... Love is too hard.

Honestly, Gajeel thought he was screwed.

Like, seriously.

Heck, he was facing Jose and Deliora. The guy he'd run away from, and the lady whose potion had given him duck feet. And was also probably mad at him. He'd broken into her house, after all.

I mean, if someone broke into your house and stole your stuff, you'd be pretty ticked off too, right?

So Gajeel was screwed.

We've established this.

Especially now that Jose was charging at him with the trident, sharp deadly points only a few seconds away from his body, Deliora was throwing her disgusting potion at him, and – oh, wait, he'd probably better run now.

Gajeel spun around and actually managed to sprint halfway down the hallway before realizing that

A) He was Gajeel Redfox, and

B) Gajeel Redfox did not run away. Ever.

Which was why he turned back around, dodged Jose's trident, and actually managed to sink a fist into the mermaid king's stomach. Hard.

All the air went out of Jose's lungs with a whoosh, which was kinda funny, really, seeing as he didn't actually need to breathe. Half-fish, and all.

Wait a second, half-fish? Whoa, wait – what the heck was a MERMAID doing on LAND in the first place?!

Gajeel's brain had just registered this very important fact when he accidentally stepped on Deliora's spilled potion and slipped. Very dramatically, in fact. So much that he smashed face-first into Deliora herself, who screamed and went down with him.

"I HATE YOUR KID!" she howled at Jose, who did not respond. Mostly because he was busy lifting up his trident, ready to spike both Gajeel and Deliora, together.

(Hey, he was a Villain – nobody ever said those guys liked each other.)

Gajeel's jaw dropped as the trident came down, his brain unable to process the fact that Jose could be this gosh darned crazy.

Luckily for him, Levy McGarden shot out of nowhere, screaming like a deranged ninja.

"HHHYYYYYYAAAAAAA!"

"What the – " was all Jose could say before she landed a flying kick onto him, slamming him into the wall. He slumped to the ground, unconscious, as Gajeel stared.

"Shrimp?"

"DIE, YOU UGLY OCTOPUS!" she screamed, stomping on Deliora, who squealed like a little girl. Gajeel leaped to his feet as quickly as possible. He didn't quite get what was going on, but something in him recognized that he should probably clear out before Levy accidentally kicked his behind too.

Because, you know, that could probably hurt. A lot.

So basically, Gajeel watched as Levy McGarden destroyed the bad guys.

He had never seen anything so amazing in his life.

He could only stare as she finished, spun around, pushed the hair out of her eyes, and demanded, "What?"

Gajeel said the first thing that popped into his head. "Please marry me."

"What?"

He caught himself. "What? Oh, uh, no! I meant… Who the heck are you?"

Levy, however, was not convinced. "Did you just propose to me?"

"No!"

"You did."

"I did no such thing."

"You did, I heard you, and you're lying."

Gajeel was now very desperate to be somewhere else. Anywhere else, for that matter.

"I think you're dreaming," he said unconvincingly.

Levy glared at him. "I think you're lying."

"I didn't propose to you!"

"Oh, um, okay," a voice said from the end of the hall, sounding very awkward. "Are we uh, interrupting something?"

Gajeel and Levy looked up from their very productive argument to see Sting, Rogue, and Yukino staring at them.

An awkward silence ensued.

"Ooookay," Sting finally said. "I'm leaving."

To which, of course, everyone immediately agreed with. They started moving out.

But right before Gajeel could take a single step, Levy breezed by, whispering something in his ear. And his face turned bright red for the first time in however many years.

"Okay. Sure."

xXx

Gray was getting married.

Okay, so he had no idea why exactly he was getting married, or who he was getting married to, but there were flowers, and lots of guests, and he was wearing a really uncomfortable suit, and there was a lady in a white dress walking toward him with a bouquet of flowers, so he decided to just assume he was getting married and be done with it.

The lady didn't look familiar at all, which was really kind of strange considering the fact that Gray was supposed to be marrying her, but he decided that maybe Natsu had spiked the punch or something and he was just kinda out of it. So he smiled, and gritted his teeth, and tried to ignore how itchy his suit was while the priest said some marriage stuff.

"Do you, Deliora, take this man, Gray Fullbuster to be your lawfully wedded…"

Deliora? That name sounds really familiar…

Oh well, it probably wasn't all that important anyway.

The lady next to him smiled and said all her I do's and everything, and then it was his turn. But somehow, the words caught in his throat, so he just shrugged and nodded.

Apparently, this was good enough for the priest, who continued on as if he'd actually spoken. But then, when he got to the objections part…

"JUVIA OBJECTS TO THIS MARRIAGE!"

Gray probably leaped about a foot into the air. So did Deliora.

And then he was tackled by something with blue hair, which really didn't help too much with the shock. The thing wailed, "GRAY-SAMA IS MINE, YOU SEA WITCH!" That didn't make too much sense until he got a closer look.

"Juvia? What're you doing here?!"

She stared at him, blue eyes wide, and shouted, "Gray-sama has to wake up! NOW!"

"Wake up?" Gray asked, utterly confused. "I'm not…"

At which point, he realized something very important.

What the heck am I doing here?

Seriously. Why in the world was he in the middle of a crowded church, wearing a illegally itchy shirt, and about to marry some lady named Deliora when he was supposed to be…

Sweet cupcakes. The Book!

And that was really all it took for Gray Fullbuster to snap out of it and wake up.

He was lying in an old, dusty room, which made absolutely no sense whatsoever. How the heck had he managed to fall asleep? What had happened? And – why the heck was Juvia in a fish tank and staring at him with a fish tail?!

"I'm not dreaming again, am I?" he asked, dazed.

Juvia shook her head. She looked… incredibly sad. "Gray-sama is perfectly awake. This… This is Juvia's true form."

Gray's jaw dropped. "You're a mermaid."

She nodded.

"You… You're a mermaid."

"Yes."

"You were a human."

"Yes. Juvia made a deal with a certain sea-witch, and…"

"How come you never – wait a sec. You're… talking."

Juvia nodded, biting her lip. "Juvia gave her voice in return for becoming a human, but Deliora broke her promise. Juvia lost her legs. And… And if Juvia doesn't fulfill the other requirement... She will lose her freedom."

Gray's brain was barely keeping up with this. "Whoa, wait. So you're a mermaid. That still doesn't explain why I was passed out on the floor."

Juvia blinked. "Gray-sama doesn't remember being hit on the head by Deliora when he tried to enter this room?"

… Ah. That would explain why his head hurt so much.

"So," he said, staring at her. "You're a mermaid."

"Yes. Juvia thought that this had already been established."

"What's the other requirement you need to stay human?"

Strangely, Juvia blushed. "Oh. I-It's nothing!"

Gray cocked his head to the side. "Now I'm curious. Seriously, it can't be that bad, can it?"

Staring at the floor, Juvia mumbled something incoherent.

"What?"

Her face turned deep crimson. "Juvia… Juvia needs a kiss. From Gray-sama."

It took Gray about two minutes of staring to register this.

"What?"

Juvia repeated her earlier statement, turning even redder.

"Oh." Gray fidgeted. "Well… Juvia, I mean, I really would, but… I'm in love with somebody already."

Juvia's face fell. "You… You are?"

"Yeah. See, there was this girl the other day, and she saved me from drowning, and she had the most amazing voice…"

"That was Juvia!"

Gray looked up, blinking. "What?"

"That was Juvia! Juvia saved Gray-sama! Listen!"

And, much to Gray's eternal shock, Juvia closed her eyes and began to sing.

In the exact voice and the exact song of the girl who'd rescued him.

Gray's jaw hit the ground. "No."

Juvia continued singing.

"Unbelievable."

She continued singing.

"That… it… It can't be!"

Juvia gave a tiny smile and nodded.

At this point, Gray's brain had had too many shocks to work anymore, so his body took over.

At least, that's what he told himself.

Because really, there was no explanation except that for what he did next – went over to the fish tank, pulled her up, and kissed her.

Juvia fainted from sheer joy.

And, in another corner of the Villains' hideout, the Book began glowing yet again…

HELLO WONDERFUL PEOPLE.

I HAVE NO WORDS FOR HOW LATE THIS UPDATE IS, SO I WON'T EVEN TALK ABOUT IT.

BECAUSE I HAVE SOME NEWS FOR YOU ALL.

So, I entered my novel (you know, the thing I was working on, my little project) in Inkitt's Skybound contest.

And if I win this thing, I'll ACTUALLY GET PUBLISHED.

So, if you have five minutes to spare, could any of you please, please, please go over there and check it out, and if you like it, please, please, PLEASE click on that little heart there and vote for it?

It's right here: inkitt ..com(slash) stories/40876 (take out the spaces and remove the extra dot and add the slash. EDIT: I had to get very creative to get this link to show up.)

SO PLEASE, IT'LL ONLY TAKE A COUPLE MINUTES, AND IT MEANS THE ENTIRE WORLD TO ME, SO IF YOU CARE ABOUT MY WRITING AT ALL, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE HELP ME OUT.

Anyway.

Review replies coming up ASAP, but I just wanted to get this chapter out now, so yeah.

Water, out