The Siren's Tear

The Beginning of a Friendship

Left...right....left...right....right

"Ow!" Gray yelled, my heal crushing into his toe....again.

"Sorry! I'm not very good at this.." I said sitting down on the barrel. I couldn't dance in water, much less on land. I held my hands tightly together and looked down. Gray was jumping around in pain holding his poor foot.
But when he let go of his toe and he smiled threw the obvious pain.

"It's ok Juvia. You are getting better, besides no one can really dance on this ship anyways." he said sitting next to me.

Four more weeks
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gajeel P.O.V.
When I found her she was huddled in the corner next to boxes of jerky. Her glares would have been scary if I weren't used to death glares already. Being big, with lots of fighting scars, and a resting bitch face does not work for moms or the ladies.

The room was musky and dark with only a few streams of light making it from a lamp in the kitchen, which was a little walk back. The room looked like it was getting slowly swallowed by darkness.

"My name is Gajeel." I said after a few minutes of silence, and after the glaring had stopped. I didn't hold out my hand or stand up. I sat back against the wall and lightly nodded instead. She seemed to appreciate it because she laid out a little more. Her arms didn't hide her face and legs weren't so close to her.

"Juvia. What are you doing here?" she asked. I played with a little metal ring on my finger and shrugged, not really looking at her.

"They were crowding you, you freaked out and ran. I know how it feels to be look at like a freak." I said still playing with my metal. I heard her snort.

"Right. Because you are a true freak of nature among your fellow humans." she said sarcastically​. This time I met her judging eyes with my serious one.

"Yes actually."

The look in her eyes left. She looked back down, words lost. Silence filled the room like thick soup. You couldn't even hear us breathing.

"Why are you a freak of nature? Are you a monster like me?" she asked. Not looking at me.

"Sorta. I was a normal orphan boy at first. Then a dragon took me and magically weaved my human body with a dragon body." I said normally. How many times have I had to explain my origin?

I felt her eyes on me even if I didn't see them. This time the silence was light, not as thick.

"What happened after? How did a human-dragon hybrid become a pirate?" she asked with honest curiosity. Now I looked up at her and smirked.

"Now that is the fun part."

"After what the dragon had done to me I thought I was the only one alone I'm the world. That felt suckish enough but then the dragon just disappeared one day. No words, no goodbyes or sorrys. I was a monster and an abandoned child. I held a lot of hate and the only way I knew to get rid of it was to give my hate to others. I stole, beat, threatened...Killed. But then I met Natsu. Natsu is the pink haired idiot. He has a lot of heart, enough for the both of us. He showed me that not everyone was evil and that I could be accepted and not abandoned. I met people on the crew, one of which was part of my torture. Levy, the blue haired girl. The short haired blue haired girl that is. I....beat her before all this. Then when she was in trouble and I protected her. It was the least I could do after what I did to her. Then she forgave me. I hurt her, humiliated her, but she smiled and forgave me. I didn't want to leave then. But not to be surrounded by such people would be stupid."

After my story I studied Juvia's face. She was very beautiful. White skinned, dark blue hair, big elegant blue eyes. If all sirens looked like her it would make sense how they trick men into drowning in the ocean for them. Her mouth that had been slightly curled up during my story suddenly bent down.

"Just because you tell me about how amazing the crew is, doesn't mean I'll help you." She stated. I shrugged.

"Ok. But that's not what I intended for."

"Then what did you intend?"

I looked at her annoyed.

"I intended on a conversation. Not everything has a deeper meaning. You can only handle these people for so long before you crave other attention." I explain. Her eyes seemed to soften.

"Oh." was all that came out of her mouth. I stood up and held out a hand.

"Let's go upstairs. You need to plan your escape soon right?"

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

Juvia hid behind me as we walked up the stairs And as eyes turned to her I glared them off. The only one I didn't glare at was of Levy, who, wasn't even looking. I could see the tension in her neck of her wanting too, but she didn't. She just continued talking and drawing on one of the many maps on the table.

The rain that had poured was now done but the waves still crashed. Yet there was no movement on the boat. I took a glance to Juvia, who was trying to look small behind me, and I thought..what is she.

I led her to her room. I didn't know what to do then until she turned to me and said 'thank you' in a small voice. I gave her my Gajeel smile and ruffled her hair. Then I walk back up stairs and thought about the work that will have to be done on the ship, and of Levy and her kindness, and of Juvia. I knew then that in the kitchen, behind those boxes, a friendship was born. And I knew then, Juvia would be the one to bring the end of Tail.

~~~~~~~~~
Juvia POV

I almost didn't want Gajeel to leave. Hiding behind him was like being friends with a giant great white shark. You can't not feel safe.

Safe.

I had to rely on a human to make me feel safe. Well partly human.

I sunk down the wall next to the door until I hit the floor. I wish I was a better Siren. I wish I wasn't a curse. What's wrong with me? I put my hands on my face and rubbed it to my neck. God I want to go swimming.

But the water seemed like a deep dark abyss now. How did I control the water? Like a mermaid. A mermaid.

If I never truly felt like an out cast I felt like one now. A freak.

Sirens always knew that we were related to mermaids in some way. But no one ever knew if we came from Mermaids or mermaids came from us. Or if you are a evolution believer, what ancestor we share. Maybe I had dormant mermaid genes left over from evolution or maybe there was a mermaid in my family tree. Maybe my father was a merman. Actually that kinda makes sense, except he wouldn't have died in water. So maybe.....

My thoughts were interrupted by the door opening.

"Hello Juvia!" Erza said not realizing I wasn't on the bed until after she was done. "Wait, where..? Oh! Hello again, what are you doing on the floor?"

I quickly stood up. For some reason I felt like a drill Sargent was speaking to me. I almost wanted to stand in attention. But I didn't.

"Nothing." I tell her. She looked me in the eye, when she didn't see what she wanted she huffed and suddenly she didn't look like a drill Sargent anymore.

"Why does everyone have that look in there eye when I first meet them? I'm not a monster, just a human." she huffed again. I felt my body hinder a laugh. Oh the irony. "Anyways, I am the Quartermaster of this ship- actually do you know what a Quartermaster is?"

I shook my head. "We don't really have ships underwater." I tell her. She laughs cheerily and lightly hits my arm.

"Of course you don't, well I guess you can say I am the army and congress to the Captain's Kingdom. I handle minor offenses and disputes, along with being the crew's voice to the Captain. Understand?" I nodded. "Good. And now that you are part of this crew, I am now your Quartermaster. Which means if any of these barnacles brains give you shit, I'll make sure they take it back and eat it. And of course vice versa, I protect my family along with it's individuals." she told me. I was expecting a threatening tone in Erza's voice about me giving shit but, she had no such tone. It had a light smiled and a light nod. No fear.

Jeez what does a monster have to do to get a little fear around here?

"I think we will be good friends." she says then waves goodbye.