[A/N]: This is just a sweet little oneshot. Not really romantic Gruvia, but...friendship, I guess? Probably a little more.
I don't know how plausible this idea is, but I really liked it. Please Review!
Lucy shrieked as Natsu splashed her, returning the favor back at the Fire Dragon Slayer. Erza reclined on a beach towel, skin glowing in the sunlight as she napped on the sand. A giggling Happy and Charle sat helping Wendy build a sand castle.
"Look out, streaker!" yelled Natsu as he clambered onto the dock and jogged towards shore. Turning, he barreled past the Ice-Make mage and took a running (sprinting) start. The pinkhead cannonballed off the dock─right on top of Lucy, who shrieked angrily and lunged at him.
Gray watched them quietly, sitting cross-legged on the dock. He hadn't so much as touched the water, save what Natsu had dripped on him as he ran by. He didn't have taste for swimming in the ocean anymore.
"Gray-sama?"
Gray didn't look up, gazing instead at the rolling waves beside the worn boards of the dock. "Hey, Juvia."
Juvia sat hesitantly beside him, folding her knees to her chest and crossing her arms over them. "Is Gray-sama okay? All of the others are having such fun…" She rested her chin and surveyed their team─Erza paging through a book and faintly smiling, Wendy and Charle spitting sand after Happy had accidentally knocked over their castle, Lucy forcing Natsu's head underwater.
"I don't care for the ocean," Gray murmured perfunctorily.
"May Juvia ask why?" she asked quietly, tilting her head. She unfolded her legs, swinging them over the edge to dip her feet in the water. Her lower legs turned to water, the shapes of her feet disappearing beneath the waves.
Gray hesitated. How could he explain? Oh, my Master was turned into living ice, which melted and flowed into the ocean? "It reminds me of someone I lost," he replied succinctly.
"Juvia is very sorry."
"It wasn't your fault."
She studied him, for once not blushing furiously at the closeness of his presence or the confidence of their conversation. "No, but Juvia doesn't like to see Gray-sama upset."
He said nothing to this, slanting a glance her way. She looked up at the sky, her azure curls tumbling over her shoulders. Juvia noticed his gaze and looked back at him. "Juvia is sorry to pry, but was the someone Gray-sama lost...was it your master, Ur?"
Gray startled. "How did you know that?"
Juvia nodded towards shore. "Erza-san told Juvia about Gray-sama's adventure on Galuna Island." She leaned back on her hands, bikini-clad skin gleaming faintly in the sun. "Juvia is under the impression that the ice Ur became is now water flowing through the ocean?"
Gray looked away, all the answer Juvia needed. "Juvia is very sorry," the rain woman repeated softly.
"There's nothing to be done," Gray replied shortly. A lump began to rise in his throat at the thought of his former master. He looked down at his folded hands and distantly realized that he had removed his shirt sometime after Juvia joined him.
Juvia studied him, and then looked down at the water. "Juvia will returned in a moment," she breathed. Before Gray could ask what she meant, Juvia's whole body turned to water, trickling down into the ocean and disappearing.
Gray sighed and glanced out at the horizon, the endless blue of the ocean that pained him so. When did Juvia become so...acute? She hadn't been part of the guild long, but sometimes it felt like she could read stoic, icy Gray better than any. Even Cana, Gray's oldest friend, sometimes had trouble gauging his mood.
Gray leaned over and slowly lowered his arm to the water's surface, trailing the tips of his fingers across the rolling surface of the ocean. It was cool, soothing.
Slender fingers reached out of the water and gently grasped his hand. Knowing it to be Juvia, Gray stood and helped her out of the water, her body becoming solid as it left the ocean. "Juvia wishes to show Gray-sama something," she said softly, "but she thinks it might be best if no one else saw it." She gestured out towards the ocean. "A raft of ice, perhaps?"
"What's going on, Juvia?"
"Please, Gray-sama."
Gray obeyed and climbed down onto his raft, offering his hand to Juvia without a second thought. She accepted it and stepped down gingerly. Fingers of one hand splayed behind her and the other before her, tilting gently to keep the water flat beneath the raft, she asked, "Is Gray-sama ready?"
"It sorta depends."
Juvia smiled softly, and slowly the water pushed them out to the open sea. Gray glanced back, but the rest of their friends were too occupied to notice their departure. "Juvia?"
She stopped the raft some distance out from the dock, the golden beach barely visible, explaining, "Juvia is an adept water mage." He didn't miss the note of pride in her voice.
Gray's mouth twitched. "I know that."
Still holding out one hand to keep the raft steady, Juvia lifted her fingers, and the water to Gray's right began to swirl.
After a minute, a bulge appeared on the surface of the water, slightly more green than the endless blue surrounding it. It rose out of the ocean slowly, becoming a head, a slender neck─
Gray's breath hitched. The head tilted back, eyes closed as the shoulders emerged. "Ur," he choked.
The water apparition's eyes fluttered open as the rest of her body formed─all except the lower half of one leg, and dressed the same as she had been the last time Gray saw her. The watery being gazed at Gray in incomprehension, and then finally her lips parted in an O of perfect shock. She reached out a greenish, translucent hand to him, cool fingers caressing his cheek. "My adorable student," breathed the Ur-lookalike. Gray couldn't breathe; it even had her throaty voice. "Oh, Gray."
"J-Juvia, what are you doing?" he asked shakily.
The water mage smiled slightly, her arm shaking with the effort of holding the apparition. "I'm only keeping her together, Gray-sama," she breathed.
Ur removed her chill hand from his face, covering her trembling mouth. "You've grown," she choked, eyes filling with tears.
"Ur," he repeated dumbly. "Oh my god."
His teacher grabbed his shoulders, but his jacket didn't even dampen. "Look at you," she laughed falteringly. "You're taller than I am."
"You've been gone a while," he said roughly.
"Why aren't you wearing any clothes?"
Gray ground his teeth, grinning. "That is all your fault!"
Ur laughed, but quickly sobered, her expression becoming serious. "Which one of you melted Iced Shell and defeated Deliora?" she whispered.
His smile slipped. "Lyon melted the ice, but I think...I think you beat him, Ur," Gray replied hoarsely. "He was just a husk by the time my friend Natsu punched him."
Ur smiled weakly. "Oh, Gray...I've missed you so much."
"You have no idea," he answered gruffly, trying to swallow the lump rising in his throat.
"G-Gray-sama," Juvia stammered, arm trembling violently. "J-Juvia can't keep her for much longer─"
"Just another minute," Gray promised hurriedly. He looked back to his teacher, still unable to believe his eyes. "I-I joined a guild, Fairy Tail, after you sealed up Deliora," he said haltingly. "And this is one of my fellow─one of my friends," he amended. "Juvia Lockser."
Tears filled the wan water-mage's eyes. "Juvia is-is honored," she whispered.
The look in Ur's eyes was distinctly wicked. "A friend? I'm glad to hear it."
"Gray-sama, Juvia's so sorry, but she h-has to let her go─"
"I don't want to say goodbye again," Gray mumbled to his teacher.
Ur touched his cheek again. "Gray─" Her form wavered and splashed back into the ocean, and Juvia staggered into Gray, the raft reeling as they struggled for balance.
Gray caught the rain woman quickly and she hurriedly rebalanced the raft. "Juvia's so sorry," the water mage whispered. "Ur-sama still had words for─"
Gray cut her off, pulling her into a crushing hug. "Thank you so much, Juvia," he mumbled into her ear, trembling slightly. "I─I never thought I would see her again."
Juvia's arms snaked around him and she hugged him back. "Anything for Gray-sama."
"How did you even do that?"
Juvia grinned shakily. "Ur-sama was turned into water and became a part of the ocean, yes? Iced Shell is a very special sort of water, so Juvia just had to locate it and bring it to the surface. Ur-sama did the rest."
"I don't know how I can ever thank you, Juvia," he told her roughly. He hesitated, then kissed her cheek quickly. "But I'll give it a try."
She stared at him, shocked, and lost control of the raft. They reeled wildly, and finally tipped into the ocean.
Gray resurfaced with a splash beside the rain-woman who submerged all but her eyes in the water. "Juvia is so sorry," she mumbled mournfully, her voice bubbling up through the water.
He grinned and held out his hand. "I don't care. Let's get back to shore."
The water mage's pale hand emerged from the water and gripped his. "Okay, Gray-sama."