Gray couldn't completely express what he was feeling in words. It felt as if his heart had just plummeted into the earth's core and he had lost the ability to breathe.

The ice mage watched as the blue haired girl in front of him sank to the floor and lost consciousness. Her whole body went still and Gray could only fear the worst. Mary was hovering over Juvia's body, laughing manically and then turning to Gray, offering the most devilish smile he'd ever seen.

"She didn't even put up a fight. She doesn't deserve to live, not as an unbeliever in Zeref, am I right Gray? This rain woman won't be here to bother her 'Gray-sama' any more." a sweet but acidic tone dripped from her lips.

Gray remained silent, a bunch of guards had come out of nowhere, grabbing Wendy, Lucy and Natsu who yelled and struggled against them, calling the ice mage for help. But he remained staring at the body on the floor thinking that she couldn't be dead, she isn't dead, she's still alive because Juvia isn't supposed to die. He had purposely kept her away and didn't tell her about his plan so he could keep her safe.

Just then, the ever beating rain began to get lighter, until it was a small drizzle. Gray held his breath, he had never wished so hard that the rain wouldn't stop, it won't stop. Because if it stops then Juvia would be dead and Juvia isn't dead she's still alive she has to be…

The sun broke through the clouds and the 'pitter patter' went away. Lucy gasped, Natsu growled and Wendy sobbed.

All Gray remembered from then on was the rush of pure rage running through him as he shot a shard of ice straight towards the poison mage, who was still laughing. She dodged out of the way last minute but failed and got clipped on the ribs. She too collapsed on the ground, blood seeping out of her right side. Gray pounded his fist into the ground and black ice surrounded the whole group, blocking out all the guards save the two who held his former guild mates.

"I can heal her! She's not dead!" Wendy wailed desperately, she tried to break free from the steel grasp the guard had on her, but the guard held firm. Mary slowly began to get up, but immediately halted when two more ice shards landed inches away from her.

"Move and see what happens." Gray threatened. The girl shivered at his words and stayed put.

"Gray! Just let me heal her! Please! I can do it!"

"Wendy…" Lucy sobbed.

"Let her go." Gray commanded. And the guard released her.

The young dragon slayer ran full speed and knelt next to Juvia's unconscious body, tears slipping uncontrollably down her face. She hovered her hands over the water mage and was about to chant when the poison mage called out hoarsely.

"Don't listen to that traitor! Kill the girl!"

The guard darted towards the sky dragon slayer, and Wendy felt a rush of desperation and anger flush through her as she turned round.

"I. Just. Want. to HEAL HER!" She yelled as a gush of wind, strong enough to knock an elephant over, pulsed through the air around the girl, effectively blowing everyone back up against the ice wall. Natsu groaned as his head hit the wall and Gray winced as his shoulder came into contact with the hard ice. At that point he was pretty sure his arm was broken as the pain shot through it and he was unable to move it.

Wendy knelt down next to Juvia once again and concentrated her energy on the older girl. The dragon slayer didn't want to believe she was dead. She ignored how the water mage's skin was paler than usual and that she didn't show any signs of breathing. She didn't think about the deathly poisonous feeling that hung in the air while everyone watched as the healing began. The only sound was of Mary groaning in pain.

Please, Juvia-san. Don't die, you can't die. Please stay alive. For your nakama…for Gray-san.

Gray watched intently as well, wishing the same things. The pain was still coursing through his arm but he could fix that later. The real pain was the slow cracking and breaking of his heart, barely keeping together as he watched Wendy stand up slowly, wiping tears from her eyes and letting her bangs fall in front of her face.

She shook her head sadly and his heart finally shattered.

He felt like the earth was falling out of the sky.

Juvia was dead.

That wonderful, beautiful, kind-hearted, selfless, crazy girl died, instead of his sorry excuse for a man.

There were so many things he had never gotten to say to her. She had died thinking he never returned her feelings. She died when their last encounter was a mixture of fear and confusion. He had left her for six months and she had gone without giving him time to explain.

Gray simply stared at the young girl in tragic silence. Lucy finally gave in, tears running down her face. Natsu was the only sound that could be heard, yelling that she wasn't dead, that she was still here that…

"I can still smell her!"

Lucy looked at him in confusion, and the pink-haired dragon slayer explained. "People lose their scent when they die. And Juvia hasn't lost hers yet! It's very faint but I can still smell her!"

"Just…stop, Natsu." Gray muttered, not wanting any false hope. But deep down, he really wanted Natsu to be right. If Juvia was still alive…no. He couldn't get his hopes up, not when the evidence was clear in front of him. Juvia was dead, just like all the other people he had ever loved.

Five minutes. Six minutes. Ten. Fifteen. Forty five. A whole hour had passed with no one talking as Wendy healed Gray's arm and treated the bump on Natsu's head. The moments after the tragedy were a blur to the group as Mary fainted from blood loss, and the guards were simply the punching bags for the team to let out their anger and frustration on, especially Gray. The silence hung like a cloud of poison in the air as if no one was able to open their mouth. Then, a miracle happened.

A roll of thunder sounded in the distance.

The sky darkened.

It started raining.

Immediately, all four mages looked up with hopeful eyes. The back of Gray's mind told him that it could've just been natural, but he didn't want to believe it. He embraced the cool touch of the raindrops on his skin.

Then, a weary voice: "G-Gray-sama…"

His head shot up so fast he almost got whiplash, and he turned to see the blunette, still lying on the floor, smiling weakly up at him with unshed tears glistening in her eyes.

Gray felt his heart restart again and wondered if it was him who had died instead, as the rain slowly vanished once more. This time, he welcomed the sunshine with a relieved smile.

#####

The group had set up camp in the thick forest outside the Avatar base. They had left in a hurry and knew that the Zeref followers would most probably be looking for them, but they were in too bad of shape to travel any more. Juvia was still weak, and tired from all the fighting and, not to mention dying, getting almost suffocated by hugs from Lucy and Wendy and then hiking into the forest for an hour before almost collapsing from fatigue. They were all tired so they just decided to set up camp and rest for a bit.

Gray sat by a stream in silence, watching the moonlight dance on the waves as they slipped past the pebbles in the water. The scent of dew on the soft grass that he felt underneath his fingers comforted him and the small breeze that had been blowing since nightfall ruffled his dark spikes. He had long since returned his hair to normal when Lucy had told him how terrible he looked. Honestly, he only put it like that to see how much he could get himself to look like his father.

The ice mage's thoughts ran through the events of the day. They had beaten Avatar and arrested the whole to mention Natsu kicking some godly ass. That was a nice touch, Gray still couldn't believe how much strong everything had gotten. Lucy had her star dress form stuff, Natsu could melt practically anything, Erza somehow had gotten even scarier over a year and even Wendy had improved more! He couldn't wait until they got back to Magnolia and could catch up again. He hadn't seen anyone in so long…

Except Juvia.

She had practically fainted with delight when he asked her to join him in training a year ago, and they had ended up living together in Rainfall village for six months. He didn't want to have to leave her without saying goodbye, but Erza told him it was for the best. At that moment, Gray had made a silent vow to make it back to her somehow. But it seems that wasn't necessary, for she had found him instead.

They hadn't spoken a word to each other since she came to. In fact, hardly any words were exchanged during their walk and setting up camp. Everyone was either too tired, or too deep in thought to talk. Natsu, Lily, Charle, Happy and Gajeel had fallen asleep back at camp, Wendy was healing Lucy's wounds, and Levy and Erza were out looking for food. Gray had escaped to the solitude of the stream after checking briefly on Juvia when she was asleep. He hated seeing her like that: Weak and broken. She looked as if she had seen a ghost, and she kept on mumbling something about grass and breezes or something as if she was having a nightmare.

The ice mage got up slowly, getting ready to go back when he suddenly felt two pale arms wrap around his waist and someone hug him from behind.

"Juvia is sorry if she worried Gray-sama." Her voice was muffled as she spoke into his back.

"Ah no it's cool. You only gave me a heart attack for an hour or so." He replied sarcastically.

"…Juvia was worried about Gray-sama, that's why she asked Wendy-san to bring her here. Juvia wanted to make sure Gray-sama was okay."

"Juvia, you almost died. You actually did die! Do you know how much we suffered during that hour that you were gone? I thought it was all over…"

"But Juvia is here now," She tightened her arms around him, and he realised that for once he didn't mind the contact, "And, trust me, Juvia wasn't very happy about dying either. She really wanted to stay alive."

Gray chuckled, and cracked a smile, a real smile for the first time in so long. He looked down at the two hands linked together in front of his stomach, and noticed something reflecting the moonlight and twinkling on her wrist.

Wait…is that…?

"Juvia…" He spun around and grabbed her wrist with the bracelet on, causing her to stumble back a bit. "Where did you get this?" It was a coincidence right? There's no physically possible way she could have gotten the bracelet. Perhaps this was just a similar one? But the thought was very weak, he could feel the familiar magic radiating from it.

"Ah yes, Juvia…met some people while she was dead."

"You…met…people?"

"Juvia got to speak with Gray-sama's family. With Ur-san, and Gray-sama's parents."

Gray didn't have the courage to speak then, for fear of what he might say. So Juvia continued on.

"Gray-sama's mother really wished she could see you again, and Father looked happy to be with her once more."

She saw my mom? Weirdly enough, Juvia's story didn't sound strange at all. Gray had heard about these near death experiences before.

"A-and Ur-san…" He could see some tears form in Juvia's eyes as she explained to him what she saw. "Ur-san wanted Juvia to remind you. She told me to say that she says 'I love you'."

Those words woke him up immediately. The entire time he had trained with Lyon and Ur, she had never actually said those three words. She was more the type of person who showed her love rather than talk about it, which is why Gray had problems saying it as well. Hearing Juvia say this on her behalf, on any other occasion, would've angered him. But for some reason, this felt genuine, real, as if he could hear Ur's voice whispering alongside Juvia's, both truly meaning what they were saying. It sounded stupid, but that was the only way to explain it. Juvia's story didn't sound strange at all to him. He'd heard about these near death experiences before.

The next few seconds went so fast that he didn't even have time to think about what he was doing. Before he knew it, Juvia was in his arms and he was hugging her into his chest as he tried to stop from crying, whispering the words over and over again, whether she heard them or not. He felt as if the gates holding them in were finally opened, Ur had pretty much given him permission to say it.

"I love you too…"

He hugged her tighter to ensure she heard the last word.

"Juvia."

A/N: FINALLY. This has just been sitting on my laptop for weeks now. Blame the exams.

R&R?

Thank you to BlueKoalaBear, hanako-sempai, agirlworthfighting4, Baby pink 'n Baby blue and Shinji777 for reviewing! And special thanks to Bubblycutie for pointing out my mistake, I've fixed it now :)