TAINTED. GRUVIA

10*

欺瞞 deceit;

Juvia 水

"Good work, Juno," Indira nodded appreciatively, marveling at my handiwork, which was Lucy's corpse.

I dusted my hands together and shrugged. "It was nothing."

It really did start to feel like nothing. My hesitation thinned down more and more with each kill. I didn't even feel any remorse for any of my kills... except maybe Gray—but only a tiny bit! Joy bubbled in me whenever I saw others in pain; it was a new kind of high for me.

"What's going on?" Scales asked, eyebrows knitting together in a frown.

Indira and I turned to look at him to ask what the problem was, but we didn't have to. It was right in front of us. Lucy's corpse was disappearing in quite a sparkly way. There was nothing but bewilderment between the three of us. We had no idea what was going on.

"What the hell kind of stunt are you pulling?" Scales asked me with a firmness in his voice, and in that moment I realized that they still didn't trust me.

"You think I know what's going on?" I fired back. "I'm as clueless as the two of you!"

Lucy was gone, and in her place was a cellphone left open. I glanced at Scales and Indira before I went to pick it up carefully. Peering at the phone, I noticed that there was an active call with the speaker on.

"Gotcha!" an energetic voice came from the other end, guffawing for a solid ten seconds right after. Yep, it was Natsu.

I looked up at Indira and Scales and they gave me a nod—it was approval to speak. "Natsu, what's the meaning of this?"

"Only my genius plan," he said and I could tell there was a grin on his face. "I asked Lucy to summon Gemini and create a duplicate of herself. We sent the duplicate to Pandora to as prisoner to pick up on any intel." Natsu chuckled pridefully at his oh-so-genius plan. "Of course, Lucy summoned Gemini back before Gemini received any serious damage."

I heard the loud sound of the jail cell bars being hit. Looking over, I saw that it was Scales who gave it a forceful kick out of anger. Indira looked furious as well, but she stayed calm and composed.

"We haven't leaked any significant information in front of the fake Lucy, so your plan was of no benefit to you," I said calmly, keeping my voice steady.

"Unfortunately for you, we have the coordinates of your guild, and we know that whatever you're planning, it has to do with Zeref," Natsu said, "and we're going to put a stop to that."

"And how exactly will you do that?" I asked, gritting my teeth.

All humor left Natsu's voice and it was replaced with seriousness and a somewhat grim tone. "We're going to wage a war on your guild."

"A war?" I laughed bitterly, however, I had no idea what to say. I looked up at Indira for help and she looked equally shocked. Before I could say anything, she snatched the phone from me.

"So it's settled, Natsu Dragneel," Indira said slowly, "Pandora and Fairy Tail will be at war." she scowled and hung up. She tossed the phone carelessly, not caring where it went, and looked at Scales and I. "Come up, we have war preparations to discuss."

Scales and I shared a look, and then we followed her.

Natsu 炎

"Natsu!" Happy cried out right after Juvia hung up on me.

I dropped the cheap phone and ran towards the source of the sound, but stopped dead in my tracks at the sight that beheld me. Lucy was on the ground, motionless and pale. Panic boiled in me and sent a fire burning in the back of my mind. I dropped to the ground and held her hand.

It was cold.

I was scared of the answer but I asked the dreaded question anyways: "Is she dead?"

"No, but she's close," Wendy said. Her hands were over Lucy, casting restorative magic on her. "Using Gemini for so long caused a great toll on her body."

Lucy Heartfilia dying? No... that didn't sound right. "Lucy" and "death" were so foreign in my head that it stung to even think about. It would be like a book with no pages; a puzzle with no pieces; a song with no ending; a star with no shine.

I gripped Lucy's hand, letting my warmth be hers. I didn't mind giving up all my heat for her. Our hands fit so perfectly in each other. Our fingers entwined like puzzle pieces fitting together; it was completion.

"Let's take her to the hospital wing," Wendy said and I agreed with her immediately.

I scooped Lucy's body up and headed to the hospital wing, Erza on my heels. She was definitely worried about her friend as well. Lucy's shallow breaths only made me want to give her some of my own air, help her breathe easy.

It was obvious as day: Lucy was broken. She was broken over Sting. She was broken over Gajeel. She was broken over Levy. She was broken over Gray. She was broken over Juvia.

"I'll mend you," I murmured quietly, wondering if she could hear me.

I swear, I saw a ghost of a smile on her lips.

She probably is aware of her beauty. She's reminded of it constantly, but she really is so lovely. The dimples when she smiled so cheekily, her fingertips brushing through her blonde hair, and those brown eyes... oh, those brown eyes.

"She'll recover," Wendy said, interrupting me from my thoughts, "but she is weak and needs rest."

"She's like a rose," Happy frowned as he clung onto Lucy's frail arm.

"How so?" I asked.

"When a rose is cut, it—" Happy's breath hitched, "—it only lasts three days."

"Bullshit," Erza interjected almost immediately. "Lucy's the strongest I know. Unfortunately, she wound up using a significant amount of power..."

I looked down at Lucy's limp body in the hospital bed. The only sound for a minute was the sound of her heavy breaths. "You know, you can't cut a rose without getting cut by its thorns first."