times and Juvia could see that he shot straight on the left chest; Zancrow was dead before he hit the ground.

Meredy ran away, but Juvia had nowhere to go, her legs wouldn't work, so, when Zeref pointed the gun towards her, all Juvia could do was to look back at him.

Juvia has been close to dying many times before, but at that moment, she was certain she was going to. Zeref's eyes were dark and seemed bottomless while she stared at them. He was crazy. A hundred per cent insane.

She was going to die.

"If you survive, tell them to stop looking for me. I don't want to go back." Zeref said and Juvia heard him from above the rain.

"I-I'm not looking for you." Juvia managed to say even if her insides were almost frozen with fear. Damn it, she was shaking. "I'm from FT. We had no idea you..."

"FT?" Zeref frowned for a moment and his face softened a bit, but not enough to make Juvia fear-free. "Well, then. Sorry for the mess." Juvia watched as he walked in her direction and her whole body froze even more. "But I can't let you see where I go."

"What...?" Juvia's last memory was his fist hitting her jaw and her head hitting the ground so hard, she lost consciousness.

#

When Juvia woke up, the sun was almost down and there was no more rain. And she had to take a moment to remember where she was and why all her body hurt, why the back of her head hurt, her arm, her jaw and legs.

Zeref.

She sat down so fast her, she felt dizzy and saw black dots in front of her eyes. For a moment she thought she was going to throw up, but held it together.

Juvia needed to find her friends, she needed to tell them Zeref was armed and killing people. She looked to the dead blonde man a few meters from her and gulped. That was almost her.

After she worked hard to get up, she took a moment to take deep breaths and pushed through the soreness and pain. She started to walk – probably for fifteen minutes – until she heard voices, voices she recognized, thank god.

Soon, she finally arrived where her friends were and apparently, everyone was there and seemed fine. She recognized Gray and sighed in relief that he was fine

"Hey... you... guys!" Juvia said weakly.

Gray turned around but Erza spoke first. "Juvia!"

"You're okay?" Apparently Gray' voice was the medicine she needed; she managed to talk louder.

"Juvia is so sorry..." She cried. Actually she was genuinely embarrassed about it. Gray sent her on a mission and she failed it. "Juvia let Zeref get away..." Gray went to her side and put an arm around her waist and she leaned on him, feeling much better. "Gray-sama, please, punish me! Give it to me however you like..." She whined, trying to make the situation lighter.

Erza shook her head with a small smile.

"I... I don't have those kinds of hobbies!" Gray's cheeks reddened.

"But I do!" Their friends chuckled and dismissed them, thankfully: she didn't want an audience to tell what happened. Gray raised her arm to put it around his shoulder when she hissed in pain and he froze.

"What the hell?" Taking a better look, he saw the earlier bullet wound and his eyes widened.

"I forgot about that!" Erza was also by her side. "Wendy!" She called over her shoulder.

"I'm fine." Juvia tried to say, but Gray already scooped her from the ground bridal style and walked towards to a makeshift tent. "No, I'm fine, you don't have to..."

"Shut up." Gray's jaw was set. "You can't even walk right, can you? Don't lie to me."

Juvia looked down in shame. "No. I'm sorry."

"Stop apologizing." He barked and Juvia went silence; his embrace on her felt good, but he was mad at her and she didn't like that a bit. Once they were inside the tent, Gray put her down on a gurney. "Wendy, Juvia needs you!"

"Gray-sama..." Juvia tried to say, but shut her mouth when he gave her a look. She lied down and moaned when her head hit the soft place – even there, her head hurt. She would have a nasty bump if not already.

"You hit your head?" Gray asked and put a hand on the back of her head. "Damn, Juvia." When he draw his hand, there was some blood on his fingers. "What the hell happened?"

Thankfully, Wendy arrived and the first thing she looked was the blunette's nasty cut on the back of her skull and told her that when they were back in Magnolia, she'd need a brain scan just to make sure she didn't have a nastier concussion. When the young doctor asked what else she needed checked, Gray told her that Juvia had something on her arm and did not leave when Wendy had to take off Juvia's shirt even when Wendy asked him to.

His only answer was that he was not going anywhere and Juvia appreciated that, even though she didn't want him to see how battered up she was.

Gray's eyes were stormy when he saw the bullet hole on her arm, the burn marks on her back, the purpling marks on her face. And when she told them that she wasn't able to walk properly because of a cattle prod, he almost went out the tent.

After Wendy stitched the wounds from her arm and head, Gray went to grab Juvia's bag with clean clothes while the doctor bandaged her legs.

"Tell me what happened." Gray said when Wendy left and he was helping her put her clothes back on.

"You never helped Juvia put her clothes back on. Only take them off." She tried to laugh. "And you shouldn't be here, they will notice."

"Screw that." Gray kneeled in front of her when he finished helping her with her jacket. "I really don't care about that right now, Juvia. What I do care about is you telling me what that bastard did to you, because I know he did something, Juvia. Some of that, it was from Ultear and Meredy – we'll talk about it later – but Zeref... I can see it in your eyes."

Juvia bit her lower lip and slowly told him about how Zeref killed a man and how terrified she was to in his presence. "He was going to shoot me. Until I told him that I worked with FT, he was going to shoot me like he did that man. I would be dead right now if I hadn't spoken." She hated it but she was shaking and tearing up a bit.

"Fuck." Gray whispered. He sat beside her at the gurney and put an arm around her and she cuddled up to him, breathing in his scent and enjoying his warmth. "But you are not dead. You are here. You are here." It seemed as if he was whispering more to himself than to her. "You are here."

"Can we go home?" Juvia whispered. "I'm so tired."

"You can't sleep, Wendy said you have a concussion. I need to keep you up all night."

Juvia chuckled. "You already do that." Some tension seemed to leave his body as he laughed.

"Sorry, but this time it won't be by my usual ways."

"Pity." Juvia looked up and Gray kissed her gently. "Can we go outside?"

"Yeah." Gray nodded, reached for the crutches and helped her up, walking slowly next to her. "Oh, the test is cancelled, by the way. Laxus is here, back at the firm and with all the crap that happened today."

"Makes sense." Gray helped Juvia sit down on a bench and sat next to her. "When will we leave?"

"Gildarts said that in an hour the Coast Guard will be here and we can straight some things up."

"Oh, god. That will take all night long." Juvia moaned and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Sorry." Gray sighed and they stayed in silent, listening to their friends when Levy, who was using headphones and with a laptop in front of her, got up and gasped.

"Shit!" She said.

"Wow, bookworm can swear!" Gajeel laughed.

"You, shut up." Levy told him and then turned to where Master Makarov was. "Master, I heard at the frequency radio I'm hacking and I heard something about dropping a gun here, at the Island." Everyone began talking at the same time. "Look, they are two minutes away. What do we do, Master?"

They looked at the old man, who seemed to think for a few moments. "We leave. Take nothing unnecessary, just go to where our boat is. Right now."

Everyone began to move and Juvia got up with difficulty and, with her crutches, she tried to walk faster, but couldn't. She was clearly the last one on the line – while everyone ran, she walked slowly.

Suddenly, she felt someone lift her up and put her over his shoulders as she gasped. She recognized Gray. "Gray-sama... I'll only slow you down."

"Shut up." Gray snarled as he ran and caught up with their friends.

"Shit, look!" Gajeel yelled, but Juvia couldn't see because her back was to where the others were. "A fucking heli!"

"Faster! Everyone!" Mirajane screamed and Juvia saw dirt change into sand as they reached the beach. The helicopter was over them and just when they were running over the docks, almost at the boat, Juvia watched as the first bomb fell, right in the middle of the Island. The explosion was big, but when the helicopter turned around and dropped another bomb closer to the beach and the hot wave of air made many of FT members fall on the water, Gray and Juvia included.

The docks were already in a deep part of the beach so when Juvia fell on the water she couldn't say what was up or down, with her barely using her legs, she tried to use her arms to find the way up, but everything was confused.

Just when air was turning into a problem and her arms were aching, Juvia felt someone grab her hand and pull her up towards the surface. She coughed and took deep breaths. "Juvia!" Gray was yelling at her, his ears were probably ringing just like hers. "Hold on to me, don't let go!"

"We need to get the others." Juvia looked around and saw more people on the water.

"Listen to me." He yelled. "Everyone is helping each other, and it happens that I'm helping you."

"But..." She tried.

"You can't swim like this." Gray told her. "Just don't let go of me and we'll help whoever we can, but don't let go." Juvia nodded and Gray turned around so she could wrap her arms around his neck as he swam net to whomever fell on the water. "Is everyone accounted for?" He looked up to where Mirajane and Erza were, at the docks, helping Levy up.

"Yes!" The psychiatrist said.

"The helicopter seems to be gone as well." Erza said and offered her hand to Wendy, whom Natsu was helping up.

"Thank fucking god!" The pink haired man said. "I saw the name on that heli... who the hell names a helicopter 'Acnologia'?"

Gray and Natsu helped Juvia up while Erza pulled her up and soon everyone was on the boat, blankets around the people who were on the water and Gray shared one with Juvia – he sat down and she sat between his legs, not at all concerned about people seeing them.

Juvia was shaking, more because of what happened than the cold water. "You are here." Gray whispered into her ear and she put a hand over where his were resting on her stomach.

Everyone stayed in silence, watching the island they were supposed to have fun in, burn, until two hours later, when the Coast Guard appeared.

It would be one hell of a night.

#

U