#rovia

It had been a mistake, leaving the hotel so late at night.

No matter how shaken up he had been at seeing the older dragon slayers he and Sting had once worshiped. No matter how much unease had settled into his gut after seeing Natsu and Gajeel one-up Sting in the Chariots game earlier in the day. No matter how much he wanted to be free of the stifling, bright confines of his guild's lodgings for the duration of the Grand Magic Games. No matter how Yukino's humiliating excommunication turned his stomach.

He should have just turned Frosch down when the Exceed had begged for late night ice cream.

It would have been better for both of them.

If he had, then drunken civilians - all celebrating the victories at the coliseum as if they had personally contributed anything to them - wouldn't have shoved past Rogue and Frosch. They wouldn't have accidentally knocked Frosch over, and into the canal.

Rogue had leapt in to save his friend. Frosch, for all they had once believed that they were a frog, wasn't able to swim like one. He had gone into the water to rescue the floundering Exceed without even thinking about it.

Because then he would have remembered… that he couldn't swim either.

Cold, dark water swarmed over his face, up his nostrils and into his mouth. Panic sent his limbs flailing, reaching out for any kind of purchase and - most desperately - for Frosch. The canal was deep, his legs unable to find the bottom. A plant growing up from the bottom snagged his foot, and he kicked out at it to free it. But the waterweed held fast, keeping his eyes above water but the rest of him below it. He coughed and spluttered, stuck just barely out of reach of the air, and even with his keen eyes he couldn't see Frosch. Couldn't see much of anything, the gentle glow of the moonlight and the lamp posts not reaching the shadow of the bridge across the canal.

Every time he tried to call out to Frosch, the more water he inhaled into his lungs, and the more he coughed the more he inhaled again. And every time he tried to reach for his shadows, they slipped from his grasp, torn away by his own panic and the movement of the water.

Then, suddenly, the pressure against his leg snapped. Water gathered under him and lifted him upward in a swell, sending him crashing against the canal's wall. It slowly drained away from him, leaving him stranded on the ledge. He tried to move, to look for Frosch. But his body rebelled as he began to vomit water.

Once he had expelled all the water he could, Rogue collapsed, his body having given out completely. "F-Fro-"

A cool hand touched his face. "Sshh," a woman's voice coaxed him. "Relax. Don't talk. Your Exceed friend is alright - Juvia's got them. They're okay, Juvia promises." The woman - Juvia? - gently pushed at his exhausted, prone form. "Try to turn over - though you got rid of everything you swallowed into your stomach, there's still some water left in your lungs. It will hurt, but Juvia will try to get it all out."

Hearing that Frosch was alright instantly calmed Rogue. He obeyed the woman and turned onto his stomach, though it was more of a flop than anything else. A strange sensation welled up inside of his lungs, and for another, terrifying moment, he couldn't breathe again.

She was drowning him.

Rogue struggled to rise, managing to get his forearms under him.

She saved him only to drown him herself-

Canal water violently forced its way out of his throat, pouring onto the ledge. Even after it was all gone, he heaved - thin strings of burning bile dribbling from his lips onto the stone. After a couple of minutes, his body finally ceased the motions, and he was able to gulp down the precious night air once again.

It was only then that he became aware of the hand rubbing his back soothingly. His vision was blurry, and his bangs hung wetly in front of his face, further obscuring his view, but he still tried to peer at the woman who'd saved his and Frosch's lives. "...Why?" he croaked.

His blurry savior huffed. "Juvia believes that the polite thing to say would be 'thank you,'" she informed him. "Juvia won't be able to catch up with Erza-san now and find out if she's meeting Gray-sama in secret or not, so Juvia thinks she's owed at least a thank-you."

A soft tap on his cheek, directed his gaze to a pink-clad paw, Frosch's eyes big and watery as the Exceed looked at Rogue. "R-rogue…" they said, their voice trembling. "A-are you... okay… Rogue?"

For the first time since going into the river, Rogue relaxed, relief at seeing his companion safe flooding his veins. "Yeah," he rasped, his throat unbelievably sore and his chest burning. The dragon slayer looked back at the woman kneeling beside the pair, her dark coat catching the moonlight and sparkling with drops of water. To his deep embarrassment, Rogue saw that both it and her leggings were stained with bile, too - splashed by his violent upheaval before.

Rogue pushed himself up and into a sitting position. Once he was upright, he then placed his hands on his knees and bowed as formally as he could to the woman. "Thank you," he told her, every word feeling like sandpaper in his throat. "Thank you for saving us."

"You are welcome," the woman said with a firm nod. "Though Juvia recommends seeing a doctor. Your lungs may fill up with water again on their own."

Rogue straightened up and gazed at her, his vision finally clearing. He recognized her, now. Her blue hair was distinctive. She was a member of Fairy Tail, on one of the two teams opposing Sabertooth in the games. The team with Gajeel on it, in fact.

"...Why?" he asked again.

The woman - no, Juvia - blinked a couple of times. "Juvia does not know why your lungs will fill up with water again. That would be a question for Wendy. But Juvia knows that they will, so-"

Shaking his head, Rogue clarified, "No. I meant, why would a member of Fairy Tail help those from Sabertooth, your opponents in these Games?"

Juvia stared at him uncomprehendingly. "...Why would that stop Juvia?" she asked plainly.

"Because no one from Sabertooth would have lifted a finger to help you."

Beside him, Frosch flinched, and cowered against his leg. "L-like… like Yukino…?" they said.

Rogue sighed softly, and placed a hand on Frosch's head. "Yeah. Like how no one helped Yukino."

'Not even us,' a voice whispered inside his head, too much like Rogue's own for comfort.

The woman who'd saved them considered his words for a moment. "Mmm… Juvia of Fairy Tail would help anyways," Juvia told them. "Although Juvia of Phantom Lord might not have, Juvia of Fairy Tail is a different person. A better person."

"I don't… understand. Phantom Lord…?" he pried, desperate for an answer.

Juvia nodded. "Juvia's former guild. It had a philosophy that the strong ruled, and the weak were… unneeded."

'Not that different from Sabertooth then,' Rogue thought to himself. That was somewhat surprising. This woman, who had jumped in to save him and Frosch - at a personal cost, it seemed - without a second thought, had once been someone like his guildmates.

"But Phantom Lord no longer exists," Juvia continued. "And Juvia… Juvia is working hard to be worthy of the kindness that Fairy Tail has shown to Juvia." Her blue eyes slipped from Rogue's dark red ones, and she looked down at her lap. Then she sighed, and stood up. "Juvia will wring the water from your clothes so you don't catch a cold," she told them. "But then you should see a doctor." She gave them a lopsided smile. "Juvia would be upset if you drowned in your sleep after Juvia went to the trouble of saving you."

Shakily standing, Rogue picked up Frosch. "We will," he promised.

The sensation of the water being pried out of his hair and his clothes was an incredibly strange one. But not unpleasant, exactly. The process didn't warm his clothes up at all, so they almost still felt wet to the touch. They could still get sick very easily if they didn't change soon.

Rogue then bowed again. "We won't forget this," he told her. "And someday we'll repay this debt."

Juvia jolted a little in surprise. "Um…" she floundered, at a loss for words. "Juvia doesn't need anything…?"

"Nevertheless." Rogue straightened up, his eyes boring into hers. "We appreciate… Juvia of Fairy Tail's kindness."

Red seeped into her cheeks, casting them in a bit of shadow. "J-juvia has someplace to be!" she squeaked. Giving them a short wave, she then proceeded to flee from the pair of Sabertooth mages as fast as she could.

"Doctor now?" Frosch inquired, looking up at Rogue.

Amused by what had just transpired, Rogue nodded. "Yes. After we go back to our rooms to change, then we'll see the doctor."

Happy with this, Frosch settled deeper into Rogue's arms. "Okay."

Rogue peered down the bright, moonlit street Juvia had disappeared down.

He had meant what he'd said. Someday, he would repay this kindness shown to him.

Maybe he would even take a page out of Fairy Tail's book, and pay it forward.