Pairing: Lyon and Juvia (Lyvia)

Rating: K

Genres: Romance, Hurt/Comfort

Slush

Juvia sat in the rain, letting the water mix with her tears. Her whole body was chilled to the core, her umbrella discarded long ago in her haste to escape, but she didn't mind. Right now, it seemed to her that it was better to be numb than to feel anything at all.

Her heart exploded with pain as she recalled the events of the previous hour, the hour that had destroyed her. It hurt to remember...

It had started out as a beautiful sunny day. Juvia skipped down the cobblestone path on her way to Fairy Tail, admiring the quaint little stores on either side of the street as she grinned at everyone she saw. She even smiled at the grumpy old men that always hung around outside the town's pub. How could she not be happy? Today was the day she would finally make Gray-sama hers!

Her smile seemed to become even bigger as Fairy Tail came into view. 'Gray-sama, I can't wait to see you!' Juvia thought happily, her face flushing as she thought of her beloved stripping ice mage. She pushed the guild doors open and was surprised to find that the usually loud Fairy Tail was quieter than a graveyard.

Everyone looked her way and she couldn't help but notice a similar look in everyone's eyes, a look that she absolutely hated. It was a look of pity. She cautiously made her way to the bar, where a certain blonde mage was having a quiet conversation with Fairy Tail's favorite barmaid. The two women stopped talking as they noticed the water woman walking towards them, the look of pity spreading to their features as they turned away from her.

"Lucy, Mira-san," Juvia said politely, "Why is everyone looking at Juvia like that? What has happened? Did Juvia do something wrong?" Juvia could feel eyes boring into her back, but when she turned to look, everyone had their heads facing their tables or each other, anywhere but her. On closer inspection, Juvia noticed that her beloved wasn't even at the guild. "And where is Gray-sama?"

Lucy and Mira looked at each other sadly, a mental message passing between them, before Mira turned and spoke. "Juvia, please calm down. You haven't done anything wrong. Something happened, and yes, it has to do with Gray." Juvia paled slightly at this. 'What if Gray-sama was in an accident? What should Juvia do?'

At that moment Gray burst into the guild, a happy smile on his face, his arm wrapped around the shoulders of a brunette. Juvia seethed as she glared at the girl before turning her eyes toward her love. His eyes met hers and his mouth dropped open in shock before he shut it and whispered something to the girl, who giggled in reply. He removed his arm from around her shoulders and gave her a kiss on the cheek, to which Juvia let out a small growl.

Gray grabbed Juvia's arm and proceeded to drag her out the guild's back door, ignoring her small mutterings of "Gray-sama". He whipped her around and looked at her, his eyes shadowed by his hair. Juvia was mesmerized by the planes of his now bare chest. Neither seemed to realize that the sun seemed to have become a bit dimmer. Juvia was about to say something, as they had been standing outside for five minutes already.

"Juvia."

"Y-yes, Gray-sama?" 'T-this is it, Juvia!' she thought excitedly.

"I've known for a while about your feelings for me, Juvia. I know that you love me from the bottom of your heart, and that I seem like the greatest man in the world to you. I realize that I need to make my feelings for you clear." Juvia felt her heart begin to race as he took a deep breath before continuing. "Juvia, I know you love me, and I know you care, but..."

"I don't love you."

With that, Juvia's whole world seemed to fall apart. She could barely hear him over the sound of her own sobs, explaining that it was the best for the both of them if they weren't together and that there were plenty of men in the world who were better than him. He left after twenty minutes of trying to explain himself and comfort her, during which time a heavy rain had begun to fall.

Juvia ran from the guild, as far and as fast as she could. She couldn't stand being near that place, the place where her hopes and dreams had been rebuilt, then crushed all over again. She couldn't stand those pitying looks, or seeing that girl who had stolen Gray away. But most of all, she couldn't face him. The man she loved, and the man who rejected her love, stepping all over as though it were nothing.

Juvia's flight from the guild had been too fast for her to comprehend, as her sense of direction had been skewed by tears and emotional torture. She wound up at the edge of a cliff just past the edge of the East Forest where Porlyusica lived. Right now, she was sitting near the edge of said cliff, her arms wrapped around her knees, hugging them to her chest as she sobbed.

"I-it hurts... G-Gray-sama, why? J-Juvia is in so much p-pain..." Juvia sobbed. She looked up at the sky, tears streaming down her face along with the rain. Her puffy red eyes were drawn by the falling rain to the bottom of the cliff, where sharp rocks were scattered randomly. What if she were to jump off that cliff? Would anyone miss her? Would he miss her?

She stood up quickly, a crazy plan forming in her head. If she jumped off this cliff, then it would end the pain of his rejection. She wouldn't feel that horrible, gaping hole in her heart anymore. She would be free.

Mind made up, Juvia took a step toward the edge, then thought better of it. She turned around to face the lively trees of the forest so she wouldn't have to see the ground rushing up to meet her. Without a word, she let herself fall back into empty air.

Juvia fell as though she were in slow motion, her eyes blinking slowly at the gray skies. She heard nothing but her own breathing as a calm look spread onto her features. 'Goodbye, Fairy Tail. Goodbye, Gray-sama.' She closed her eyes tightly, bracing herself for what she knew was sure to be a painful landing; that wouldn't last very long, though. Juvia was expecting herself to be led into a beautiful white world, a world without pain and suffering.

What she didn't expect, however, was to fall onto a soft, cold surface. She also didn't expect to hear a male voice say, "Juvia! Juvia, wake up!" Her eyes slid open slowly, and she gasped at the sight around her. The rain had turned into soft snow, little flakes of snow falling from the sky and into Juvia's face as she watched. Inches above her own face was a handsome man, whose white hair reminded her of someone she had met before... but who?

"Juvia, it's me, Lyon! Please, say something if you can hear me!" Juvia looked confusedly at the man; she couldn't recall anyone named Lyon, but it seemed really familiar. She took a closer look at the man's face; practically flawless skin, oddly slanted eyes, and hair white as snow. Then it hit her: this was the guy who was Gr- that guy's childhood friend!

"Lyon?!" Juvia bolted up, which resulted in the two clashing heads and moaning in pain. As Juvia clutched her head, she took the time to look at her surroundings; she was at the bottom of the one-hundred-fifty-foot-high cliff, and she was alive. There was soft snow all around her that crunched when she turned around to kneel on it.

She turned to her companion, who seemed to have gotten over his head being smacked, and stared at him in amazement. "Lyon, you did this? Why did y-" Juvia's words were cut off as he suddenly pulled her tightly into his chest, where she became flustered as her head was pushed into his abs. She felt a small droplet of coldness fall onto her head and she looked up. Lyon had a tear streak running down his cheek, his face pressed into Juvia's hair.

"Don't you ever do that again! You're lucky that I came to visit Magnolia today, otherwise you would've really died! Why in the world were you trying to kill yourself?!"

The water mage sucked in a breath as he continued mumbling about how careless she was. The amount of care he was giving her, his kindness, it was too much for the overemotional woman. She began to sob bucketloads of tears onto Lyon's silk shirt, which caused the man to panic and begin blabbering apologies to the woman. Juvia stopped crying and smiled up at the overwhelmed ice alchemist, who shut up and blushed at the beautiful smile on her face. "Thank you, Lyon."

He began to chuckle at her weird mood swings, which made Juvia's smile turn into a frown. "W-what is so funny?" Juvia said indignantly. Lyon continued to laugh, not noticing the danger of the angered water woman. He paid for his lack of attention when a snowball hit him square in the face. He wiped the melting snow off of his face, then proceeded to chase the water mage around in the snow as though they were children.

They finally stopped playing almost an hour later, when the snow had begun to turn into slush from the bright sun that had returned. Juvia looked at Lyon, who seemed to have enjoyed himself as much as she had; their faces were flushed from the exertion. Juvia went on the alert, though, when Lyon walked over to her. He stretched out his hand to help Juvia off the ground, which she accepted gratefully. "Wanna grab a bite to eat? I'll treat you."

Juvia was surprised. He hadn't tried to flatter or woo her at all today, and she enjoyed seeing his actual personality peeking through. Now, she couldn't help but feel grateful that Lyon had saved her, and she knew that she was strong enough to push through this. Juvia smiled and squeezed Lyon's hand.

"It would be Juvia's pleasure." They held hands as they walked away from the cliff base, Juvia almost completely forgetting about the depression from before. She just needed a little push in the right direction, and she would change her life for the better. It didn't matter if she was upset about the now, because it was the future that mattered.

'Juvia can make it. If Lyon is by her side, Juvia knows she can move on. Thank you, Lyon.'

This story was 1,810 words (without the A/N).

Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I do not have the privilege to call Fairy Tail mine. That honor belongs to Hiro Mashima-sama.

For those of you who are my normal readers, this is a nice little one-shot I've made for Mrs. HopeEstheim's Writing Contest. First challenge, done! Nyahaha! I am determined to make all of my stories amazing for this contest! I will absolutely try my hardest! (Though it was pretty hard trying to type this in 2000 words or less. I had too much detail, so it got shortened a LOT.)

Thank you for reading and please review! Thank you for your support!

(And... erm... to the Gruvia fans out there, I'm terribly sorry. Please don't kill me!)