AN: Nothing much to say here. This is just my version of Gray explaining why he left for those six months.
I actually had started writing this about two days ago, but then the new chapter came out, so I decided to change it to go along with the canon material. It takes place during chapter 437 since I am pretty sure when they went back to their house for that short time they settled everything there.
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"We need to talk."
The walk back to the house thet had shared had been silent for the most part. Of course, Juvia would take glances at the ice mage every now and then. When Gray had spoken, Juvia looked at him. She knew exactly what he wanted to talk about.
"Juvia said she didn't care as long as Gray-sama was safe."
She smiled, and he felt a pain in his heart. He had expected her to be angry with him, but then again, this was Juvia he was talking about. A part of him wasn't surprised by her behavior. Juvia just wanted him to be safe. Gray still felt - no, he knew - that she had the right to know why he had left her behind.
"I know," he started. "Just, listen to what I have to say.
Juvia nodded in understanding. "Juvia will listen. She also has your necklace at the house, too."
"I know," he told her. "I left it there so you would know that I would come back to you."
"Juvia had faith that Gray-sama would come back. That is why she had waited."
Gray sighed. He felt guilty for leaving her behind for almost six months. As they got closer to the village, the ground beneath their feet became muddy, and it made him regret not telling her anything. He didn't doubt the rumor he had heard while he was infiltrating the dark guild.
"Juvia," he looked over at her, and oddly enough, she didn't look back at him. "When I was with Avatar, we heard news about a village where the rain never stopped." Gray saw her look down as they reached their old house. "That was your rain, wasn't it?"
Juvia nodded, and she opened the door to their house.
Gray saw that she had kept it nice and clean like she had when they lived together. Being back in the place they had lived together had almost been able to bring a smile to his face, but they he saw the nicely made table and a fresh set of clothes prepared for him his guilt grew more.
"Juvia looked for Gray-sama..."
He looked around, but he didn't see her. When she continued talking, he traced her voice into the bedroom. She had her back to the door as she stood at a table that was against the wall. Juvia opened up a small box that had been collecting dust, and she pulled his necklace out from inside it. Slowly, she walked over to him and took his hand, placing the silver necklace inside it, not making eye contact with him.
"Juvia was scared she wouldn't see you again... She didn't want to leave here either because this was her's and Gray-sama's home..."
"I'm sorry..." He held onto the necklace with one hand, and held her close to him with the other. "I wanted to tell you the plan, but Erza told me not to tell you. I agree when I realized that you would be safer that way..." Gray felt her hug him tightly, and placed his head on top her her's. "That doesn't make up for what I put you through..."
Juvia buried her face against his chest as he continued talking.
"When I heard about the rain, I wanted to come back to make sure you were okay, but I didn't want Avatar to know about you. I didn't want them to hurt you."
Juvia spoke up for the first time since he had began talking about his mission. "Juvia is strong though. She could have helped. She could have gone with you."
"I don't doubt that for a second. You could have easily kicked my ass when we first met."
"Then why-"
Gray cut her off. "I didn't want to risk anything happening to you. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if you had gotten hurt because of me... You almost died a year ago when you freed my father..." Gray felt Juvia tighten her grip on him and sighed. "I don't want to lose you, Juvia," he told her with sincerity. "I can't lose you. Not after I have lost so many other people that I cared about."
"Juvia can't lose Gray-sama... not again." By then he could feel her shaking with sobs and his skin becoming wet from the water mage's tears. "But Juvia doesn't know if Gray-sama will leave her again."
Gray held her away from him. He held his hands on her shoulders. "Look at me, Juvia." He didn't move until she did so. "It's true that I don't know if I won't leave you. I don't know what is going to happen in the future." Juvia looked at him sadly. "But, I can tell you - no. I can promise you that I will never leave you of my own free will. Especially with you being left in the dark like this time."
He took the necklace and put it around her neck.
"Juvia can't accept this," she told him as she reached behind her neck to take it off, but Gray's strong hands stopped her.
"Consider that a vow from me, Juvia. I will not leave you like that again." Gray placed his hands on her cheeks and wiped her tears away with his thumbs. "I promise."
"Juvia thought you rejected her again..."
"Never again."
Gray leaned forward and placed his lips against her's in a soft kiss. Towards the end of their six months together, they had shared a few short kisses. They didn't progress far, but they were very loving, and both of them could feel it. It had been a detail that Juvia had left out when she was found by Natsu, Lucy and the others. Gray was actually surprised that she didn't faint the first time he had kissed her.
When they broke apart, they smiled at each other.
"I missed you," Gray admitted.
"Juvia missed Gray-sama."
"Now, come on. We have a guild to rebuild."
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"Gray-nii-san! Juvia-nii-san!"
The couple was greeted by the cheerful voice of little Asuka. She and her parents were some of the first few to arrive back in Magnolia. The youngest member of the Connell family hadn't changed much over the year. Her dark hair had gotten longer, and she had gotten a bit taller, but she was still as adorable as ever.
Juvia smiled and greeted the little girl with a hug. "Asuka-chan, you've grown up so much!"
Asuka nodded and looked between the two of them. "Uh-huh! I am going to turn five soon!"
"Really?" Juvia asked the girl, and they continued their conversation.
Gray left the two alone and walked to the girl's parents. "Yo."
"Gray," Alzack greeted him with a smile. His arm was around his wfie's waist. "How have you been?"
"Not bad actually." Gray answered with a shrug, leaving out the details about him infiltrating Avatar, and then he looked at the married couple. "What about you guys?"
"It was a very good year for us," Bisca answered. "Asuka is actually going to be a big sister."
Gray's first reaction was for his eyes to go to the woman's stomach. If one looked closely, they could see that her stomach was slightly swollen. "Congratulations," he told them. "How far along?"
"Just over two months." Bisca smiled, and then she caught eye of her daughter talking the guild's water mage. "You and Juvia came together?"
Gray nodded. "Yeah. We actually lived together."
Gray looked behind him and saw that the two girls had been joined by Cana. Juvia was shaking her head and blushing like crazy, so there was no doubt in mind that the brunette was asking her a load of embarrassing questions. Before Alzack and Bisca could ask him any further questions, he excuse himself to rescue Juvia from whatever horror Cana was asking about.
"Oh, man! You two were alone?" Cana asked, her words slurring a bit. Of course, she had a bottle of alcohol with her. "Did you two bang or what?"
Juvia covered her face and quickly shook her head.
Asuka looked at Cana. "What does that mean?"
The blunette covered the four year old's ears. "Asuka-chan doesn't need to know about that."
Cana took a swig of her drink. "Oh, come on. You two have so much sexual tension, I wouldn't be surprised. It's about damn time."
The ice mage approached them with a slight blush on his own cheeks. "Jeez. We were only together for six months."
"What about the other six?"
"Not important."
Cana shrugged and took another drink. "Well, I see them come down the street, so I'll be right back."
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It would take a long time to rebuild the Fairy Tail guilds's new building just as it had after it was destroyed by Phantom Lord several years before, but most of the guild members were back together. Fairy Tail would come back.
That day, Natsu had proudly set the flag up. Everyone had reconnected and caught up with each other.
After the sun set, everyone began to go their seperate ways for the night.
Gray took ahold of Juvia's hand. "Come on."
"Where are we going, Gray-sama?"
Gray showed her a small smirk. "We're going home obviously. We lived together for over six months, Juvia. Right now, after the stuff with Avatar, I can't see us living apart," he told her with his cheeks a light shade of pink.
Juvia smiled and latched herself onto his arm. "Gray-sama is so romantic! But..." she blinked and looked up at him. "Does Gray-sama still have his appartment after being away for so long?"
Gray thought about that for a moment. "I think so... I still had it after we got back from Tenrou Island, and we were gone for seven years, remember."
"Right." Juvia nodded.
The ice mage kissed her cheek. "Let's go home."
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AN: This was actually supposed to end after their talk, but I decided to extend it.
I'm not sure. I might add onto this.