Erza's taking a mission at Crime Sorciere, going after the man she thought she always wanted. Is she leaving behind the man she thought she'd always have?
Natsu has friend-zoned himself, leaving Lucy and Lisanna in the lurch. He'd rather avoid them both than risk being a two-timer like Gray.
Gray (not actually a two-timer) just can't seem to catch a break. Maybe he just wasn't meant for romantic happiness. Or maybe it's time for a new direction.
Mira's stuck in the past, unable to accept that Laxus has his sights set elsewhere. Freed's never, never giving up on her, even if that means a broken heart.
Juvia's having second thoughts about Gray, but Lyon's ready to call it quits. Can she get her feelings sorted out in time, or will she be left with nothing?
And Toby's dating Jenny Realight. The Jenny Realight. Wait, what?!

Something's gotta give.

This is the Mazeverse series, a post-Tenrou AU where we put your ships in a blender and beat 'til smooth. Lyvia, Gruvia, Jerza, Grayza, Nalu, Nali, Lolu, Graylu, Bixanna, Gale, ElfEver, Miraxus, Laxana, MiraFreed as well as a handful of crackships and rare-pairs as we try to pair the spares. This is the Mazeverse. No ship is safe ;)

Happy Friday! This is it, you guys. This is the big one. :)

This fic resolves the ongoing Lyvia-Gruvia subplot for this universe. This was a really hard one for me to do. I wasn't quite sure how to do justice to each character's arc, so I ended up completely rewriting this story... three whole times. So hopefully you guys like it.

If you're new to Mazeverse, no problem. You may have to suspend disbelief and take some things at face value. (It's a what-if AU. I'm so far down the what-if rabbit hole that some things have gotten to be very different from canon. Just like how Edolas was the same, but different.) You've been warned. ;P

Long time readers have probably learned not to make assumptions about where this is going to go. I've been known to mercilessly set up a deck with foregone conclusions and then dropping a reverse card on it. (Uno! XD) I think the surprise is part of the fun. But if you're the sort of reader who only wants to read certain ships and you don't like surprises, I've got you covered! :) See Anniversary: Special, Just Because, chapter 6. (Obviously, if you don't want spoilers, don't look. :))

- K. Chandler

It was too quiet.

It had been two weeks since Erza had left. She was somewhere far away, with that idiot Jellal and his ridiculous band of convicts. Crime Sorciere HQ. Wherever that was.

Gray, on the other hand, was here. In the guild. Alone. And bored out of his freaking skull.

It didn't help that Natsu and Happy were out too. He heard from Mira that they had signed up for a whole bunch of solo jobs. They hadn't even said anything before they left! Natsu was scatterbrained on the best of days, and he probably didn't mean anything by it. Still, it bothered Gray that his rival would just up and leave without saying a word. Even more surprising, they hadn't taken Lucy with them. Gray had thought that Lucy and the Flame Brain were inseparable.

Lucy had taken a job with Levy and her team. Her rent was due next week, and she was still short a few thousand Jewels. The girls had invited him to tag along, but Gray had begged off. Of course, that had set Lucy off, as she told him to quit 'moping'. Obviously, he really hadn't wanted to go at that point.

Sighing, Gray let his heavy head drop to his arms. He totally wasn't moping. He just hadn't been feeling very sociable lately. Gray wasn't sure what had brought on his dark mood, but it had left him feeling lethargic and restless at the same time.

He was starting to regret not going with them. Not that he had the energy to actually have gone. Gray sighed again.

Idly, he wondered if it would be out of line to pick a fight with Elfman. Mira probably wouldn't appreciate that. Gray had expected things to be crazier with Erza away, but Mira had been running a surprisingly tight ship. With the wilder members of their guild out, it wasn't too difficult keeping the rest of them in line. Mira would break any fight up in a heartbeat. Okay, that idea was officially out. Gray shuddered. Mira could be pretty scary. They didn't call her the She-Devil for nothing.

He looked up when he heard someone calling his name.

Juvia Lockser beamed at him across the table. Gray pushed aside his habitual wariness, reminding himself to be polite. His bad mood was not her fault. And just because she was exhausting didn't make it okay to lash out at her.

Gray plastered a friendly smile on his face. "Hey, Juvia! What's up?"

"You looked bored," she said simply.

She didn't know the half of it…

Gray chuckled. "You've got that one right. Has Fairy Tail ever been so quiet?" he asked.

"Sometimes." Juvia shrugged. "Things are less exciting when Gray is out with Natsu and the girls."

The corners of Gray's mouth twitched with amusement. He hadn't missed the way Juvia had carefully folded her hands in her lap. She had certainly mellowed lately. She could be pretty fun to be around when she wasn't so overwhelming and grabby all the time. It was sort of nice.

"And what do you usually do when I'm out with my team?" asked Gray.

"I talk with Gajee."

That made Gray pause. Not the fact that Juvia spent time with the Iron Dragon Slayer—that was no surprise. They had been friends since her Phantom Lord days, after all. It was that she hadn't referred to herself in the third person. She seemed to be doing less of that these days. But he was probably reading too much into it.

"Too bad he's not here right now," said Gray.

Gajeel. Now, he'd be an interesting one to fight, and Gray was just antsy enough to try it. Not that it was a good idea, exactly. Normally it'd be no big deal, but he was off his game today. The Iron Dragon-Slayer would probably end up wiping the floor with him. But it would be fun to see how long he would last before Gajeel crushed his skull. That didn't sound like a bad way to go, actually. And it would have been way better than just sitting around.

Gray shook the morbid thought from his head. What was with him today? He couldn't really be that upset about… no, he wasn't going to go there.

"I was feeling pretty bored too. Mira suggested that I take a job," said Juvia. She brought her wrists up to rest on the table, revealing the piece of paper she had clasped in her hands. "I thought I'd ask if you wanted to come along."

Gray hesitated. "It's not a hundred-year quest is it?" he asked warily.

"I picked an easy one. It probably won't take more than a day or two," Juvia reassured him.

Gray regarded the Water Mage carefully. There was a time when he would have declined without a second thought. Of course, that was back when Juvia would have thrown herself at him and followed him around Magnolia like a lost puppy.

But at the moment, Juvia wasn't in full-on fangirl mode. If anything, she seemed perfectly calm and completely composed. So really, there was no reason not to consider it, at the very least.

"Lemme see," he said. He waved for her to hand over the paper.

Juvia slid it across the table, the slightest sparkle of hope in her eyes.

Gray's eyes raked across the text briefly. It was a path clearing job. All they would need to do was follow the East Forest Path from Onibus to Hargeon, clearing the trail of any monsters they found. Seemed simple enough. Probably wouldn't take more than a day or two, if that.

He shrugged. "Sure. Why not?" Gray said.

It wasn't like he had anything else planned. And it would be better than sitting around here, for sure. Hopefully there'd be a good fight or two for him to vent his pent-up frustrations.

Juvia's face lit up. "Then Juvia—that is, I—will meet you at the train station in an hour."

Gray comes off as being kind of whiny at the beginning, but the poor guy's had a disappointing couple of weeks.

Then there's Juvia. She's still got the flippy pronouns thing going on, but she's come such a long way since the start of this story.

And, yes, in my headcanon, Juvia and Gajeel are definitely BroTP. While I don't recall specific instances of this in the anime (if anything, the anime-only Starry Heavens arc pointed towards the opposite), but I kind of, really want them to be friends. Actually, in some other universe, I'd even consider shipping them.

Eek! Yes, I know. This is the wrong place to say that. (lolz.) Half of you are here to see Juvia get with Gray; the other half are here to see her get with Lyon; and a select few brought popcorn and just want to see fireworks. But just bear with me for a sec. (I promise Gajeel isn't in the running in this 'verse. I already endgamed him with Levy.) If they were OCs, and not Fairy Tail (TM) characters, I might ship them. I think Gajeel's archetype and Juvia's archetype and shared narrative backstory have a lot of potential for romance. It'd just have to be an AU setting or another canon-divergence universe. And here's the best part: (almost) nobody's writing for them. Not hard to be original when you're the only one!~ XD

Alright. Enough of that. :)

Next time, in [Mazeverse] The Beginning, The End, and Everything in Between, Fairy Tail meets Lamia Scale. "Gray and I are on a job," she said with an eager smile. | "Oh. Is that right?" asked Lyon. Then he turned to look at Sherry. "So are we."

Stop back next Friday for the next installment, or just follow me, Karine of R011ingThunder.