Rain hammered the guild hall's windows like angry fists, the downpour mirroring the tempest brewing inside Aki's chest. He'd just watched Natsu accidentally set Levy's research notes on fire ("It's finer parchment now!" the dragon slayer argued) when the double doors exploded inward.
Juvia Lockser stood framed in the doorway, blue hair plastered to her face, robes drenched and dripping onto the floorboards. In her white-knuckled grip, she clutched a copy of Fairy Tail Volume 2—its cover warped and stained by rain, yet the pages beneath gleamed pristine, untouched by water or wrath.
Of course, Aki thought grimly. The one thing my cursed dreams made indestructible.
"You." Juvia's voice was a shard of broken glass, her eyes drilling into Aki. "Why did your dreams paint Juvia as a monster?"
Silence fell like a guillotine. Mirajane's tray clattered. Gray's ice mug shattered.
Lucy gasped, recognizing the battle scene Juvia thrust forward—a panel depicting her water blades slashing toward Lucy in Phantom Lord's colors. "That's… from the Eisenwald arc! But Juvia, you're one of us now—"
"Am I?" Juvia advanced, rain swirling around her in a liquid vortex. "Thousands read this! They see Juvia's face on a villain who enjoyed hurting others!" She slammed the book onto a table. The wood splintered beneath it, but the manga remained flawless. "Your 'dreams' show me drowning children's laughter in rain… but Juvia tended orphans after the last flood! Juvia mended roofs! Why does your magic only remember the shadows?!"
Makarov stepped forward, voice low and paternal. "Child, Aki's gift shows what was, not what—"
"—Could be?" Juvia whirled on him, raindrops hardening into icy daggers. "Then his magic is a prison! Must Juvia wear Phantom Lord's sins forever because Aki dreamed them?!"
Natsu flared between them, fists blazing. "Back off! Aki can't control—"
"CAN'T?" The guild's windows rattled as Juvia's storm swelled. "Or won't? When Lucy cried over her father's letter in Volume 2, you softened the words! But Juvia?" She stabbed a trembling finger at her own inked sneer. "Here, Juvia is cruel. Unredeemable. Did your dreams hate me so much?"
Aki's throat tightened. If only you knew the cost. The warning echoed in his bones—the searing pain he'd felt when he tried altering a single line of Juvia's dialogue in draft. Death waits for those who rewrite fate.
He met her gaze, rain soaking his tunic. "The dreams… they're chains, Juvia. If I change what I see—even to spare someone pain—the magic kills me." He touched his chest where phantom agony still lingered. "That panel… it's not hatred. It's a prison I can't escape."
Juvia stared at the unblemished page, then at her own trembling hands—hands that had healed, not harmed, for months. The storm around her wavered.
A metallic laugh cut through the tension.
"Touching. But prisons break, dreamer."
Gajeel Redfox leaned against the ruined doorway, iron claws scraping stone. Behind him, Panther Lily's silhouette bled into the storm. In Gajeel's hand gleamed another copy of Volume 2—flawless, untouched, open to Gajeel's own brutal defeat of Levy.
"Phantom Lord," he grinned, fangs glinting, "has questions about your… memories."
Juvia's rain turned to ice. "Gajeel. Don't—"
"Oh, I will." His eyes locked on Aki. "See, dream-boy, some of us like our shadows. But when your pretty book calls us 'mindless thugs'…" He crushed the manga in his iron grip. Muscles strained, metal groaned—but when he opened his hand, the pages were smooth, uncreased. "...it pisses us off that we can't rip the lies apart."
Gajeel's iron claws flexed, the indestructible manga mocking him from his palm. Rain hissed as it struck his metal skin. "Well, dreamer? Got nothing to say for yourself?"
Aki met his glare, posture relaxed but eyes sharp as shattered glass. "I dream what I dream. I draw what I see."
"Tch. Convenient." Gajeel's smirk vanished. "Those 'dreams' made Phantom Lord look like brainless brutes. Made me look like I get off on beating kids." He nodded at Levy, who flinched. Panther Lily's tail twitched.
Natsu slammed flaming fists together. "You did beat up Levy, metalhead!"
"And you burn down towns for breakfast, Salamander!" Gajeel shot back. "But your pages make it look heroic!"
"Enough." Erza materialized between them, requipping into Heaven's Wheel Armor. "Gajeel. You're trespassing. State your purpose."
"Simple." Gajeel pointed a clawed finger at Aki. "He rewrites the next volume. Shows Phantom Lord's real strength. Not this… caricature."
Aki didn't blink. "I can't."
"Can't? Or won't?"
"The dreams come as they are," Aki said, voice flat. "Change a word, shift a scene… and the magic tears me apart." He didn't flinch, but every Fairy Tail member remembered him collapsing after writing Volume 1 – the fever, the bloodshot eyes. Death, he'd rasped then. The price for fighting fate.
Juvia stared at him, her storm faltering. She'd seen that pain too.
Gajeel snarled. "Then maybe pain'll loosen your dreams!" He lunged, iron fist aimed at Aki's head.
Aki didn't move.
Gray's ice wall erupted – too slow. Natsu's fire roared – too late. Erza's swords flashed – not needed.
CLANG!
Aki caught the iron fist in his bare hand. Not with magic. Not with a summoned shield. With effortless, terrifying physical strength. The impact cracked the floorboards beneath his boots. Gajeel's eyes widened.
"You—?!"
Aki shoved. Gajeel skidded back five feet, iron boots screeching on stone. "I don't hide my strength, Gajeel," Aki stated, flexing his fingers. "But I don't interfere unless pushed. You're pushing."
Panther Lily unsheathed his blade. "Gajeel. His aura… it's like nothing I've sensed."
Juvia stepped between them, rain swirling protectively around Aki. "Stop, Gajeel! He spoke truth! The dream magic hurts him! Would you force death on him for pride?"
Gajeel glared, iron grinding as he clenched his fists. Pride was Phantom Lord's currency. But Juvia's plea – and Aki's casual, bone-deep power – gave him pause. He glanced at the pristine manga on the floor. Unburnable. Unbreakable. Unchangeable.
"…Fine." Gajeel spat. "But this isn't over, dreamer. Phantom Lord doesn't forget insults. And your pretty book?" He kicked Volume 2 toward the hearth. It skidded to a stop, unmarked. "It just made you enemies who don't care if you're chained to your dreams."
He turned, Panther Lily at his flank. At the shattered doorway, he paused, looking back at Juvia. "Coming, rain woman? Or have you drowned in Fairy Tail's kool-aid?"
Juvia stood straighter, rain hardening into crystalline armor. "Juvia… chooses the guild that sees more than her past."
Gajeel snorted. "Suit yourself." They vanished into the downpour.
Silence hung thick. Lucy rushed to Aki. "Are you okay? He could've—"
"I'm fine," Aki said, brushing dust off his sleeve. No strain. No sweat. Just… calm.
Makarov sighed, rubbing his temples. "Child… this 'dream magic'… it's a heavier burden than you let on."
Aki picked up the fallen Volume 2. Its pages glowed faintly, unharmed. "It is what it is. I draw the truth. Nothing more. Nothing less."
Erza studied him, requipping into casual clothes. "And if Phantom Lord retaliates?"
Aki's gaze drifted to Juvia, still trembling but resolute. "Then they learn what happens," he said softly, "when you try to break an unbreakable story."
Later, as the guild patched the door, Juvia approached Aki. "Juvia… understands now. The chains aren't yours alone." She touched the flawless page showing her Phantom Lord fury. "This is Juvia's past. Juvia will make sure… the future volumes are worthier."
Aki offered a rare, small smile. "I just draw what I see, Juvia. The future isn't written yet."
In a rain-lashed tavern across town, Gajeel slammed back a mug of ale. Phantom Lord mages crowded around a pristine copy of Volume 2, scowling at their inked defeats.
"Boss," one growled, "how do we fight magic that won't bend?"
Gajeel's iron teeth gleamed. "We don't fight the book, idiot. We fight the artist." His eyes glinted with dark intent. "And next time? We break his hands before he draw the dreams."