Juvia POV
Before Mira left she unlocked my room with a smile. “Everyone will be gathering shortly in the dining hall. Would you like me to escort you and your sister?”
“Not yet,” I said. “Juvia…um…needs a moment.”
“Of course.” She nodded a little and exited.
I paced the floor, suddenly feeling on the border of insanity. What are we going to do? How long could we keep this up? And more importantly, where in the world are Lucy and Levy?! Are they in danger? Did they get captured by the enemy? Phantom Lord, I think. I halted my pacing as fear seized me.
No, I thought as I turned an yanked my door open. Juvia must believe that they are okay and that they're looking for us too.
Two strides later I'm reaching up to knock on Erza's door just as she opens it in a hurry.
“Juvia.” She says in relief. "I was just going to go looking for you."
“What are we going to do Erza? I said in English, stepping into her room. “What happened to our clothes? And what's up with this weird language and why can we suddenly speak it?! How are we going to get back? How are we going to find Levy and Lucy? Can we even get back without them?”
I hadn't even thought of that last part till now.
“Well, the time travel thing only worked when all of our hands were on the hand prints, so I would assume that to get back, all four of our presence is crucial. As for the rest of our fears…. I'm not so sure.”
I swallow and look down.
“T-they use magic Erza.” I whisper.
“…. I know.”
“That shouldn't be possible!” I said, mostly to myself. Erza nodded, deep in thought.
A silence hung in the air as we sat on the bed.
“Well,” She said after a moment. “Right now our main focus is finding Levy and Lucy and ensuring their safety.”
I nod. “In that case, we need to work on our story.”
Erza blinked at me.
“We can't just tell people we come from, say, 600 years into the future and we're looking for our sisters whom we lost in a magical tomb! We need a backstory! Geography and family is everything to these people!”
Erza ran a hand down her face in frustration. “We need more ti-”
A gentle knock at the door made us jump. “Erza?”
Erza looked like a deer caught in headlights as Jellal deep voice rumbled from behind the door. I didn't miss the light blush in her cheeks or the miniscule shake in her voice when she answered “Yes?”
I gave her a ‘You're so totally crushing in him’ smirk and she glared at me.
“It’s time to eat. Won’t you and your sister join us? Gray and I will escort you.”
Gray.
~Doki doki.~
A blush rose to my cheeks. ‘What the hell was that?! Calm down Juvia! He’s taken bacon! You aren't the type of girl to steal another girl's man!'
I lightly slap my face and shake my head wildly.
“Of course, please give us a moment.” Erza answered, shooting me the same look with a smug grin.
“I guess there was no way out of it.” I muttered with a glare. Mira and now Gray and Jellal all seemed bent on our heading to dinner.
Erza nodded and moved to the door, flipped the latch, and opened it. They stood here, a slight smile on their lips. We smiled hesitantly at them as they escorted us.
“Can’t quite tame your hair, can can you?” Gray said while looking to my hair, a gentle, teasing smile on his lips, trying to make conversation.
We passed a mirror he I could see that my hair was indeed a wind-blown mess. Curse these blue curls! If only I had Lucy’s silky, blonde, straight hair. “Oh,” I said in dismay.
“No,” he said, looking suddenly remorseful. “I only meant to say…” He clamped his lips shut a moment, then, “It reminds me of how you looked when we found you. Two nymphs of the woods trapped in a tomb, just waiting to be set free.”
I tried to swallow but found it difficult under his searching gaze. These guys were clearly intrigued. With us? Or just our weird story?
We moved down the corridor through to the courtyard. With this weird dress, my hair a mess, towers all around, and a couple of guards checking us out, I almost freaked out again, very aware of how far away home really was. But I managed to keep it together. Mostly.
“You two are the tallest women I’ve met.”
Well, that was no surprise. That was something that was mentioned everywhere we went. Frankly, I'm surprised they just now said something.
“J-juvia thinks we are going to get that a lot.”
“Yes, well, I rather like it. It’s far easier to hold your arm than Ava’s.”
“Or Carmen's”
They said their names in a mumble, as if realizing too late, that their compliments to us was a dig at their girl.
We entered the Great Hall. There was a long table on a slightly elevated dais at the front of the room where Makarov, Gray's friends, Ava, Carmen, and their peeps, that tall, thin man, and a few others were already seated. All the men rose to their feet, looking in our direction. Some sort of old-fashioned chivalry? I could feel the heat of a blush climb my neck and cheeks, as well as the piercing cold of Ava’s stare- along with the stares of girls who surrounded her, despite their gentle smiles. Below them, two tables stretched outward, each easily seating twenty. All the men at these tables also rose and looked our way.
Ava looked up at me sweetly as I took a seat across from her. “Miss Lockser, Miss Scarlet, I trust you are refreshed?” She glanced left and right, all wide-eyed and innocent. Innocent Juvia's ass. “We feared you had taken sick when you did not appear to dinner.” Her glance moved to Gray, who was watching the exchange with interest, and held there. Yeah, right. You mean you hoped we’d gotten sick enough to die. You’re not fooling me or Erza. Gray and Jellal left our side and walked around the table, then stood behind his chair.
“We are quite refreshed,” Erza said. “Sorry for being late.”
Makarov rose and gave us a smile. “Don't worry about it. You are here now.”
I looked at my goblet an glanced at Erza. Nothing but wine to drink. No water. No juice. We had tried it before, but never had a whole glass. Erza tilted her head slightly an I nodded. We’d have to be careful. The last thing we needed was to get wasted and start yammering about modern medicine and space travel.
I took a tentative sip, analyzing the girl across from me. She wasn’t the overly mean girl, she was the smarter, more dastardly popular girl who was always nice to your face and ripped you apart in the shadows. The one who managed to steal your boyfriend before you even realized she was a threat.
It was good that Lucy wasn’t here. This kind of girl routinely destroyed my naive, artsy, trusting ‘sis’. But me? Well, I’d never dealt with it personally, but I'd seen it before. Of course, I didn’t want to take her on. There was no need. I’d be out of here soon enough. But if she thought she had me figured out, she had another thought coming. “So…Ava. Please, tell Juvia about yourself. Where did you obtain such a fine, amazing dress?”
I'll admit, her dress wasn't really my style, but her friend, Carmen I think, smiled, obviously pleased by my compliments, and I sensed a bit of a thaw, but I didn’t get the same vibe from Miss FancyPants. She answered my question as Gray carved a slice of chicken for each of us. But while words were emanating from her rosebud lips, her eyes were fastened on me, considering me, considering her next move. Like chess players. I suddenly had the desire to take her on at a chess table. Knights and queens and horses on a table before me while I was literally surrounded by real knights and horses. How many people could say that? Ha!
But as much as we had to keep an eye on the cat with her claws barely concealed across from me, we were drawn into the banter of Natsu and Gajeel to our left, and across from them, Makarov and a sickly looking young man to his left. The young man, whom I guessed to be about twenty, looked at me and gave me a small smile and a nod. Had we been introduced? He seemed so familiar, and yet not. I could have sworn he hadn’t been there when I arrived.
Jellal saw the direction I was looking and stood. “Juvia, Erza, may I present my cousin Simon.”
“Miss Lockser, Miss Scarlet, welcome,” he said tiredly, but there was kindness and warmth in his eyes.
I felt Ava and her girl's bristle across from me. Oh, I get it. They didn’t want us to hook up with any of the boys here. Gray made other introductions, to Ava and Carmen’s ladies-in-waiting, the other knights, to Bora, the tall, thin man I’d seen earlier. Gradually, I learned that he was Ava's father’s trusted man, here to escort his charge and watch over her. Was it my imagination, or did the man look at me like us like we were the worst sort of nuisance?
“Miss Lockser, tell us of your sisters,” Makarov said, interrupting my thoughts. “Perhaps one of our people has come across her today.”
“Your knights were rather occupied, Father,” Gray said. Was there an edge to his voice? I glanced between him, his brothers, and his father, trying to figure out the dynamics there.
“Yes, and you all saw it through in fine fashion,” he said, like he really couldn’t care less. He turned back to me. “Miss Juvia and Scarlet, your sister? Describe them for us.”
I thought back. She’d been wearing jeans and a t-shirt, but lord knows if the tomb changed their clothes too.... Best to steer clear of the clothing. “They’re quite a bit shorter than both Juvia and Erza-“
“Thank the heavens,” Ava said, giggling. “How might we deal with four women so tall?”
I sent a fake smile in her direction and went on. “Especially Levy, she only comes up to Juvia's shoulder.” I chuckle lightly as I say it.
Erza continued “Levy has short blue hair, a few shades lighter than Juvia's and Lucy has long, blonde hair-“
“Blonde?” Natsu repeated, clearly surprised.
“Gold. The color of straw, long and straight. They have brown eyes. They're both quite cute.”
Natsu rose, dragging Gajeel up with him. “Permission to go in immediate search of these young maidens, sir,” he said.
The other knights erupted in laughter. In front of us, two girls of Ava's posse bristled.
Jellal smiled but then waved them down. “They were not there when we found them. You know that as well as I.”
“Unless Phantom Lord somehow spirited them off,” said Gajeel lowly.
We looked down the table at him, alarm gathering in my chest. He was not joking.
Gray met my eyes and shook his head slightly. “She was not there. I swear it upon my grave.”
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She wasn’t back at the tomb, I told myself. I didn’t leave her behind. There was no doubt in Gray’s mind.
Still, doubt lingered. “Could we… could we go in the morning? To be certain? I mean, we became separated. Maybe they took another path, and even now, are there, trying to find shelter for the night.” Erza asked.
“With castles within view? Why not beg shelter from us or even Phantom Lord?” Carmen said, her voice ringing with the echo of judgment. “Assuming she knows nothing of them, of course,” she quickly amended.
“This is a new land for us, far from home,” I said. “We were so lost, we became fearful of trusting anyone.”
“Logical,” Gray said, stabbing his chicken with his knife and placing it in his mouth.
I stared at him for a moment and then looked down to my own utensils. Only a knife. Well, this’ll be tricky…. The Pre-Fork Era.
“Tell us,” Makarov said. “Where are you from?”
Several people nearby leaned in, studying us.
I glanced at Erza an swallowed. We hadn't figured that much out of our story.
“Enough,” Gray said. “Father, she is our guest.”
“A guest we know precious little about. They could easily be a spy for Phantom Lord or even witches. Their hair color is not normal and their clothes are unusual."
I’m sure our faces showed our surprise and confusion. They thought we were spies or... witches?
I mean, the spy thing I guess could understand, but witches?!
“Juvia fears Juvia’s sisters are in grave danger,” I said. “If Phantom Lord is as dangerous as it seems, Juvia and Erza need to redouble their efforts to make certain they haven’t fallen captive to them.”
Ava coughed. Did I imagine that she muttered something about wishing we had both gone to Phantom Lord?
Beside me, Erza twitched slightly. She did not take well to people speaking ill of her friends. I tapped her knee twice in a discrete warning. 'Calm down Erza, not worth it.'
Jellal shook his head. "I don't believe they're witches. You should have seen their faces of shock when they witnessed our usage of magic! It is obviously unknown to them."
"And I don't detect any magic energy emanating from them." Natsu said while sniffing in our direction.
"Do you really think that we'd bring them if here was the slightest doubt in our mind?" Gray asked him. Makarov silently stared at us before nodding, trusting his sons judgement.
"Sir, we ask for your aid,” Erza says, setting down her knife. “Might your men help us search for our sisters, come morning? We won’t be able to sleep, we're very worried.”
The tall, thin Bora leaned forward, weaving his fingers together and studying us with clever eyes, but Erza's eyes never left Makarov's. "You have our word that once we find them we will return home! It will be as if we never crossed paths"
Makarov regards silently for a few moments as if sizing us up. "Where did you say you were from?"
I could read straight through Erza's stoic face and could see that she was panicking internally.
"Juvia and her sisters are from Bellum." I blurted out. Bellum. That knight from Phantom Lord asked us if we were from Bellum or if we were witches. Clearly, a witch was not a good thing to be, and our limited knowledge of the land leaves us with no choice. I can only hope this doesn't end up condemning us.
"Bellum?!" Jellal said shocked. "That's quite a ways from here!"
Makarov harshly stared both me and Erza down, analyzing us for lies or deception, before nodding slowly as if being from Bellum suddenly explained a lot about us.
“We shall aid you in your quest." Makarov said after a moment. “Take your rest. In the morning, our men will set out and report to you come evening. They are most thorough.”
“Juvia begs you to allow us to join them in searching for our sisters.”
Makarov’s face twisted in astonishment at my request. Then, after a breath, Simon leaned over and whispered in his ear. Makarov straightened and looked hard at us. “I had heard Bellum women were quite audacious, but I did not think so much so.... I grant you permission, even though I believe it foolhardy. Be advised that while my sons and his men won the day, it was but one battle in a long war with our neighbors. I can promise no rescue if you are captured. Or, indeed, if your sisters are already in their foul hands.”
“We understand.” Erza said with a nod. “Thank you.”
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BONUS CHAPTER AS AN APOLOGY FOR UPDATING LATE 😭😭😭😭
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