Frozen in Time || Gruvia Fanfiction ✓

Chapter 17

  ~~~ Juvia ~~~

  Falling.

  How long have we been tumbling through the darkness?

  Juvia didn't know how long it was before she hit solid ground.  She gasped as the air was forcefully knocked out of her lungs.  Pain wracked her body, and she also heard the others land nearby with loud thuds.

  After regaining what was left of her composure, Juvia managed to get shakily to her feet.  Once her eyes had adjusted to the dark, she scanned the area.  It seemed as though they had landed in a massive chamber.  Old, cracked pillars rose up to the ceiling.  The ground and walls were made of the same stone as the hallways from which they had came.

  "I've had enough of all this falling for one lifetime," Carla grumbled as Wendy sat up beside her.

  "I second that," Erza replied as she came to stand beside Juvia.

  "We're much farther underground now," Juvia noted, looking up towards the roof.  The hole they had fallen through had completely vanished, just like how the one in the first chamber did.  "Finding our friends just got a lot harder."

  Wendy sighed sadly.  "Now what do we do?"

  No one responded.  Juvia felt a chill run down her spine.  She could sense a powerful presence from somewhere in the chamber, but couldn't pinpoint who or what it was.  The room was too dark.

  "Erza?"  Juvia murmured as her eyes darted around.

  "I feel it too.  But where is it coming from?"

  Suddenly, the earth underneath their feet began to tremble with force far beyond what had thrown them underground.  The large tremor caused the ground to start cracking at Erza's feet.

  "What's happening?"  Wendy yelled as she tried to remain balanced.

  "Terra Firma Destruction."

  Before Juvia could find the time to blink, the stone beneath Erza's feet erupted in a huge explosion.  Juvia was thrown backwards into the wall, stunned.  Getting back to her feet as quickly as possible, she tried to make out what had happened.  Erza was now lying unconscious several meters away, cuts covering her exposed skin.  The usual chest plate she had been wearing was shattered in sharp metal pieces scattered around her.  As Juvia ran to Erza's side, she also noticed how the chamber was suddenly filled with a very bright light, as if the sun were in the room with them.

  "Erza!"  Juvia exclaimed as she fell to her knees beside the S-Class Mage.

  "Hold on, I'll heal her!"  Wendy said as she rushed over.

  "Little Dragon Slayer, I think you should worry more about yourself."

  Juvia, Wendy, and Carla snapped their heads up to locate the voice.

  Standing a short distance away was a familiar purple-haired woman holding a scythe firmly in her hands.  Her gaze was unwavering as she studied the Fairy Tail wizards.

  "I know you," Juvia said through clenched teeth.  "You were there when Ryker destroyed our guild hall."

  Althea smirked.  "Indeed I was.  Although it's hardly a memory now.  It was so dreadfully boring."