The attack blasted from behind him. Gray knew it was coming. He was too busy blocking attacks from the front to do anything about it. He didn't notice it until the last minute anyway. And we all know that by the last minute, it's too late.

But it wasn't too late for Gray. Because out of the blue, a figure ran between Gray and the attack.

"Water Nebula!" A voice cried out, and a gush of water blew the attack backwards, leaving them both out of harms way.

"Juvia!" Gray yelled surprised, as he saw the familiar attack. "What are you doing here? You're supposed to be helping Erza and Lucy!" He said, raising his voice to yell over the sounds of the battle.

"Juvia knows! But they can handle themselves, Juvia needed to help Gray-sama!" The water mage called back.

Gray growled under his breath. He didn't want to be saved he wanted to be strong.

So there they were, battling back to back. It would almost be fun if the other guys weren't matched in strength with them.

"Ice make lance!"

"Water slicer!"

"Ice make canon"

"Water jigsaw!"

And it went on and on. Gray was getting tired and he could see Juvia was too. How could those guys be beating them? He thought that this mission would be an easy one for "the strongest team in the guild" to do, and of course Juvia tagged along with them.

Worn down and battered, Gray reconsidered that thought. He was up against a fire wizard, and Juvia against a wind mage. Geez, Natsu's fire was so much stronger than this guys, but he was still having trouble! Gray let out a growl of frustration.

It must be the work of that magic draining mage Natsu is fighting, crap would he just hurry and finish the guy off already! He thought. He glanced quickly over at the others, who seemed to be having as much trouble as he was.

He wasn't too fazed though; they had pulled through much tougher battles than this. Gray knew they would pull through in the end.

For a second, as his concentration slipped, as he had glanced at the others. He was only alerted to the massive flaming fireball spinning his way when the water mage at his back screamed his name.

"GRAY-SAMA!" Her shrill shriek pierced his ears and he whipped his head around to see the fire. It reminded him of the Dragon battle after the grand magic games, when he was shot, then resurrected thanks to Ultear.

What could he do? Could he put a ice shield up? No, there was too little time for him to chant the words and to create the wall of ice. Could he dodge? No it was too late for that, he had frozen in his tracks. So… he couldn't do anything? Was this it? He felt surprisingly void of emotion as the death ball of fire skyrocketed towards him.

But that changed, when a blur of blue threw itself in front of him.

The fireball hit Juvia full force, slamming her back hard into the rock shelf behind her. Gray swore he heard a bone crack. Juvia gave a small whimper of pain behind crumpling to the ground, a trickle of blood leaching down from her forehead.

That void of emotion that came over Gray disappeared as he was washed over with almost every dark emotion you could think of as he saw his friend and teammate lying unconscious on the floor.

First came his yell of the bluenettes name, unwillingly averting everyone's attention to the fallen water mage. Next came the fear. The fear of something dreadful. What happened to Juvia? Was-was she alive?

Gray had no time to answer that question, as anger clouded him. He had never been so angry; he didn't even know whom he was angry at. But whoever it was, he decided to take his anger out on his enemies, then he wouldn't feel too bad when he messed them up so bad they wouldn't be able to move for a month.

He turned and looked murderously at the enemy mages. They backed away a few steps; sweat trickling down their heads. Gray was angry, very angry, so angry his judgment was clouded.

He felt like he had his strength back, and he attacked with all he had. He didn't spare any time for the enemy to attack, or dodge. It was blow after blow after blow.

The two mages he and Juvia had been facing were lying on the ground, bruises and scratches covering their bodies, but still Gray kept going. He just couldn't think straight.

He felt a hand on his shoulder, and he spun around defensively. He saw Erza, with a sad, but stern look on her face, and, panting heavily, he started to calm down.

Lucy was crouching over Juvia, carefully, figuring out how to move her without damaging her more. She had puffy eyes and a few tears rolling down her cheeks, but other than that she was focused completely on Juvia.

Natsu stood behind Lucy listlessly, looking on as Wendy's hands glowed as she healed Juvia. You could see the weariness on the young sky mages face. Eventually she sat back, exhausted.

"She's alive, B-but I think we need to get her to Ms Porlyusica," She said, red eyed and breathing heavily. The others nodded.

Gently, Gray picked up Juvia and carried her over to the cart they came on, and got in without a word. The others glanced worriedly at each other before following him.

Juvia opened her eyes. They felt sticky, like they had been closed for a while. Her body ached all over, but she didn't feel much pain. It was just a dull throb. What happened? Oh yeah…

A brief memory of her throwing herself in front of Gray, and slamming into the rock behind her flashed through Juvia's mind. Her head felt sore just thinking about it.

She wanted to stay in bed, but no, she had to see if the others were all right. Groaning, she pulled herself out of bed, and stumbled down the stairs of the infirmary.

Grunting as she heavily landed at the bottom of the stairs alerted Mirajane's attention.

"Juvia!" Mira called, surprised to see the water mage out of bed. "What are you doing down here? You're supposed to be in bed! Are you ok?" She asked, racing over to Juvia's side, trying to rush her upstairs again.

"Juvia feels fine, just a bit sore," The bluenette said smiling at her friend. Mira looked shocked.

"You feel fine? But you had a broken arm, a-and about 3 broken ribs!" Mira said shocked.

Juvia gave a wry grin. "How long has Juvia been unconscious?" She asked. Mira looked surprised at this sudden change of topic.

"About three days," She answered.

"Well, since Juvia can turn her body to water, she can turn her bones to water too, and they can heal faster," She said matter of factly. Mira seemed to accept this.

Juvia asked how the others were doing, and was glad to find out they were all fine, but very worried about her. But when it came to Gray…

"Well, he seemed fine when he brought you back, but he hasn't stopped by the guild at all since then, so im not really sure," Mira replied to Juvia's questions about her Gray-sama.

She felt upset. Had Gray not come back to check on her at all? Did he not care? Juvia's heart sank. But no. No! Juvia had waited forever for Gray; there was no way that wouldn't pay off.

Juvia shuffled out of the guildhall, and towards Gray's house. She knocked on the door, to no answer. Cautiously, she opened the door to peak inside.

Wow. She never thought her Gray-sama was so messy! Well, maybe it was a given due to his stripping habit. But still! Juvia felt nervousness rush through her again. He wasn't home. Maybe he never went home, was that why it was so messy?

Juvia limped all around town looking for him. It reminded her of the time she was looking for him to give him her hand knitted scarf. He never accepted ot though.

"Gray-sama!" She called out, hoping he would her if he was near.

"Juvia?" She heard a surprised voice call out from behind her. She spun around, and saw Gray sitting on the steps that led down to the river.

"Gray-sama! Juvia was looking everywhere for you! Where-" Juvia started, stumbling towards him, but then stopped as she saw the grey scarf around his neck. He caught her gaze and flushed awkwardly.

"Gray-sama…" Juvia started, but was cut off by Gray's voice.

"What are you doing here Juvia?" He said, turning back away from her to face the river. She continued her shuffling towards him, and then sat down next to him.

"Juvia was looking for you. Ms Mirajane said that you hadn't come to the guild at all," She said quietly.

Gray kept his eyes locked on the river.

"You should be in the infirmary," He said blandly. Juvia's heart sank at his cold voice.

"J-Juvia has healed… so she came looking for Gray-sama to see if he was all right," She said, trying to get him to look at her. And he did.

"Of course Im all right! Its you that shouldn't be all right! I would have been fine, I didn't need you to throw yourself in front of me!" He said harshly, even if he knew it wasn't true. Juvia's bottom lip trembled but she didn't cry.

"Juvia knows that she needed to do that!" She said, raising her voice to get her point across.

"I know!" Gray yelled back at her. Juvia stopped. Gray growled and turned his head away from her as he realised what he had said. Juvia touched his shoulder but he shrugged her off. She moved around to look at his face, and inwardly gasped as she saw his eyes glistening with unshed tears.

"Gray-sama… What's wrong?" Juvia said, coaxing him to talk. He turned back to her sighing. Now she knew something was wrong he had to tell her.

"My master Ur…" He started, and Juvia froze. She knew the history between him and his master. She didn't speak; she was quiet as he continued.

"Ur died to save me. I thought I was over it… then during the grand magic games… I died, and Ultear sacrificed her life to save mine. And then you…" Gray said, a tear rolling down his cheek. But he didn't sob. Juvia knew where this was going.

"Then you almost died trying to save me. I-I can't have people dying for me… I want to protect people, I don't want to be the one who is being protected…" He said. Juvia brushed away his tear, but it was quickly replaced with another one.

She wrapped him in a hug, hoping that would help. It just made more tears spill down his cheeks. Juvia didn't like to see her Gray-sama crying. She was used to the tough, cold ice mage, who put his friends before anything and was always so strong.

But Juvia knew that everyone needed someone to comfort them sometimes, so she held Gray tighter. Unexpectedly, he held her back.

The moment he knew he loved her back, when he was crying in her arms just meters away from the grave of his parents,

Maybe it was because tears blurred his eyes, maybe it was because he was too wrapped in grief to think properly, but whatever it was, he looked up into her eyes that moment, and was completely lost.

It was probably because his brain had gone fuzzy from the overwhelming pain he had just released, or the realisation that this girl who was comforting was the one that defeated the necromancer who was controlling his father, but as he looked up into her eyes with his tear stained ones, he was enraptured by a sense of wonderment.

The first thing that stuck him was the fact that her eyes were blue. Sure he had noticed before, but he had never really paid attention. No one in the guild had eyes as blue as hers.

Lucy, Levy, Erza, Cana, and Wendy all had brown eyes. Not that that was a bad thing, but it was her deep blue eyes, brimming with comfort and compassion, that he loved.

And here he cried into her chest as the weight of his struggles washed over him, and she was there to comfort him, as he always knew she would.

Sure she could be overbearing and clingy at times, but that just meant that when he needed her, she would always be there.

"I love you Juvia," He whispered to the girl through his sobs, so quietly that she wouldn't hear him. He would tell her one day, but for now, as she wrapped her arms around him, thanking her for everything was enough.

And he thought he could hear her murmuring, under her breath.

"Gray-sama… you're warm," She said quietly as she held him close until his sobs subsided.

Gray now clutched her to him, like a lifeline, and she held him just as tight. He placed his head on her shoulder, and whispered into her ear.

"I-I just want to be strong, I don't want people dying to save me," He said, stuttering as his first sob ran through his body.

"You're always there with me Juvia, just like now," He said clutching her clothes in fear of losing her. The moment her head hit the rock he had felt more fear than he ever had in his life before.

"I don't want to lose you,"

Juvia knew this was a sad moment for Gray, but those words coming out of his mouth made her feel warm inside. She really loved this man. She had proclaimed it everyday since she meet him, but had she ever said those three words?

"Gray-sama…. Juvia loves you…" She said, confident in her words. "All her life, Juvia has never been loved, maybe it was because of her rain, or because of her, but all Juvia ever wanted was to be loved…"

Gray was silent for a moment, not expecting her to open up about her feelings and her past.

But she did, and now she was here, comforting him, like she always had, like she always would. And Gray knew he loved this about her, no matter how clingy she was, no matter out crazy she was, he loved her, and now seemed like the time to say it.

But she had been waiting forever for this, he would make it special, he thought, as he pull back from the hug, and brought his lips against hers.

Juvia was shocked at first, but she kissed back. It was actually happening, the moment she was waiting for, and it was better than she ever thought it could be.

Gray pulled back eventually, breathing heavily.

"I love you Juvia," He said to her. And the look of joy that crossed her face was one that would make him happy for as long as he lived.