AN: I'm glad that I wasn't the only one who laughed while the Boss had his ass kicked! Anyways, here's the last chapter! I hope you enjoy it!

Chapter Nine – The Beginning of the End

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"This time, this place,
Misused, mistakes
Too long, too late
Who was I to make you wait?
Just one chance, just one breath
Just in case there's just one left"

Nickelback – Far Away

#

"Someone tell me what the hell is going on?" Gajeel, followed by Jet, Droy, Levy and Lily walked inside the Hospital of Hestire where their Guild mates were waiting for news about Juvia for about half an hour – a doctor was tending to her wounds. "Jet comes to get me because someone abducted Juvia and when I arrive in Magnolia, Short Stuff here" he points at the petit blunette, who was staying by his side. "says that Juvia is getting sold? What the hell?"

"Shh." A nurse shushed the tall man, who just ignored the woman.

"Where is she?" Gajeel asked the people in the room.

"Safe." Erza answered the red eyed man. "There's a doctor with her now. But we arrived before those bastards sold her and the other girls."

Gajeel gritted his teeth and his hands turned into fists. "So it's true: they were going to sell her."

"Yes." The Titania nodded and the Dragon Slayer wanted to kick or punch something or someone; he was so angry with everything at the moment. He was no angel; he got Lucy to return her to her father, not to sell her to some creep.

Gajeel, then, noticed that Gray was further away from the rest, looking straight to the hallway, looking more eager to receive news than the rest – not that their nakama weren't concerned, but Gray seemed more restless than the others –, so, the Iron Dragon Slayer walked towards the Ice Mage and when was close enough, saw that the other man's knuckles bruised.

Out of earshot from the others – except Natsu and Laxus, of course –, Gajeel spoke to the slightly shorter man:

"Tell me." The Dragon Slayer wasn't blind and by what Levy told him, Gray became stressed when they caught the stress signal from Juvia; and it was as clear as it could be, that the man was troubled by the situation.

Gray looked at Gajeel, his expression was dark. "There was this guy. He…" The Ice Mage took a deep breath to calm himself down. "He hurt Juvia. Touched her and was going to sell her. I took care of him, after she did, of course."

The Dragon Slayer's blood boiled with Gray's words; his best friend was… "Did you kill him?"

"No."

"Good, I want a piece of that son of a bitch." Gajeel said darkly. "How was she when you found her?"

"I've never seen her like that." Gray returned his gaze towards the hallway. "After all this time, I never saw her like that before."

And that was saying something, Gajeel thought; they went through hell and back while in Fairy Tail and most of the times, Gray was beside Juvia and if he hadn't seen her in such a state, the Dragon Slayer dreaded to think of how his friend was.

"Where is he?" Gajeel didn't need to say who 'he' was, Gray already knew.

"Here at the hospital. Juvia had already done some damage when we arrived, I just finished the job." The Ice Mage said. "He's down the hall." The man was going to point the room to Gajeel – as far as he was concerned, the Boss would love to meet Juvia's best friend after meeting her… boyfriend. (He was a boy and a friend) –, but his attention diverted when the doctor whom he gave Juvia to started to walk towards the waiting room.

"Relatives of Juvia Lockser?" The doctor was young, dark curly hair, slim figure and green narrow eyes.

"Here." Gray said at the same time that every other person in the room did the same. The woman raised an eyebrow.

"Well, I remember you." The doctor looked at Gray then stared at the others. "The rest of you…"

"We're her family." Erza said, showing her guild mark to the dark haired woman. Lucy raised her hand, also showing the mark and everyone who could share it, did it.

"I see." The woman nodded. "From what I could gather, she is one of the girls that were rescued from the bastards who intended to sell them, right? News travel fast."

"How is she?" Gray asked, anxious, Gajeel right by his side.

"Miss Lockser is going to be fine; her ribs are bruised, not broken, and she's exhausted, but beyond that, all the bruises are going to heal just fine. Especially if that Dragon Slayer you guys have at your Guild takes care of her: miss Wendy Marvell is famous amongst doctors." Everyone let out a sigh in relief. "We also were instructed to see if there was any sexual assault in all the girls, but she wasn't assaulted."

The relief washed over Gray so hard that he felt light headed for a moment. "When can we see her?"

"She's asleep, so I can only allow one person right now, but when she's up, you all can visit her, she'll probably wake up soon." She said and all the eyes went to Gray.

"Go, Gray. She'll want to see you when she wakes up." Lucy told him sweetly, by Natsu's side as the others nodded in agreement.

'Oh, fuck it.' The Ice Mage thought. He couldn't hide how much of a mess he was from his friends and to tell the truth, he hated that half an hour he couldn't see her.

"I'll go." Gray stepped forwards, but before following the doctor, Gajeel grabbed the Ice Mage's shoulder, and leaned in.

"Where is he?" Gajeel asked in a whisper, and the only people who could hear him wouldn't lift a finger to prevent the Dragon Slayer to go after the Boss.

"Third door on the left." Gray whispered back; he saw some policemen bring the bastard in. Gajeel knew the 'non-killing' thing from Fairy Tail, but that didn't mean that the Boss couldn't meet death's worse sister: so-much-pain-I-wish-I-was-dead. Turning to the doctor, Gray nodded, telling her that he was ready to go to Juvia's room. "The other girls… They are yet to contact their families. Could you tell me how they are? Juvia will like to know about them when she wakes up."

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Juvia opened her eyes and quickly sat; looking around, scared and then felt a pair of hands hold her shoulders lightly.

"Wow, calm down, Juvia." Gray said softly and the blunette stared at him, confused. Was she dreaming? Usually when she dreamt of her Gray-sama, they were more intimate than that. "Do you know where you are? What happened?"

"What happened?" She tilted her head to the side, frowning and then it all came back to her. The kidnapping. The Boss. Touching. Rissa. The girls. Gray-sama there… "Oh, god. Gray-sama!" She didn't care if he was going to reject her: the young woman wrapped her arms around his shoulders and hugged him as hard as she could. "You came. You really…" Her eyes watered and she felt him hug her right back and never felt better – her aching muscles barely processing in her mind –, his warmth surrounding her like a warm blanket. "For a moment Juvia thought that she would never see you again." The blunette whispered.

"Yeah, me too." The Ice Mage whispered right back. "But I promised to get you, didn't I?"

"You did." Juvia hugged him tighter, both staying like that for a few moments, just enjoying the safety.

Juvia, impressively, was the first to break their contact, pulling Gray away from her (even if she didn't want to). "The other girls. Where…? Are they…?"

"They were rescued as well." The man reassured her. "Aside from a few bruising and a little dehydration, they will be fine."

"And… and Rissa?" Juvia whispered and when she saw confusion on Gray's expression, she clarified. "The girl who was in the room with Juvia and… The Boss."

The man looked sympathetic. "She was dead when we arrived, Juvia." The blunette started to cry, and this time it was Gray who brought her closer to him, hugging the girl while she cried on his chest. "I'm sorry." He said it over and over again, while petting her hair, not knowing exactly what to do.

"She died because she helped us." The Water Mage said after a few minutes of crying. "Without her Juvia wouldn't have been able to use the Lachryma to contact you."

"I am sorry." Gray told her once again, and he really was sorry; Juvia didn't deserve to feel guilty about the girl's death, but if he knew the blunette, she was already blaming herself. "It was that bastard's fault, not yours." Juvia nodded, but Gray knew that only words wouldn't make her believe, so, he tried to lighten up the mood. "The guys are outside. Are you okay with seeing them?"

Apparently, that was the right thing to say, because the tears stopped and she, reluctantly, let him go and offered a small and hesitant smile. She touched her hair, trying to arrange it better. "Is Juvia looking too bad?"

Gray took in her appearance; wearing a hospital gown, she looked tiny and fragile with her eyes red and puffy from crying, the black eye and cut on her lip contrasted with her white skin. But she didn't look bad.

She looked like a survivor who fought for her life and won.

"You look fine." Gray told her and Juvia told him that she would love to see her friends. He nodded and went to fetch them.

There were many hugs and crying from the girls' side, while the man stood in a safe distance to not get caught in the middle of so much hugging. Gajeel wasn't present when their guild mates went to see Juvia, appearing almost fifteen minutes later.

Gray, who was by the door, looking it all from afar, saw the man slip inside the room, and seeing the Dragon Slayer's expression, asked: "Did you introduce yourself?"

"Yeah." Gajeel nodded, staring straight at Juvia's direction and gritting his teeth. "If I had known that she looked like that, I would've done worse. That sadist son of a bitch didn't get as half as he needed. And he kept saying…"

"What did he say?" Gray frowned.

"That wasn't over for her." Gajeel pointed towards Juvia with his chin and a chill ran up into Gray's spine: the last time he felt that, Juvia was kidnapped, but this time he could see her talking to their friends, safe and sound. "I have no idea of what that bastard was talking about, Gray, but I didn't like it. His eyes were glowing with happiness, even though he knew she is safe now." The Dragon Slayer said to the Ice Mage. "I don't like this. Something else is happening and the bastard won't say what, I saw in his eyes."

"She is fine." Gray told the Dragon Slayer. "And I'll make sure she stays fine."

"We better." The red eyed man offered Gray a look and then walked towards the blunette girl. "Hey, Ame-onna! I leave you for five minutes and you uncover a whole people traffic ring? What the hell?"

Gray saw Juvia laugh and grab Gajeel for a quick hug, but the words Gajeel told him, kept replaying in his mind. But it was over. It had to be over.

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After about an hour, visit hours were over and their friends needed to leave. One of the nurses told them that her mother owned an inn that was almost empty, and they could stay there for the night. After saying their good-byes, everyone left, except for Gray: he was authorized to stay and the Ice Mage wasn't going to tell the blunette that he let the nurses believe that he was Juvia's boyfriend so he could stay during the night.

He just couldn't leave her side just yet, not when he just got her back. Gray couldn't say what that feeling was, but leaving the Water Mage would just worsen the situation.

"Go to the inn, Gray-sama." Juvia said quietly after a while and the man shook his head. "That chair doesn't look very comfortable."

"No. I'm staying the night." He shrugged and patted the chair. "It's not as bad as you think."

"Juvia's sure it isn't." She chuckled and then groaned lightly because of the pain in her ribs and Gray's dark eyes roamed over her body, wondering if the nurse was needed, but when saw that it wasn't necessary, relaxed. "Go stay at the inn with the others; Juvia is safe here."

"I know." Gray didn't move from his new acclaimed chair; he chose not to tell that a few meters away from her room, the Boss was being tended, even if there were guards by his door now. They were in silence for a few moments before Juvia tried to kick him out once more, he just couldn't take it. "Dammit, Juvia! I am not going away from you. The last time I did, you ended up in some forsaken town ready to go to auction and beaten up. You can bitch as much as you want: I am staying here." The Water Mage was surprised with his outburst. Gray crossed his arms over his chest and closed his eyes, like he was trying to sleep, but both knew that he was fooling no one.

Silence fell once again for a few minutes, before the blunette spoke, softly: "Gray-sama knows that… none of this is his fault, right?" The man scoffed without opening his eyes. "No, really: it's not."

"Juvia," The Ice Mage opened his eyes, many feelings on them. "You asked me to go with you…"

"Juvia always does that…" The blunette said.

"…and I said 'no.'" Gray finished;

"Like you always do." Juvia said, kindly. "That's our thing, Gray-sama."

"Sometimes I tag along." The dark haired man pointed out.

"Yes." The blunette agreed.

"And when you needed me to go with you…" Guilty was evident in the man's expression, making Juvia feel bad for him.

"You had no way of knowing what was going to happen, Gray-sama." She said, trying to soothe the man. "It's not your fault."

"You are covered in bruises, Juvia. You were beaten and god knows what else and if I had gone with you, nothing of it would've happen." Gray had his hands on fists, trying to control his anger and then, he opened them. Juvia saw Gray hide his face on his hands, sighing and breathing heavily.

"It's true, it was pretty awful." She said after a while. "Juvia will probably feel terrible for a long time, but it'll pass." Gray removed his face from his hands to stare at her. "But… as awful as it was, Juvia would go through it again."

The man was confused, why on earth would she want to go through it again? "What are you…?"

"Yes, Juvia was caught, beaten; but she was also saved. And because Fairy Tail went after her, those girls would've been sold and the council would never know about the Mage Auctions. Juvia likes to think that the moment she was caught, she helped save the thirteen girls that were there." The blunette talked softly. "She regrets putting Rissa in harm's way and she'll always carry that weight, but… Those girls can go home again. Juvia can go home again."

Gray thought about it for a few moments, and sighed. She was right, of course: her being taken turned out to be the passport for the girls to be found and released. It didn't matter, though: he was supposed to take care of her. It was an instinct he have been developing in a while and appeared with total force after the kidnapping.

"It's true. But I'm sleeping here anyways." He shrugged and tried to find a good position to sleep

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In the next day, Juvia was discharged; the doctor said that it was better for her to go home, what she really needed was to have plenty of rest so she could heal – and not to strain herself with heavy things for about two weeks, so her ribs could heal better –, but before leaving the blunette asked to see the rest of the girls.

Gray, of course, went with her, helping her to be on her feet – she had a pretty awful bruise on her thigh – and, during the last visit, he met a woman with dirty blonde hair called Laura Birdsong, who, when saw Juvia, run towards the blunette, enveloping the woman in a tight hug.

"Thank you." The blonde kept repeating it and Juvia just hugged her back. "I doubted it for a few moments, but you really delivered… They came to save us."

"Like Juvia said they would." The Water Mage smiled softly and then lost it, her eyes watering. "Juvia is so sorry about Rissa."

"I know." Laura took the blunette's hands. "I am feeling terribly guilty."

"Me too." The Water Mage said, sighing. "When you hear from her family, would you let Juvia know? She wants to…"

"Yeah, me too." The blonde looked sad for a moment, before saying, trying to lighten the mood: "Who's the hottie?" Laura asked, and for the first time, Juvia didn't get mad at another woman for thinking that Gray was handsome, instead, she laughed through tears.

"That's Gray-sama."

"Gray Fullbuster." The Ice Mage offered a hand to the blonde, who took it.

"Laura Birdsong." She answered and then looked to Juvia. "When you said he was handsome, I thought you were sugar coating the truth, but I can see that you were not."

Juvia giggled and then removed Laura's hands from a blushing Gray. "Well, this one is not available."

"Too bad." Laura sighed in fake pity.

Gray cleared his throat. "Juvia, sorry, but we have a train to catch…"

The blonde hugged the Water Mage again. "Keep strong, Juvia. I'll write you."

"Please, do." The blunette said and then stepped away from the blonde woman. "Good luck."

"You too. And thank you again." Laura smiled, turning to Gray, she said: "You, pretty boy, take care of her."

Juvia blushed, and so did Gray, but he muttered an 'I will' before turning away to leave, with Juvia by his side. The words the Boss said to Gajeel still haunting him, but he promised to keep her safe from then on, and he would keep it, no matter what it took.

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AN: So, there we go, this one is finally finished! How did you like it? :D Crappy ending? Nice? Not nice?

I'd like to thank: Ississ-Perok, Ariel Tran, Chibi Waru-chan, cdaqtcherry, BrigitteoO, ProjXPsyClone, YamixTeaLover, Summer Éclair, Dark Hope, Mrs Murasaki-sama, superduperizee, SeptemberGurl, LyonAndJuviaForever, Rachy Writes, babypapaya, Simlop, otaku03, mgaa, seirin, MysteryGruvia, DoomedToBeAFanGirlForever, Sarapyon, heavenlyyui, MariFive, Duchess K, Medaka-chan, Theejay-sama, MrsGooglyBear, Guest, Yukistar, PandaGirl, Esthellar, heather XD, TheLittleKittyMeows, Kimberlouxxx and Pocket x Carwyn, for the reviews last chapter! And I also would like to thank all the faves and alerts, and readers who just pass by: whether you left a review or not, thank you either way for accompanying me during this fanfiction! I love you and thanks for the support!

09/17/2013 ~ BonneyQ

To Be Continued in "Much Stronger Than Forever"