I decided that, after having it out with a fellow anti-Gruvian, that the Gruvians who follow me deserved something nice from my very ranty self for being so resilient.
So I wrote this.
…I may need to reconsider my definition of "nice."
I am so sorry. In hindsight, listening to mood music while I wrote this was not the best of plans.
Now… a lot of people have probably written about this scene. Better writers than I. But I love this scene so much. And I wanted to explain why. So here is my take on it.
Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.
Gray wasn't an idiot. Not anywhere close.
He knew. He knew what Silver's disappearance meant. His father, vanishing into so many motes of light. Released from the hold of a demon necromancer - free to join Mika at long last.
A necromancer that had been killed.
So Gray knew.
One of his friends had killed the demon.
One of his friends had indirectly killed his father.
It wasn't their fault, he knew this too. But sitting here, in front of the grave he'd made for his parents so long ago, with the snow falling softly around him... He couldn't blame them. It was necessary. It had to be done. There was nothing Gray could do to change it. No matter how much he might want to.
But it ate at him. Dark and insidious, clawing inside his chest. It was cold. Colder than his magic.
Which one?
Which one of his friends had done this?
This was the thought that had truly prompted his fleeing from the guild, without even a goodbye to his other teammates. Because... had it been one of them?
Was it Erza, with her blades of justice? Erza could handle anything that came her way, probably. The demon wouldn't know what hit him.
Lucy, with her versatile keys? Surely she had a spirit at her disposal that could deal some damage - maybe even Loke.
Could it have been Natsu? Not much could keep him down for long.
Who?
It wasn't his friends' fault. He knew that. Everyone had been fighting for their lives. He couldn't... tell them. He wouldn't. It wasn't their fault! But he also couldn't stand to look at them a moment longer.
Because he knew the truth of what they had done.
So he had run. Run all the way back home. Though home it was no longer. Just a massive grave site - frozen in place and time. Quiet and empty, save for echoing memories. A dead city, in a dead country. Murdered by yet another demon.
Who?
The question screamed in his head. Demanding he take note of it.
Footsteps crunched in the snow behind him, the soft white substance creaking in protest at being disturbed.
Gray couldn't turn to look. He refused to. There was no way he could face his teammates right now. After all... who else would come all the way out here? To this snowy wasteland.
How dare they, the voice inside him whispered. I wanted to be alone. Leave me alone. His chest clenched. Were you the one? Did you take him away?
"Uh... um... G-gray-s-sama."
The ice mage's eyes widened, the ice inside of him burning through his veins more virulently than before. "Juvia!" he exclaimed, twisting to see the water mage. He hadn't... expected her. He should have, in hindsight. Probably. He never thought she would go this far, though. All the way to another country? "You... You followed me here?!" His voice was tinged with shock, but also anger, and hurt.
She flinched, drawing in on herself. Her face twisted up in fear, and pain.
This was different.
Gray didn't like it.
"I'm sorry! So sorry!" she blurted out. Her entire body trembled, and Gray didn't think it was due to the frigid temperatures. She wasn't looking at him, her gaze directed to the snow drifts. "There's something..." she stopped talking for a moment and swallowed thickly, before continuing, "Juvia wanted to tell you. So badly."
Her hands were twisted in front of her, and her shivering hadn't ceased. Juvia still wasn't looking at him.
Why wasn't she looking at him?
"Juvia... was the one that... took down... the necromancer that... was controlling your father."
Abruptly, the voice in Gray's head fell silent.
"You... did...?"
Juvia?
It was... her?
She... she knew? What killing the demon meant?
And she still... came to tell him?
"Juvia..." Her shaking worsened, her voice thick with emotion. "No longer has the right to love Gray-sama..."
She... what? No, this wasn't right.
It wasn't her fault.
A soft cry emanated from her, a quiet sob of pain.
It wasn't.
She didn't have a choice.
The necromancer had to be killed. All of the demons would have gladly murdered them. She had to save her own life, and the lives of their friends.
There had not been another option.
She tried to start again, desperately attempting to bring her voice into line. "Juvia was the one that..." She hiccupped, and the tears flowed.
It wasn't your fault!
"...killed your father."
Juvia stood there, in the falling snow, her words hanging heavy in the air. Quiet sobs wracked her body. Staring at the ground, she continued to quiver from the force of her tears, dripping from her face. Her tears, where they fell, left small dents in the fresh snow around her.
Gray's throat was clogged; the words he wanted to say were stuck fast, frozen inside of him.
He stood, walking towards his friend. When he had closed the distance (since when had she ever kept any from him?), he grasped the front of her coat. She didn't stop him.
"You..." he managed past the blockage. But then his words stopped again.
You still came, he wanted to say. It wasn't your fault. You're hurting over this. You still came to tell me.
Gray lowered his head, and buried his face in her coat. He shook violently, and hot tears ran down his cheeks.
"Thank you," he told her.
They sank to the frozen ground, their knees buried in the cold snow.
Juvia wrapped her arms around him, as he continued to sob against her. "Sorry... I'm sorry... Gray-sama..." she murmured, her tears unceasing, not knowing what else she could say to him to ease his pain. So she just kept apologizing.
"Sorry," Gray said.
You shouldn't have to apologize for this.
He groaned in agony, his heart twisting in his chest.
But the cold... the cold was gone.
Melted by hot tears, and an end to a mystery.
"You're warm," Gray confessed, holding onto Juvia tightly. "You're so warm..."
The snow continued to fall around them, coating their shaking, sobbing bodies.
Silver and Mika's grave stood silent, gathering snow.