The Tale of Tales

Chapter 43

Now Minerva's mirror had the power speak the truth but it also could project illusions. To feed Minerva's vanity it always projected an illusion of herself looking young and beautiful instead of her true reflection whenever she looked into it. So when Minerva returned to her private room and looked into the mirror she did not see her true reflection as a hideous old hag but instead an image of herself looking more young and beautiful than ever.

"Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all." She asked.

"Juvia is the loveliest beauty to see.

There is none more fair than she."

"You lie! She is dead!" Minerva snapped. "Juvia lies dead in the forest! The huntsman killed her! I ate her heart myself!"

"My queen you have been tricked and betrayed again.

Twas the heart of a pig you received from the huntsman."

"The heart of a pig?!" She screeched.

"You took the beauty of a pig which died on the forest floor.

Fair and beauteous you are no more."

"What?! Show me what I look like!"

With that command given the illusion disappeared and was replaced by the image of an ugly old crone. Minerva let out a scream unlike any that had ever been heard before. It was so loud and frightening that it alerted some of the servants who rushed to her aid. Hearing their footsteps, Minerva slammed the doors and locked them. She couldn't let anyone see her like this.

"Your majesty we heard you scream, are you alright?" Sting asked from behind the door.

"No! I've been robbed!"

"By who?"

"The huntsman Gray! He's robbed me of what I value most! Find him and throw him in the dudgeon immediately!"

"Yes your majesty."

Once she was sure they were gone she went back to her mirror.

"Tell me how can I become beautiful again?" She commanded.

"Once Juvia is truly dead and gone your beauty will be restored."

"Very well but this time I shall kill her myself! And I'll see to it that double-crossing huntsman pays dearly for what he's done!"

...

It started to rain hard that evening. Thankfully there was no thunder or lighting or strong wind currents. Only rain, rain that just kept pouring down and down and down. Poor Juvia had been heartbroken by what had happened to Gray that she ended up crying herself to sleep under a tree. The leaves and branches kept the heavy rain from falling on her so she only felt little droplets that weren't enough to wake her. Once it had begun to rain her friends became very worried so Gajeel and Erza went to look for her with Jellal following her scent.

"She's somewhere around here." Jellal said. "I can smell her scent."

The three of them searched around the area calling her name. At last Gajeel found her sleeping under the tree.