Too Late
Juvia was walking in Magnolia Town, the town where they met. She knew exactly where she was going, it was just outside Fairy Tail. The place where the giant robot (the Super Mage Giant Phantom MK II) used to be. She was only going there to meet with her friend, ex crush to be exact.
They had always been close, really close. When they first met, she knew he wasn't a bad person even though he was supposed to be her enemy. Somehow she knew they were going to be good friends. Butterflies were her stomach and her heart started beating really fast.
That was when she was seventeen and he was eighteen.
Now she was twenty seven and he was twenty eight.
It had been ten years since that incident and she could still remember it. Memories flashed before her eyes. The fight. Her old guild. When she first joined Fairy Tail. Meeting Gray. She flinched as the thought of him entered her mind.
He was going to be there at the spot too to see if she still loved him.
Juvia wasn't too sure if she could truly say that anymore.
Ten years for someone to finally realise they love you is a long wait after all.
So what was bringing her to this situation?
She found out from a close friend that the guy of her dreams recently got proposed to. A girl proposing to a guy. Weird. Then again, he never seemed to be the one that made the first move. The only thing stopping him from saying yes to the proposal was Juvia. He wanted to make sure they had nothing left.
The thing was, she didn't even know herself.
Soon, Juvia reached the place they had met. He was standing there, looking straight at her.
She didn't feel anything. She couldn't feel her heart beating rapidly against her chest. There were no butterflies. Nothing.
He was too late.
"Juvia…" he whispered, softly.
She looked at him sadly and whispered back. "Gray."
His face saddened. She wondered if he missed her calling him Gray-sama. She never did that anymore.
He asked her quietly. "Can...can we still work this out?"
Juvia looked away, not wanting to see how sad he looked. "Juvia is afraid not."
She looked back and almost wished she didn't. His face fell and he looked so broken. She wanted to hug him and tell him everything was going to be okay. She would have done that when she was younger; how things had changed since then.
She had fallen in love with his eighteen year old self.
When they first met, she thought he was handsome, nice, smart and strong. He never seemed to return her feelings and somehow she knew it was finally time to move on.
She would always remember that moment where he brought away the rain with his ice. She saw the sun for the first time because of him. It made her so happy. No one had ever done that before. People had always hated her because she brought the rain and she was always so gloomy. He changed that. She became a cheerful and happy person.
She remembered all the times they had spent together. They hardly talked because he was always on missions. She was too but not nearly as much.
How she had always looked forward to seeing him.
He'd get embarrassed every time she was clingy. He'd get annoyed every time she was having her crazy ideas with her imagination. He'd even rejected her multiple times before.
Even after all that, she still loved him. That was until she saw him kissing some hot girl he met while he was drunk at a bar. Sure he was drunk but she knew they did something even more. Some one night fling that made her lose all that eighteen year old in him that she loved.
He was the one who brought away the rain but he was also the same one who brought the rain back. It lasted for about a year or so before she realised she had to move on. The rain around her was disappearing slowly. When she saw the sun for the first time since ages, she realised how much she had missed it. That was enough to make her happy again.
He looked at her, trying to blink away tears. He knew he had screwed up and she didn't have to tell him. He asked her hopefully. "Are you sure?"
She nodded, shocked that he was about to cry. He never cried. It was one of his rules.
"How long did you wait for me?" he asked. He didn't want her to see him cry. She stared at his eyes, they didn't have the same gleam they used to have.
"Ten years."
He was too late.
Ten years too late.
It would've been more if they counted the seven years when they were on Tenrou Island. It would've been seventeen.
He looked away, ashamed of himself. "I'm so, so sorry Juvia."
She replied. "Juvia is sorry too." She knew her words were cruel in a way but she didn't mind.
Ten years will do that to you.
If he noticed her feelings, why didn't he return them then? Why did he have to return them now?
Guys were stupid.
Well she sort of got the idea on why he didn't like her actually. She wasn't the most pretty girl in the world, the most smartest or the most strongest.
Those were probably the girls he would go for.
Girls like Lucy or Lisanna. She was jealous of them, their perfect body, looks and personality. She even considered them as her love rivals at one point. She was so scared. Scared because they were better than her and there was a higher chance for Gray to fall in love with them instead of her. They were basically teenage female perfection. And Juvia, she just felt average. She wasn't anything special.
"Well this settles it then." He sighed as he turned around and began walking away. "I guess…this is goodbye?"
That was when he broke down. She watched him walk away. She didn't get to see his face but she didn't want to anyway. She didn't want to see him so hurt, he was like family to her. She didn't know what to do, it was the first time she ever saw him crying.
And she was the reason why.
It wasn't long till she felt tears coming down her cheeks. Seeing Gray cry like that. She had always been pretty emotional.
Rain started pouring down.
"Don't say that." She walked closer behind him. "We'll still see each other in the guild. We can still keep in touch." She looked down, knowing it wasn't what he wanted.
They were silent for a while. "Right. See you later then," he muttered.
He began walking faster before whispering something else. "I loved you too…"
Those were the last words she ever heard from him. They never did talk after that; perhaps it was for the better.
Once in a while, she would see him in the guild but they ignored each other. They'd walk past each other as if they were strangers.
Juvia knew she missed him, even if she didn't love him anymore.
She was married now though. She had two kids that she loved.
She wondered how his marriage turned out. She hoped he occasionally thought of her like she did.
Because she knew when she was explaining to people about love, she would always mentioned a boy she had fallen in love with when she was seventeen. That boy had black hair and dark blue eyes.
A boy who was ten years too late.
A/N: Depressing...isn't it?
Thank you to all those who read and review :)