Summer Camp [] Fairy Tail vacation

thirty two

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laxus stood beside her and made her look at him. "it wont help them return if you keep blaming yourself. how about we get the other members and have some dinner to keep our minds distracted. okay?"

"okay."
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jellal trudged through the forest alongside erza who rambled about possible theories about the forest. he didn't mind it though. in fact, jellal found it quite cute whenever erza was talkative. normally, she was very reserved and kept to herself. the sun had already set and the moon was out. if it wasn't the size of a volleyball, it would have been difficult to see through the dense trees.

"are you sure we're going the right way?" he asked, turning his head to erza. she heaved a sigh. "alright, call me crazy but something in me is telling me to go here. it's like, this nagging feeling that's hard to ignore. i'm just hoping that it's not leading us to our doom.." as an attempt to comfort her, jellal laced his fingers through hers, using his other arm to hold up juvia who was still unconscious. "i hope we get back soon. i don't know how much longer juvia will be able to last. we need to get her to wendy asap." "agreed."

after some walking, something moved in the bushes. the two mages stopped and let go of each other's hand, their bodies in full alert. "who's there? show yourself!" erza declared, though her voice wavered a little. when no reply came, she unsheathed her sword. "i'm warning you." "please don't kill us!" three voices said in unison, running out of the dense bushes.

"natsu? lucy? gray? happy?"

"erza? jellal?"

the five mages looked at each other incredulously, probably in disbelief that they were all together. gray's eyes noticed juvia on jellal's back.

"juvia..? IS SHE OKAY? IS SHE HURT? WHY IS SHE UNCONSCIOUS?"

"gray calm down.." lucy said, placing her hand on his shoulder. gray looked at jellal with pleading eyes. "can i?" jellal gently placed the bluenette on the the grass as gray proceeded to kneel beside her. "what happened?" he asked, staring at the shirt wrapped around her leg. "she was attacked by.. some kind of creature. i have no idea what it was. i was able to slay it easily but not before it could land a blow on her," erza sighed, guilt laced in her tone.

jellal wrapped an arm around her shoulders, shivering when a gust of cold wind his bare chest. unintentionally, erza leaned into him.

"um.. sorry to break this sad moment but we should get going. the sooner we get back, the better." "natsu's right," lucy agreed. "yes, you're right. i'm sorry."

jellal moved towards juvia but gray stopped him and picked her up into his arms. "i'll carry her." happy flew towards natsu and lucy, placing himself onto natsu's head. all five mages began to walk, gray carrying juvia over his shoulder. it wasn't hard, considering that she was as tall as wendy. she shifted a bit, making gray look back at her, but her eyes remained closed. he sighed and looked up at the small patches of sky that shone through the trees.

if there was any sort of god out there, gray prayed for juvia to wake up and go back to her normal self. because honestly, he missed it.