Chapter 20 - The Runaways

Minerva and Juvia had gone through quite a lot in the few years they had been alive. Juvia was orphan, she never met her parents as they were killed by the Church of the Eternal Fire. From what she had learned, her parents were used as scapegoats for someone in the Church to avoid a harsh punishment. They were executed when she was only two years old, and her village threw her out as she was just another mouth to feed. It was around that time that she met Minerva and her father...

Taking in an interest in Juvia's developing Water Magic, Jiemma saw potential in her and offered her a place to live. Juvia wholeheartedly accepted the offer because she had no where else to go, and just wanted a warm bed to sleep in every night. Unfortunately for her though, life wasn't as easy as she had hoped it be. She quickly discovered that Jiemma wasn't a nice guy...in fact he was a full on abuser.

Minerva and Juvia were worked to the bone, fed just enough to survive, and being taught to be the strongest mages in the world. Anything less than perfection was met with brutal beatings till they got it right. Both girls were utterly petrified of Jiemma, it was ultimately that fear that drove them to risk running away from him.

"If we didn't go...he would have killed us.", Juvia started whimper.

Seeing the bruises on their bodies, I could clearly see they had gone through a lot. Not wanting to leave them here to die or be found by him, I made the decision to bring them with us. Getting them something to eat, I asked if they were interested in joining Fairy Tail. Looking at me cautiously, they asked why I was offering them help.

"I am an orphan too.", I replied with a smile, "I don't want to see you two die out here in the cold, or let him find you again."

The thought of that happening caused the two of them to clam up tightly. It was so bad that even though they were starving, they couldn't eat the food I gave them. Asking them if they knew why he was hard on them, Minerva's face darkened.

"He...he is involved with bad people, the sort of people you see on the Wanted Boards.", Minerva said with a shiver, "My father wants to destroy the Magic Council, the Church of the Eternal Fire, the Mage Hunters, and everyone who isn't a Mage."

'Ah...he is a radical pro-mage fanatic, got it.', I thought, "Will you come with us? My team is full of orphans like us, I am sure you will have fun and we will protect you."

Motioning back to my comrades, all of them waved over to us. Seeing the group of kids with me, the two of them looked at each other. Seemingly talking non-verbally, the two of them came to a conclusion.

"We will go with you...", they accepted.

Giving them a smile, I told them to finish their meal then we would head out. Excusing myself to tell the others their situation, everyone was in agreement that it was the best option. They didn't want people to suffer alone, they all knew the importance of having someone to rely on when all seemed hopeless. Heading out to do a bit more shopping after they finished eating, we met with the Quest Giver to receive the supplies.

"Oh my, a group of kids and a rather curvy-", the old man started to say eyeing Irene's chest.

"Shut up!", his wife shouted slamming her purse down on his head, "They are just useless mounds of fat!! Give them the supplies, and be done with it! We have a wedding to attend to, our daughter is holding it up so we can make it!"

'These people...', I thought.

Handing us the supplies, the Old Woman told us that we were taking the supplies to two families up in the mountains. They were apparently up there camping, and had purchased the supplies in advance. Closing the door on us before we could get details, something felt off about this whole thing.

'The quest description states this was effectively charity work for them, why are they saying they get paid now. I smell a rat...', I thought.

Since they were an elderly couple, I decided to not mind it too much. For all I knew the old man wrote it down wrong because he was ogling some young woman's chest. Pushing the thought to the back of my mind for now, we headed out onto the open road.

---Evening---

The traveling wasn't as bad as I expected, the path was decently maintain and we ended up passing merchant which we bought dinner from. While the walking wasn't bad...Millianna did end up fall into two different creeks trying to catch fish. It was pretty hilarious watching her thrash around saying she was drowning in a foot of water. Other than that a few of the boys fell out of the trees as they jumped around like monkeys trying to scout ahead.

As the sun started to get low on the horizon, I suggested we make camp so that way we could pitch the tents and get a fire going. Agreeing to my suggestion, we got to work setting up camp. Getting my tent up in a few minutes, I glanced over to everyone else who were consulting their manuals. Since they were busy with that I took it upon myself to gather firewood and get the fire going myself.

"MAEL!!", I heard Mirajane shout about fifteen minutes later.

Walking back into camp, I found Lisanna and Elfman tangled up in their tent cordage. It wasn't only them either, Millianna and Sorano were swinging upside down in a tree, Simon and Richard had tied themselves together, and Irene destroyed their tent when she got angry at it. Rubbing my forehead, I didn't understand how they could mess it up so badly. The tents came with picture guides so it shouldn't have been that difficult to assemble.

"You all having fun?", I chuckled.

"No...I am getting sick...", Millianna complained.

"Don't throw up on me!!", Sorano shouted, "Get me down!! Hurry up!!"

Sighing I got the two girls down before helping everyone else get out of their mess. Going step by step with them afterwards, I showed them how to assemble the tents correctly without breaking anything.

"It doesn't look like that pictures!", Erza refuted.

"Erza...the manual is upside down...", I sighed with smile.

"No it's", she said as she looked at the cover, "Oh..."

"Before we go on the next quest, all of you have to learn to read. I think it is crucial for our future success that all of you can read.", I stated.

"It didn't help them.", Erza remarked motioning to the Strauss siblings.

"We didn't destroy our tent.", Mirajane retorted.

"So? You still messed it up.", Erza pointed out.

Butting heads Erza and Mirajane started to argue over who messed up more. Getting between them, I stopped them from fighting each other as we were supposed to be a team.

"We all make mistakes, there is no point in arguing over who made a bigger mistake. The important thing is to learn from them.", I scolded them.

Sticking their tongues out at each other, they huffed and walked away from the conflict. With the tents built, except for Irene and Erza's, we sat down to have the meals we bought. Pulling them out of my storage, everyone dug into their meals like they hadn't eaten in days.

"Your magic is so convenient!", Lisanna complimented me, "The food is just as hot as when we bought it!"

"Yep, it is certainly handy.", I chuckled, "Erza and Irene, you can share my tent tonight since yours is toast."

"Thank you...", Irene said with an embarrassed look, "I should have been able to build it, but I haven't read anything in years...I am a bit rusty."

"It's no problem.", I replied, "I got a bigger tent for that reason. You never know what will happen out here."

After eating our food, everyone wandered off to their tents to go to bed. I wanted to suggest that we set up a night watch, but I felt that was unnecessary as I would one shot anything out here. Climbing into my sleeping bag, I glanced over at Erza and Irene who were sharing a sleeping bag. Erza wore a happy expression as she drifted off to sleep, and it was a very cute expression on her face.

---Midnight---

Waking up as I heard something moving around outside the tent, I sighed and got out to see what was going on. Finding some raccoons stealing leftovers, I paid them no mind and was going to check on everyone else when I realized they were opposite of me. Holding their sleeping gear, it looked like the noises of the night were making them quite uncomfortable.

"Could we maybe sleep in your tent?", Sorano asked with a pleading expression.

"Sure, I don't mind.", I replied.

Wriggling into the tent, suddenly the spacious tent became quite cramped. Knowing that I wasn't going to sleep like that, I pulled my sleeping bag out and slept next to the tent.

'I wish I had my Aqua Pillow.', I thought with a sigh, 'I could use my body pillow right about now.'

---Next Day---

Setting out at dawn, we continued our trek into the mountains. At our current rate we would reach the drop off point by nightfall, just as planned. Since I had a nagging feeling that we were being followed, I used Search Magic to see if my hunch was correct. Sure enough several people were a few miles behind us and were moving at our pace exactly.

'Interesting...I bet they are with the Mage Hunters.', I thought, 'Who ever we are giving these supplies to must be a pretty important Mage.'

Informing Irene that we were being followed, she nodded and looked over at me.

"How many?", she asked.

"Roughly ten people, I suspect the old couple set us up.", I replied making sure the others didn't hear us.

"Got it, should we engage them now?", she inquired.

"I think we should wait, the mountains can be a dangerous place after all. An avalanche could kill someone if they aren't careful.", I snickered, "I hope they are careful."

"I like the way you think.", she laughed.

"What are you talking about?", Erza asked hearing her mother laugh.

"We were talking about what we should do for lunch. I suggested fish.", I said taking a shot at Milianna.

Puffing her cheeks out, she didn't find the joke all that funny at all. The other kids did though, and they laughed about it. Coming up behind her, I gave her a hug and said I was teasing her. Saying she would forgive, for five fish, I said I would cook them for her as soon as we had some. Watching her smirk proudly, I shook my head and kept walking.

---Evening---

Reaching the drop off point an hour before sunset, we found ourselves at the edge of a mountain spring. Looking around for the people we were supposed to meet, a familiar face came out of the bushes.

"You aren't Joseph and Melissa....", Layla stated with a stunned look, "Who are you?"

'What the fuck!? Why is Layla Heartfilia out here, their family is supposed to be rich right now.', I thought, "The old couple requested we bring the supplies for them. They had to attend their daughter's wedding."

"They don't have any children though...", Layla said with a suspicious look, "They worked in our mansion for years, I know they don't have kids."

"They told us they did.", Millianna remarked, "The old lady hit her husband over the head with her purse when talking about Miss Irene."

"Yes she did...are you saying they lied to us?", Irene questioned with an irritate look.

Giving us a concerned expression, it seemed that something clicked in her mind. She knew they had been sold out to someone, and their number was up. Leaving us in a hurry, she took off running into the woods. Following after her, we tracked her back all the way to her camp. Seeing Lucy and Brandish playing with dolls, Grammi was cooking a meal while Jude sat watching his daughter. Jude was missing the lower half of his right leg and had a massive scar on his face.

"They sold us out...", Layla said in a panic, "I am sure the Church's men aren't far away, we need to go now."

"Yes ma'am.", Grammi replied, "Come on children, time to go."

Struggling to stand up, Jude was having issues moving around with any speed.

"Dear, don't push yourself.", Layla stated.

"Go on without me, I will only slow you down.", Jude told her, "I am sorry it came to this dear."

Stepping into their camp, I looked at Jude with curiosity. The Jude I knew was a jackass, and it took Lucy running away from him to see that. This Jude was much more self-sacrificing and caring about his family, something I didn't expect to see. Raising my hand towards him, I used Ark to restore his face and leg. Feeling rejuvenated all of a sudden, he looked at me in shock.

"You...you restored my leg.", he said, "What magic did you use!?"

"Don't worry about it, can you explain what is going on here?", I asked.

"Yes, this whole ordeal started a few years ago.", Jude told me as they prepared to leave.