Another Needed Conversation
by Contrail

Disclaimer: Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima, and is being used without permission. No profit is being made from this story.

It had taken longer than Gray liked for him to get Juvia alone so they could talk. First there was a spontaneous victory celebration in Hargeon for all of the mages present there. Then there was the journey back to Magnolia - they'd been lucky to find enough animals and carriages to carry all of the assembled mages home, since the train tracks were too torn up to risk using. As the group of Fairy Tail mages was making their way through the partially wrecked town towards the guild, Gray took a hold of one of Juvia's wrists, causing her to stop and turn to him. "Come with me," he asked of her, and when she nodded, he started leading her away from the others.

It didn't take him too long to reach the spot he had in mind - the balcony where the two of them had talked right before the war began - and thankfully it hadn't taken too much damage in the fighting. Turning to face Juvia, who was watching him somewhat expectantly, he stood within an arm's reach of her, taking a deep breath before starting. "I know I promised you an answer," he told her, "but there's something else I want to say first."

Juvia nodded, expression serious as her gaze met his. "Juvia will always listen to whatever Gray-sama has to say."

Gray smiled a little at that, then firmed his lips into a thin line. "First of all, I want to say I'm sorry for what happened, when Invel…" He let his voice trail off before continuing. "The last thing I ever wanted to do was hurt you, or have you feel that you needed to hurt yourself for my sake."

Juvia reached out to him, resting a hand on his cheek, and he allowed himself to lean into her touch just a little. "Juvia feels the same way. She never wanted hurt you, or for you to sacrifice yourself for her."

He sighed, closing his eyes for a moment. "But in the end, you were able to save me, and I couldn't… If Wendy hadn't found you, you'd be…" He couldn't even bring himself to say the words.

She shifted a little closer to him, gaze soft. "Juvia knows, but she doesn't blame you for what almost happened. Both Juvia and Gray-sama did what they could to save the other, she just had more she could do in that situation. It was out of Gray-sama's hands."

He shook his head with a frustrated growl, pulling away from her hand. "I know, it's just… I never want to have to sit by while someone else gives their life to save me again." He let out another heavy sigh, looking away from her. "And you're not the only one I hurt that day. After… Invel… I was so hurt and angry that I… I actually tried to kill Natsu. Erza had just forced us to come to our senses when you and the others found us."

A quick glance at her face showed him the concern written there, making him immediately look away. Even after Natsu reminding him that they'd both tried to harm the other, he still felt at fault for what he'd tried to do. "Once I'd recovered from passing out, I thought I needed to make up for my actions… So I sought out Zeref, in hopes of ending the war… by sealing him away using Lost Iced Shell. But Natsu kept me from going through with it and defeated Zeref instead."

"Lost Iced Shell?" she asked, voice barely above a whisper.

He nodded, still not looking at her. "The lost attribute increases the power of a magical spell many times over… but at the cost of the user's existence being erased from the memories of everyone who knew them."

He heard a gasp, then felt a pair of arms wrap around his chest. Looking down, he found Juvia pressing herself again him, tears forming in her eyes as she looked up at him. "Please…" she begged, her voice wavering. "Please don't ever try that again…! To lose Gray-sama would be bad enough, but to not even be able to remember him… That would be too cruel!" She buried her face into his chest as she started to weep. "Gray-sama showed Juvia the sun for the first time. She never wants to forget that…!"

He stared down at the top of her head, each sound she made as she wept slicing at his heart. He'd been prepared for her to be angry with him, that he almost threw away her sacrifice for him, but this was worse. Much worse. "I… I thought it would be better," he said weakly. "If no one remembered me, then no one would shed tears when I was gone."

Lifting her head, she frowned at him. "Is that what Gray-sama thinks those that care about him would want? Does Gray-sama want to forget the ones he's lost?" He squeezed his eyes shut, struck by the comparison. Shit. No, no he wouldn't want to give up his memories of his parents, or Ur, or Ultear…

"I really am an idiot," he said ruefully. He brought his arms up around her hesitantly, resting his chin on the top of her head. "By trying not to hurt you, I would've hurt you even more." He took a deep breath and let it out before continuing, "I won't ever try to use Lost Shell again. I told Ultear once that I'd chosen the path of living with my friends, not dying for them. It's time I stopped going back on those words."

She pulled away, lifting a hand to wipe away her tears. "Does Gray-sama really mean that?"

He nodded firmly. "I do. And I'm sorry that you went so far to keep me alive, and I almost threw it all away."

She nodded back. "Gray-sama must value his life more. There are so many people that would miss him."

He raised an eyebrow at her. "So should you." She just blinked at him, confused, and he sighed. "You could have saved yourself, but you chose to save me instead."

She frowned. "Juvia only had enough strength to make blood for one person."

"I figured as much. But the person you saved didn't have to be me," he replied, frowning right back.

"But Juvia couldn't just let Gray-sama just die in front of her, not when she could do something about it! You are too important to her for her to let you die!"

"So I got to watch you slip away as I held you in my arms instead!" he shot back. "You're just as important to me, but I couldn't do anything!" He shoved a hand roughly through his hair as she watched, shocked into silence by his outburst. "If I'm not allowed to throw my life away, than neither are you."

She twisted her hands together, looking away. "Juvia wants to live for the ones she loves, more than anything, but… If the choice is between her life and Gray-sama's life, then he should be the one to live. Juvia doesn't want to live in a world without you."

He reached out and gripped her shoulders firmly, making her look back at him. "Do you think I want to live in a world without you? No! You, too, would be missed by many people, and I would miss you the most of all." He leaned forward, resting his forehead against hers. "Please don't put another life on my shoulders."

Juvia sighed and nodded. "Alright. Juvia will live for you, if you will live for her."

"I will." After a moment he let her go and stepped away, turning to look out over the railing at Magnolia. They stood there for a short time, the silence between them comfortable. Gray was the one who eventually broke it. "About the answer I promised you…"

Juvia moved to stand next to him at the railing, a gentle smile on her face. "Gray-sama doesn't really need to say anything more. What he'd done and said until now are enough."

He looked at her, lips quirked up in a half-smile, before turning back to the view. "Is that so… Then, are there any other answers you'd like to have?"

Gray was a little surprised when she started fidgeting beside him, a light blush rising to her cheeks. "Um, well… When Juvia was losing consciousness she thought she… felt a kiss." She was mumbling by the end of her sentence, but he made out enough of what she was saying for his own cheeks to begin to heat.

Ruffling his hair and turning away, he replied, "Uh… That's because I, um, kissed you. I didn't think I'd get another chance, so…"

"You mean…" Juvia began in a voice full of wonder, "Gray-sama actually kissed Juvia?!"

"Ah, yeah." He could feel his blush growing. "Don't make such a big deal about it."

She went quiet for a bit after that, and he was starting to get worried when she hesitantly said, "Gray-sama…?"

He turned to find her looking down bashfully with pink cheeks, a sight he couldn't help finding cute. "Yeah?"

"Juvia can't really remember it very well, so… Could Gray-sama kiss her again?"

The red that had begun to recede from his face came back in full force, but he couldn't say that the idea wasn't appealing. Glancing around, he could tell that the area was deserted - the civilians that had been evacuated hadn't returned yet and the rest of Fairy Tail was checking on the guild. "Uh, I guess… I could…"

He stepped closer to her as she turned to face him. She closed her eyes as he leaned forward, brushing his lips against hers tentatively, then pressing them together more fully when she didn't pull away. It was such a simple action, but the sensation of it made an electric thrill run through him, which intensified when Juvia started to respond to his movements with her own. His hands settled on her shoulders as her arms wrapped around his neck and drew him closer. He could feel the curves of her body pressing against him as he tilted his head to one side so he could kiss her more thoroughly.

They were both breathing heavily by the time he pulled away and rested his forehead on hers, unable to keep a smile from forming on his lips. After a moment, he said, "Um, I've never… I mean, I haven't… before…" He could feel himself flushing again as he just couldn't seem to find the words for what he wanted to say.

But she just smiled up at him as if she knew exactly what he was trying to convey. "Gray-sama can take his time getting used to this. Juvia can be patient - all she ever really wanted was for you to give this a chance."

Gray felt his smile widening a little as relief washed through him. He'd been a little afraid that she'd jump right to thinking he wanted to marry her immediately. But they'd both grown up a bit since the days when she'd leap to conclusions like that, hadn't they?

And then her eyes grew hazy as she spoke again. "Though Juvia hopes that someday she and Gray-sama will have a lovely wedding, and many beautiful children afterwards."

Gray couldn't help chuckling as he shook his head a little. He couldn't expect her to change too much, after all, not that he would want her to. "Maybe someday," he allowed, and she beamed up at him. No one ever knew what the future really held for them, but he knew that he wanted to find out together with her.

Please let me know what you thought of this. :^) Also, I should have another chapter of Another Year, Another Chance out very soon.