Day Two of Gruvia Week: Eyes

Eyes

AU: Eyes are often thought of as the gateway to the soul.

Then comes the question, if they don't have a soul, where do their eyes lead?

Gray

I was didn't mind the weirdos that often visited the guild. After all Fairy Tail was a place for many strange people to come together. I mean, my best friend is a dragon. Like the flame head can literally turn into a dragon. It's ridiculous. He causes so much trouble for the rest of us. Seriously, how many times can one guy destroy a guild? He make me so mad sometimes.

I shake my head to get Natsu out of my thoughts. I glance over the guild and spot one of the two dragon turners in our guild, Wendy. She is a really sweet girl. She is sitting with Romeo and her exceed-cat partner, Carla. I scan the guild looking for Lucy. She said she had to give me something before her and Natsu left for their mission. I didn't see either of them in the guild hall. Lucy's a spirit wielder, she can communicate with spirits or ghost. Not many people like her exist. It's an odd power, but can't really hold it against her. A lot of us have really weird abilities.

"Gray." Mira spoke standing right in front of me. I jumped in surprise.

"Oh, hey Mira." I greeted her. She's a demon. Literally a demon. The assumption that demons are ugly is a complete lie. Mira is gorgeous. There is no doubt about it.

"Your clothes, Gray." She told me giggling before walking away.

My eyes snap down, sure enough I'm missing my shirt and shorts. I groaned, I was wearing clothes five minutes ago. I stand up from my table and start looking around the guild. I haven't moved in a few hours, so I'm not sure where my clothes went. I got on my hands and knees to look under the table, when someone tapped my back. I tried to sit up straight, but ended up hitting my head on the table instead.

"Oh no, I'm so sorry!" A girl's voice told me. I crawled back out from under the table to meet the person wanting to talk to me. I was met with a pale face and beautiful dark blue eyes. I blinked a few times to realize that she was talking to me.

"Sorry what?" I asked her.

She giggled before responding. "Are these yours?"

She handed me my clothes. "Oh yeah. They are. Thank you. I was looking for them. I uh have a habit of taking them off. Guess I'm not use to the hot weather here." I replied sheepishly, scratching the back of my head in embarrassment.

I started putting my clothes back on. Once I had my shirt on she started talking again. "It's snowing outside."

"Oh." I looked out the window, she was right. "I hadn't noticed."

She smiled and started to walk away, but stopped. She kept shaking her head, it looked like she was debating something. Finally she can to an answer. "I'm Juvia." She held out her hand to me.

I took it. Her hand was surprisingly cold. It felt nice. "I'm Gray. Wanna walk with me? I'm heading out."

She paused, then glanced around the guild, and turned back to me. "Sure why not. I can't seem to find my friend, so maybe he left already."

I nodded and we started towards the door. "Your friend?" I asked as we entered the cold outside. The rush of freezing air, blew back Juvia's blue hair. She quickly grabbed her hat so it didn't fly away.

"Yeah. His name's Gajeel. He's a dragon turner. We heard Fairy Tail had two of them, so he wanted to check it out." She glanced up at me as she talked. Her blue eyes were mesmerizing.

"Yeah we do. Uhh. Wendy was there, but Natsu's out on a mission with Lucy. Wendy's our air dragon and Natsu's our fire dragon. Lucy's a spirit wielder. I'm pretty sure she's Natsu's mate. Neither of them will admit it, but what can you do, right? He's a dense idiot." I informed her.

She laughed at my insult to Natsu. "So um, what are- can you do?"

I looked down at her to find her staring back at me. Her eyes hold no emotion, but something is drawing me in. She was watching me, waiting for my answer. I stared at the snow in front of us and stopped walking. I looked up at the falling snow before speaking, "I'm what they call an abominable snowman."

I prayed that she didn't think that was lame. I adverted my attention back to her to find her circling me. I almost asked what she was doing, but she spoke before I could utter a word. Her voice was soft and light.

"You don't look like a snowman. No carrot nose, or sticks for arms." She stopped in front of me with hands on hips. I grinned at her smile. She was teasing me.

"Yeah." I threw my hands behind me head. "A lot of people think that, but I'm actually not a snowman. I just control the snow and ice. I lean more towards controlling ice though."

I looked at her, she was still smiling. Her skin was starting to look transparent. She must be freezing. The cold doesn't bother me because of the ice running in my veins. I wanted to reach out and feel her touch her again, but other than her face and hands, she had a slit in her skirt that ran up to her thigh. I definitely did not want to touch her leg, she could take it the wrong way and have me arrested. Touching her face would be equally as weird. So I settled for grabbing her hands. Her eyes widen slightly, but she didn't yank her hands away. Her hands are freezing. Maybe I love cold things a little too much, and blame it on the ice in my veins, but I just wanted to hold her. Her cold touch was refreshing.

Her eyes were studying me. Like she was trying to figure out my motive. I still didn't know who she was. I wanted to ask her, but instead I blurted, "Do you want to come back to my place?"

Her shock expression, made me flinch slightly. I quickly reworded my question, " I mean, do you want to come over for dinner?"

Her eyes stared up at me. I couldn't read her face, and I couldn't see what she was thinking. Normally, people's eyes gave away their emotions and thoughts. I couldn't tell what Juvia's eyes were saying, they were as emotionless as her face.

After what seemed like eternity, Juvia smiled. "Sure. I'd love to." I dropped her right hand and just held her left. We chatted aimlessly as I lead us back to my house.

Once we arrived at my house I dropped her hand and fished around in my pockets to find my key. Amazingly, I had managed to keep all of my clothes on while we walked around the town. I unlocked the door and held it open for her. Juvia didn't move. Instead she stared at the door with that same deadpan face she gave me a few minutes before. Her eyes showed nothing, but I wanted them to show me everything. What she was thinking, what I did wrong, if I did anything wrong. I wanted to know.

"Aren't you coming in?" I asked her confused. Still she didn't move. Slowly her eyes traveled from the door to me. Her expression changed from one of nothing to one of fear. She took a deep breath which caused her chest to move up and down. I wonder if she was breathing earlier. I shrugged off the thought and focused on what she was saying.

"Don't be mad at me. I wanted to say something, I just didn't know how. I'm a vampire. I can't enter your house until you let me. I'm sorry." Juvia said finally.

I furrowed my eyebrows and tilted my head. "Didn't I say you could come in?"

Apparently she thought what I said was funny, because she was laughing. I'm glad I could make her laugh after her being so nervous about telling me she's a vampire.

"No," she said softly, "you have to say my name and that I can enter. This way if you were met with a bunch of vampires you would only be letting the ones you want to enter and not the one that want to kill you."

"Hmmm. Fair point. Alright. Juvia, please come in my house." I told her. Juvia's smile got bigger. She is so beautiful. I blinked as Juvia brushed past me and into my house. I quickly followed her down the narrow hallway and into my living room.

"You can sit there." I gestured to the couch. "Do you want me to start the fire? Does the cold bother you?"

She shook her head. "No, I'm fine. Thanks for offering." I grinned at her, thankful that she didn't want the fire on. The cold reminded me of my time spent in the mountains training. I turned to go to the kitchen to get started on dinner when I remembered, Juvia's a vampire. What do I feed a vampire. I turned back around to face the blue haired girl sitting on the couch with a small smile on her face.

"Uhh." I started out. "Would it be rude to ask, what do I feed you?"

She blinked and then giggled. She's been doing that a lot. I wonder if it's because she's nervous. "Oh. You don't have to make me anything. I already ate earlier today. Also Gajeel has all of my things." Her voice trailed off. Almost as if she was shy about mentioning eating. I know that vampires drink blood, but I guess I thought that she was different. She seems different. Juvia wasn't the first vampire I met, yet she still felt different from the others.

I was about to respond when someone started pounding on my door. I looked towards my door, I could see it clearing from where I was standing, then I looked at Juvia. She just shook her head. Letting me know she has no idea who is at the door. I walk towards the door, out of the corner of my eyes I see Juvia get up and follow me. The pounding turns into to screaming and pounding.

"Open this door. I know you're in here. It's freezing out here." A very gruff deep sounding voice exploded from the other side of the door.

"Oh." Juvia says softly behind me. "It's Gajeel. How did he find your house?"

"Probably Mira." I told her. Before I touched the handle to open the door, the pounding stopped. I shoved open the door and was meet with a very surprising group of people. "Levy? What are you doing here?"

"I was showing Gajeel to your house. He needed to give Juvia something." Levy responded.

"Where is she? Did you kill her? I'll kill you." Gajeel growled. Before Levy could say anything I spoke up.

"Geez. Calm down she's right here." I moved aside so Juvia could talk to her friend.

"Gajeel! I'm fine. What do you need?" Juvia asked, folding her arms across her chest. I hide my smile.

"I came to give you your things." Gajeel responded.

Juvia opened her mouth to speak, but I noticed Levy shivering in the cold so I cut Juvia off. "Why don't you guys come in. I'll start the fire."

The duo followed Juvia and I back into my living room. I bent down at the fireplace after grabbing the matches from the mantle. Levy sat down next to me and watched as I tried to get the matches to light a fire.

"Here let me try, Gray." She took the matches from me and wrote in the air. Levy has the ability to create things by writing it in the air. I have no idea how it works but I'm grateful to have someone like Levy in our guild. The fire place erupted with fire.

"Thanks Levy. I don't normally use the fireplace." I thanked her. I stood up. "Alright. I'm making dinner. What does everyone want?"

"Oh. Gajeel and I already ate." Levy said. "We won't be long. Right Gajeel?"

Gajeel looked up from his conversation with Juvia. Her eyes met mine from across the room. Like always they held no emotion. Gajeel grunted in response to Levy, who rolled her eyes and frown at the giant. I left them in the room to make myself something to eat. I was starving. I threw together a sandwich and a glass of ice water and called it a satisfying meal. I set my plate and cup down at the table and then started to eat. I looked up from my food and nearly fell back in surprise. Juvia's unwavering eyes were staring at me.

She noticed my jerky movements, "Oh, sorry! I didn't mean to scare you."

"You're fine." I waved off her apology.

"Ummm." Juvia started off avoiding my eyes as she looked off to the side. Red decorated her checks. Can vampires blush? Well, I guess they can because Juvia was definitely blushing. "I was wondering if I could stay the night? I don't have anywhere else to go. Gajeel is staying with Levy and I don't want to intrude, but if it's too much I'll-"

"No you're fine. Stay as long as you want." I stopped her nervous ramblings. She smiled. Her eyes widening, but her face portrayed her happiness not her eyes. I didn't understand it.

I finished my meal and then started cleaning up. "Gray." Juvia called behind me.

I turned around after putting the dish away. "Yeah?" She held out my shirt. I looked down and saw that I was shirtless. "Sorry."

She smiled. I went into the living room to help Juvia gather her things and then motioned for her to follow me up stairs. "Here's the guest bedroom. Oh, good the fireplace is running already. You can stay here if you want. My bedroom is right over there." I pointed to the room a few feet away. Juvia moved into the guest room and set her suitcases down. I place her other bags on the dresser. I watched her move around fixing things. She closed the blinds and then closed the curtains. Once she was done moving stuff around she turn to her suitcase and noticed me standing in the doorway.

Right. Normal people don't creepily watch their guest unpack and get settled. I was so enthralled by her that I hadn't noticed I was starring. "Oh. Sorry. Umm. My rooms aren't equipped for housing a vampire."

"No it's fine. Vampires don't sleep a lot. Most of us sleep during the day, because night time is the best time to go hunting. Oh. Sorry. That was a weird thing to say." Juvia said wincing at her own word choice.

"No, no. You're fine. That makes sense. I always wondered why they slept during the day." I mused. She relaxed. "I'll be in my room if you need me. Feel free to come in. Okay Juvia?"

"Okay. Thank you." Juvia said. I closed the door behind me after I left the room. I ventured into my room and shredded my clothes. Was that an appropriate thing to do when I have a guest in my house. I could practically hear Mira shaming me. I sighed and pulled back on my boxer. There now I had some clothes on. Unlike the guest bedroom, my room did not have a fireplace. It was cold like the outside. I almost wanted to open my window to let the snow in, but decided against it because it would just melt and then my room would be covered in water. I settled into my bed and waited to see if Juvia would come in.

I guess I fell asleep, because I woke up to something freezing touching my face. I opened my eyes to meet another set of eyes. These eyes held no emotion, but where the most beautiful set of eyes I have ever seen. I blinked. Vampires have hypnotizing abilities. Juvia must be using hers unconsciously, but for some reason I didn't think she was using it at all.

"Oh sorry did I wake you?" She shifted her weight to get out of my face. I sat up and rubbed my eyes.

"Ahh. Yeah. But it's fine don't worry about it. What is wrong?" I asked her, shifting my body so we could sit face to face.

"I couldn't sleep." She responded.

She's wearing a night dress. It's blue but short sleeve. From her sitting position I guessed the dress went down to her ankles. I look up at her eyes. I want to ask her about her eyes. Why did they look so detached? We were staring at each other. I don't think either of us wanted to look away.

"Why are your hands so cold?" I paused, "Your eyes. Why are they so empty?" I finally breathed out. My palms were sweating with anticipation and nervousness.

Juvia blinked but answered. "Oh. Vampires are dead. So my body can't retain heat. Here." She leaned forwards a bit to grab my hand. She placed my hand on her chest right where her heart would be. There was no pulse.

"Your skin is cold. I like it. It's refreshing. It's nice. Makes me feel safe." I confessed to her.

She smiles and drops my hand. I let it fall back to my lap.

Juvia moved and placed her hand on my bare chest where my heart is. "You're warm." She whispers, "I like it. It's comforting and nice. I feel whole again."

She ducks her head down, causing her blue hair to create a curtain around her face. Even though she's embarrassed, she doesn't move her hand.

"As for my eyes," she continued, looking back up, "Well, eyes are the gateway to the soul. We don't have a soul. Which is why we don't have a reflection, because mirrors show the true nature of someone's soul. If the soul is dead, then the mirror has nothing to reflect on, because the true nature of the soul is gone."

"Your eyes are just as beautiful as you are." I told her. "They remind me of the dark mountain sky. When the sky is a dark blue, not black." She smiles and pauses.

"I love you Gray." Juvia whispers.

There was silence then I open my covers and Juvia curls up against me. After she's settled with her head on my chest, I speak. "I love you too Juvia."

As I fall asleep with her cold body next to mine I hear her whisper something to me that makes me smile.

"Your eyes are as black as coal, snowman."