Chasing Shadows

Black Flag

- Black Flag

Juvia woke up at the sound of a scream. Confused at first when she realized it wasn't her making the noise then startled, she tried to focus her eyes on the figure beside her. Jordan began to cry, her blue eyes wild with terror, she had her arms around her, her hands digging deep into her skin. Her friend was trembling and her legs were tucked tightly to her chest. Juvia wiped her eyes to see if she was still dreaming, no she didn't imagine it, Jordan had a bad dream, not her. She couldn't help the feeling of relief that washed through her. She sat up and rubbed her friend's back in soothing motions, trying to calm her down, she knew very well the feeling of waking up from a nightmare. It felt as if you had no room and even air to breathe, your whole body is unresponsive to your will and it's as if chains are holding you down. To Juvia who had mastered this feeling, she still found it terrifying every time her dreams came.

"Shh..shh Jordan, It's alright, It's alright" She said in a motherly voice, still rubbing circles over her Jordan's tense back. "You want to talk about it?"

"There-there where cabs, everywhere, all I could see was yellow, circling around me, like yellow vultures waiting to attack. They had their headlights on and I couldn't see anything but the cabs. It kept going on and on. They were gonna kill me Io. Cabs are after me" Jordan said, her voice trembling.

Juvia said nothing for a moment, trying to process what her friend had said. "O-okay Jordan, there are no cabs here. Were safe in my room, far from those e-evil.. things, so pfft..so your safe now" Juvia said in the most comforting tone she could muster at the moment, holding back the laughter that threatened to escape. That was the most ridiculous thing she'd ever heard.

It was just hours ago that she was daydreaming about Lyon when Juvia found her friend sitting at her front door, crying her heart out. Her things were scattered in front of her, notebooks, pens, a pack of Cheetos and her wallet spilled out from her bag. Her face was messy with mascara and tears, she was biting her fingernails and rocking back and forth, staring intensely at the pack of junk food in front of her, like it was going to sprout wings and fly away. Juvia slowly made her way towards her friend, wary and confused. She called out to her softly and Jordan's head immediately turned to the origin of her name. When Jordan saw her she cried harder and sniffled and coughed.

"Vi-Violeette..ugghhh" Jordan cried out, almost tripping on her stuff when she tried to get up, her foot accidentally crushing the poor bag of cheesy treats. More confused, Juvia was unprepared for the sudden bear hug that Jordan unleashed upon her, making them both stumble backwards.

Juvia had only seen Jordan cry only twice before when she was nearly ran over by a cab outside their school, Jordan only 16 at that time and when her dad had passed away. Wondering why she would cry now, Juvia gathered them both up with some difficulty due to Jordan's dead weight and her wailing, they finally made it inside. Stranger perched from his place, rising up to meet the guest, he padded towards Jordan who collapsed on the floor, shoulders still shaking. Stranger sniffed her at first then settled into his hind legs in front of the sobbing woman. When Jordan saw the dog, she caught him in her embrace, throwing her arms around his furry neck and cried out load like a baby. Stranger reacted to this by mildly struggling and giving out a soft confused whine.

"Jordan, you'll get mascara all over Stranger" Juvia said with a smile but didn't make a move to untangle Jordan from the dog, instead, moved to gather the scattered things of her friend and closed the door.

Jordan slowly let her arms fall to her sides and frowned at Stranger with her messed up face, messing it up more while she tried to wipe her eyes with her hand, now her fingers also had mascara. The dog wagged his tail.