A Bright Idea 12/22/2011

Ch1- What can Juvia do?

Juvia sulked behind a wooden pillar in the Fairy Tail guild building. Natsu, Erza, Lucy, Gajeel, and her Gray-sama had just returned from the strange world they referred to as Edolas. Team Natsu—plus Gajeel—were all around the guild, telling people about how they were taken as well, but had been turned into a lacrima and were saved by their efforts. For days, they'd been recounting the story and laughing at everyone's Edolas counterparts. People seemed overjoyed to have Lisanna back from the dead, and Juvia (though she never knew Lisanna) would've been happy as well, had she not been dwelling on one fact.

Edo-Gray-sama loves Juvia, but Edo-Juvia-chan rejects him, she repeated in her head. Such a marvelous yet cruel, cruel world Edolas is. "Juvia wants to go to Edolas!" she growled, clutching the pillar she hid behind. Everyone was having so much fun talking about Edolas and welcoming Lisanna that no one even noticed the rain that slid gloomily down the windows.

"You don't have to worry, Juvia-chan." The sweet voice that spoke from behind the Rain Woman came from Levy McGarden. "Everyone can see that Gray cares about you. He'll come around."

"That's some arrogant talk, coming from a love rival. Why would Levy-chan tease Juvia like that?"

Levy's face fell. She thought she was one of the few girls in Fairy Tail Juvia didn't have beef with. "Love rival? What are you talking about?"

"Lucy-chan, though also a love rival, was looking at something funny with Cana-chan, not a love-rival. It was a picture Levy-chan had drawn of herself in the arms of a black-haired mage, who Juvia identified as Gray-sama. Love rival," Juvia stated and returned to her sulking.

"They found that picture!" Levy shrieked, her face turning bright red. "Oh, Juvia, no! You misunderstood! The mage in that picture was… was…" Levy was embarrassed about talking boys with Juvia, but Lucy and Cana already had the picture, and Juvia had a right to know why she could stop sulking. "It was Gajeel. I like Gajeel. I guess I just made his long hair look short because of the angle or something. But I gave him the piercings, didn't I?"

"Juvia's sorry for doubting Levy-chan. Juvia knows Levy-chan likes Gajeel-kun, but the piercings looked like sparkles to Juvia. Gray-sama is always shining so…" Juvia drifted into another day dream in which her Gray held her in his arms lovingly, roses falling, the couple sparkling in the pink, romantic light.

Levy smiled and patted Juvia on the back, "It's okay. I'm not the best artist. But you should just keep in mind, if Gray can love you in one universe, he can love you in any universe… even this one."

"Juvia supposes so," Juvia muttered, though she still felt discouraged. He didn't love her in any universe, as far as she knew. Edo-Gray loved Edo-Juvia. They were two completely different people.

"That's the spirit! Now, try to have a little fun!" Levy skipped into the belly of the party, disappearing amongst the raucous people.

Juvia walked up the path to Fairy Hills in the rain. Once she had been swept up into the party, she had some fun, but now that it was night, she remembered her gloom.

What is it about Edo-Juvia-chan that makes Edo-Gray-sama love her so much? In her room in Fairy Tail's girls' dormitory, Juvia was about to step into the shower when she stopped to examine herself in the mirror. All she'd heard about her Edolas counterpart was that she wore her hair in Juvia's old style, longer and curled up, she dressed in a different style of clothing, rejected Gray Surge, who wore many layers of clothes, and used a magic umbrella.

Juvia's already let her hair grow out and curled it up, but Gray-sama hasn't noticed. Juvia thought that it was Edo-Juvia's hairstyle that had attracted her Gray, but maybe it was more. And maybe he just didn't like the Earthland Juvia.

But what can Juvia do to earn Gray-sama's passionate gaze?

With a groan of frustration, Juvia slid into the shower, wishing she could wash her troubles away with the grime of the day. Let Gray's rejection fall down the drain: drip, drip, drop. But Gray's love isn't something that can be revealed simply by a good scrub, so Juvia sat under the spray of the water, her knees clutched to her chest and her head hanging.

There must be something more Juvia can do.

In his own room, in his apartment, Gray Fullbuster was trying to get to sleep, but couldn't. Giving up on rest, he decided to go out for a walk. It was still raining, but it seemed to be letting up just a little. He was wondering what had upset Juvia so much that she'd make it rain again, but he soon realized it couldn't be anything but him. He was all she seemed to care about, after all.

But what did I do? He thought. He remembered returning from Edolas and the party. He considered the chance that she may see Lisanna as yet another one of her "love rivals" but shook his head. Lisanna'd been all over Natsu or else with her siblings since they returned. There's no way Juvia could've seen anything between her and him that would seem threatening.

As he walked, he stumbled upon a tea shop, which was strangely open despite the late hour, and walked in. Any place that was cool enough to be open at one in the morning had his business. Inside, there was no cute- or floral-printed wallpaper or doilies or even exotic decorations to lure customers in with "authenticity," as many tea shops had. This tea shop was simple and relaxed.

"Good morning," the man behind the counter greeted him. "What can I get you?"

"Surprise me," Gray told him, taking a seat at the counter, and the man disappeared behind shelves of teas.

When the man returned, he had a bright blue case of leaves and took a whistling kettle off the fire, pouring it into a glass. "Sugar or honey?"

"Neither. I don't normally sweeten my tea," Gray told him.

"I know. I've got this talent for reading people, you see." The man glanced to his sides as if looking for witnesses, though they were alone, and leaned over to whisper, "I'm a mage, too. But don't let any of my other customers know that. My shop is popular for giving everyone just the tea they need if they leave the choice up to me. I always know just what people need. You, my friend, need to sweeten things up in your life. You attract more flies with honey than vinegar," he preached.

Gray grinned. "And why would I want to attract flies in the first place? Trust me, if you say I'm using vinegar, it seems attractive enough."

"Oh, I know you feel that way now, but a certain butterfly who likes your vinegar wishes you'd offer some honey." Ignoring Gray's earlier comment, the tea merchant squirted a generous amount of honey into the hot water and stirred it. "Besides, this tea in particular needs a little honey for anyone to enjoy its full flavor." He proceeded to open the blue tea tin and picked out a bag, which he deposited into the sweet water.

The merchant passed the cup to Gray, who watched the flavor spread. The light blue tendrils of color fell straight down from the bag, like sheets of rain, until they collected at the bottom. Gray took the tag at the end of the bag's string and gently steeped it, turning all the contents of the cup light blue.

"I've never seen blue tea before," Gray specualted. "What's this flavor called?"

"It's called Azure."

Gray shrugged and took a gulp of the hot liquid. It didn't taste as sweet as he'd expected from all the honey that'd been put in, but this was a good thing. Just sweet enough, because any more would be too much for Gray's liking. Besides that, the flavor of the tea itself was subtle but distinct. It tasted like Gray would imagine springtime would if all the pleasant flavors of the season could be bottled. There were flowers, raindrops, leaves, dew, and the snow of receding winter. "Wow, that's good."

The merchant nodded. "So, what are you doing out so late? And in this gloomy rain, too?"

"Hey, don't knock the rain. Some people find it nice… not gloomy at all." Gray's face hardened and he turned from the merchant, but with a deep breath, he melted again and stared into his blue cup. It was the nearly the exact color of Juvia's hair. Thinking of Juvia's hair, Gray wondered why she'd suddenly decided to go back to her old style. He rather liked the short and spikey cut with her blue and white outfit over the curled up do and heavy, dark ensemble.

"Having girl issues?" the mage merchant asked.

"You already know all about that, don't you, mage? That's why you picked this tea for me," Gray said back to him.

Nodding, the merchant advised Gray, "Yes, I know all about this girl. Now, I wouldn't be offended if you chose not to pay me any mind, but my advice to you would be to get a move on before she gets any bright ideas."

Gray, who'd been sipping the rain tea, Azure, nearly did a spit take when he heard this, but forced himself to swallow. "What do you mean? What is Juvia going to do?"

The man shook his head with a sad smile and slid Gray's empty cup away, tossing the bag and rinsing the glass.

"Tell me what you know!" Gray insisted.

"Listen," the merchant said gently, "I don't know any more of the future than you do. That isn't my magic. But I do have a bit more experience with a bit larger variety of people than you, and I know that girls like this one just want to be loved and are prone to taking drastic measures… like changing their hair, for example. Or more."

Gray scoffed. He was sure this guy knew more, but he wouldn't press it. He was a nice guy, after all. Gray stood from the stool and announced, "I think I'll just head home. How much for the tea?"

"One hundred fifty jewels," the merchant said, and pocketed Gray's money as the ice mage walked out into the misty air.

He didn't know if this meant Juvia'd gotten over whatever was bothering her or just wasn't sad or angry enough for it to rain anymore, but he walked through the thick, humid night air back to his apartment.

Finally, around three in the morning, Gray managed to fall asleep, hoping Juvia wouldn't get any "bright ideas," as the tea merchant had called it.

Juvia woke up as the sun reached through her window at Fairy Hills. No more rain clouds were there to block it out, because Juvia was inspired in the night. The Rain Woman sat up quickly, eyes wide open and a smile spreading across her face. That's it!