AN: More Gray, Juvia and Dragons, people! I'm overwhelmed with the responses! Thank you so much!

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Dragon Heart

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Six months.

He couldn't believe he'd been away for six months, Gray thought as he got a glimpse of Dragon's Edge from his boat. He could sail a few days more until he got to Berk, with the provisions he had, but he just needed something familiar for a night and then he could go. He was too exhausted and needed to rest before appearing half-dead back home.

By the looks of it from afar, no lights or smoke fire, everyone had moved out – at least for the time being – which was understandable, Dragon's Edge was never meant to me their permanent home, just their Headquarters while they were after the Hunters inside their territory.

He docked and grabbed his bag and was pleased to see it was still in good shape – meant no one attacked the base since he left. Perhaps, if the others weren't too involved into their own lives back at Berk, they could come back there for a while. He missed the Edge.

He missed his old life.

Gods above, he missed his dad, his dragons, his friends and Thor be good, he really missed his girlfriend. He hoped she was doing alright back at Berk – the few letters he exchanged with his father and Erza had been all business.

Gray walked up to the clearing they usually used at nights they wanted to have a bit of a party and saw some utensils there, clean utensils. The coal at the firepit didn't seem to be old as well. Someone was living there.

Hearing a sound coming from the forest, voices, footsteps and something bigger now that he paid attention, Gray ran to hide behind the common outpost, taking his sword from its sheath and getting ready to fight if necessary.

His heart almost stopped when he heard a too familiar voice coming closer.

"Yes, Juvia knows you think worms, grubs and maggots are a treat and you love it, Bozu, but this is not human food. Especially raw." Gray couldn't move, heart beating fast inside his chest and he heard a snort coming from a dragon and then a grumble of protest. "I am not eating that. We've had this conversation for years."

Still unable to move, Gray heard the familiar grumble of laughter of… Avalanche? Was he there with her?

"Don't gloat just because Juvia eats fish like you, Ava." Juvia chuckled and the sounds stopped and Gray peeked from behind the hut and saw Juvia, his Juvia, scratching Bozu under his chin, to the dragon's delight, as it moved its entire body, happily. "Don't worry, Bozu. Mama still loves you even if you eat all those disgusting things."

Avalanche seemed to want Juvia's attention as well and rubbed his head on hers and Juvia chuckled, petting the dragon with her other hand and then, suddenly, Avalanche's head turned the way Gray was, he sniffed the air and then ran towards the hut just in time the large dragon bounced on him.

Unable to see what caused Avalanche's behavior, Juvia immediately reached for her double spear and went into battle mode, Bozu bared his teeth until he smelled who it was, and he calmed down, to Juvia's surprise.

"Yes, it's me, buddy. Nice seeing you too." Gray said to Avalanche, his sword falling on the ground, Avalanche licked Gray's hair, making cooing and happy noises, bouncing around him. "Hey, watch the hair."

He finally looked in Juvia's way and saw she was paralyzed, her spear in her hand, her hair unusually loose and looking like a beautiful Valkyrie ready to fight to Valhalla if necessary were not for her wide eyes, looking at him as if she was seeing a ghost.

"Gray-sama?" Her question was barely louder than a whisper.

"Hi." He said, sheepishly and the next thing he knew, Juvia threw her spear on the floor and ran his way. Gray opened his arms just in time she threw herself on them and suddenly, everything was right in the world when he hid his face on her neck, smelling her scent. His arms were around her waist, taking her off the ground while she had her own around his shoulders.

"Oh, gods." She whispered over and over again and when he looked up, she kissed him, then again, again and again. "You are here."

"I am." He told her between kisses and chuckled when he put his legs around his hips. "Why are you still here? Why aren't you at Berk?"

"Couldn't leave." She kissed him, that time coaxing his mouth open for a proper kiss and Gray all but melted. "Juvia was waiting for you to come back."

"And I did." He told her, a hand on her cheek. "I'm sorry I left, I'll tell you everything-"

"Later." She gave him another kiss and unwrapped her legs from around him and stood on her own. "You look tired, you need to eat and take a bath."

"I-"

"Don't get me wrong, Gray-sama, but you do need that bath."

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Of course Juvia made sure to feed him while she asked for Bozu to lit up a fire to warm up some water to fill in her bathtub and Gray didn't know how much he needed to eat something that tasted good until he dug in some yak chops Juvia cooked.

"Come, Gray-sama." She grabbed his hand once he was done with the food and pointed to the now filled bathtub. Gray took his hand and stood up, pulling his armor away and Juvia watched until she saw the dark linen shirt and she helped him take it off, then, not even caring where it landed.

She touched the new scars on his chest, curious, but without saying a word and Gray watched her furrowed brows yet she asked nothing. The blunette undid his belt and Gray took a step behind to kick his boots off and take off his pants – there wasn't really any shame in neither of them, seeing they had done way more than seeing each other's naked bodies.

The moment Gray got into the bathtub, he moaned with how good it felt, his muscles relaxed with the hot water and Juvia left for a few moments and returned with some soap and cloth to clean him.

Juvia kneeled next to the tub and helped him clean his arm and then his chest, both in comfortable silence and when Juvia got a jug of water and stood behind him, pouring water into his hair and then soaping it, massaging his skull, Gray moaned. Just the act of washing his hair was an immensurable pleasure. How long was it since he actually felt clean?

The water was almost lukewarm when they finally removed all the grime from his body and hair – Juvia had put some sort of oil in his hair to smell it better, she offered him a towel and while he dried himself off, she went to the chest she kept her clothes and brought a pair of his linen pants and a shirt.

He raised an eyebrow and she shrugged. "Juvia keeps some of your clothes here to make sure they would be clean when you returned. She was right."

"Of course you were." He rolled his eyes and started to put the pants on and foregone the shirt for the moment – it was warm enough inside. He dried his hair the best he could and the moment he put the towel away, it seemed all the exhaustion he felt for the past six months, caught up on him. He still needed to talk to Juvia before he could rest. "Juvia…" He started, but she shook her head and offered him her hand and he took it.

Gray frowned when she started to lead them upstairs to where she had her bed and Gray didn't have the strength to fight her off over it, even if he knew he'd never protest.

"Lie down." Juvia told him and he did so, as if in a daze, everything around him, close to fade as much as he tried to fight. "Now, you are going to rest."

"I need to-" The mattress felt so good, he could feel every bit of fight inside him going away, his muscles relaxing even more.

"Sleep." She told him, pulling covers over him.

"Stay." Gray asked her, grabbing her hand. "Please."

She didn't hesitate to answer. "Okay."

Juvia lied down on her bed and a second later, Gray was practically lying atop of her, feeling her soft warm body close to his. She caressed his hair and it was the last thing he remembered before falling asleep.

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It had been months since Gray had slept that well, he concluded when he opened his eyes, and that he had slept through the night, actually. He looked to the side of the bed Juvia was supposed to be and found it empty and cold.

Ignoring his urges to just lie down and sleep again, Gray stretched his arms and got up from the bed, finding the shirt Juvia had given him the night before and his boots.

Once dressed, he came down the stairs, feeling more relaxed than ever and the moment he opened the hatchet of her hut, Avalanche was there, waiting for him and before Gray could even say a word, the Stormcutter jumped on him – throwing him onto the wooden floor and started to sub its face on Gray's whole body, cooing happily in greeting.

"Hey, Avalanche! Sorry I didn't speak to you much last night." Gray laughed. "I was a bit of a mess and I thought you guys were at Berk, not here." To Avalanche, it was code to pretty much use his whole upper body to rest on Gray's, leaving him without breath. "Alright, buddy, you are literally killing me, here. Get off, please."

"Thank you." Gray took a deep breath when the dragon lifted itself off of him and allowed him to get up. The Viking reached for Avalanche and started to pet him just the way it liked, making the dragon purr in pleasure. "I've missed you, buddy." Gray confessed. "I missed flying too." That's when he noticed the saddle on the dragon with a note on it. "Wait… Did Juvia put your saddle on?" Avalanche cooed in happiness and Gray reached for the paper.

Gray-sama, when you wake up, join Juvia and Bozu at the Southeast side of the island. Juvia knows you probably miss flying so she got Avalanche ready for you! See you soon!

He couldn't help but to laugh at how well she knew him. Gray looked to the dragon, whose big eyes were curious. "I chose a good one, didn't I?" Avalanche grumble a positive reply. "Or rather she chose me and I was helpless but to chose her back, but either way." He shrugged. "Ready for a flight, Avalanche? Through the scenic way, please." The dragon all but jumped in excitement and Gray laughed. "Yeah, I'm excited too, buddy."

Gray got on top of the dragon as if he had done it just the day before, and the moment Avalanche soared through the skies, Gray felt the freedom he sought so much and was only truly capable of, on dragonback.

It took them a while to get to the spot Juvia mentioned because Gray and Avalanche were reconnecting and using their old moves to see how rusty they were and the Rider decided they needed to practice a lot, but later, after he found his girlfriend.

Finding Juvia and Bozu wasn't too hard, and not just because her Dragon was just as big as his, but also because it seemed Juvia had been planning on having a picnic. She waved when she saw him approach and Gray landed next to Bozu, who was digging for worms but bared his teeth at Gray aggressively before digging again. It was odd, Bozu always liked Gray, why would he act like that?

"Good afternoon, Gray-sama!" Juvia told him when he was close enough and Gray frowned.

"Afternoon? For how long did I sleep?" He was surprised.

"It's the middle of the afternoon." She told him and kissed once he was within reach and he sighed into it. "Juvia figured you needed it."

"I must've looked like death last night." Gray sighed.

"You were exhausted." She put her arms around him. "Still are, actually. We'll sleep early again tonight, your father will probably be here tomorrow morning."

"My father?" Gray asked, being pulled by his hand towards the food and drinks she had prepared for them.

"Juvia sent a Terror Mail last night after you slept." She told him, sitting on the grass and opening a basked and the smell… Gray's stomach made a loud sound and she giggled. "It probably arrived this morning and he's probably just barked a bunch of orders on how he wanted things done, hopped on his dragon and is in his way here."

"I was planning on going back there in a couple of days…" Gray moaned when he bit the bread (she had made fresh bread, dead gods he loved her)

"He's your father." Juvia chuckled. "Of course he's coming. Juvia would've done the same if the roles were reverse. Silver-sama and Juvia had a deal wherever you appeared, the other would send a Terror Mail so the other could move. It turns out, Juvia was the lucky one."

Gray drank some mead and asked: "You've been here the entire time?"

Juvia put a stay lock of her hair that wouldn't stay on her braid, behind her ear. "Most of it. Juvia goes to Berk once a month for supplies, but just for a day." She shrugged. "Everyone returned there after a month, with you gone to infiltrate and with Natsu-sun gone to the Western Market, the Hunters all but stopped so they decided to go back home until we were all reunited again." Juvia told him. "Juvia didn't have much to go back to there, and someone needed to take care of the Edge, so she volunteered."

"Wait… Natsu went undercover too?" Gray asked.

"A few days after you did. He left a note for Lucy-san, returned just last week." Her tone was a little bitter and he knew he deserved that – actually he deserved to be thrown into an arena with no weapons and let her gut him with her double spear. A little bitterness was nothing compared to it.

"I'm so sorry, I wanted to…"

"Juvia knows." She sighed sadly and looked at him. "Erza-san explained it to me but… we could've gone together. Juvia is a Berserker, Gray-sama. We are known for being… well, berserk. Having me by your side could've made your cover even more believable and it… it would've saved us both from the heartache."

Gray reached for her and pulled her to him until she was straddling him. "I am sorry." He said slowly. "I regretted not taking you the moment I left, but by then… I'm so, so sorry." Gray pulled her for a kiss and she sighed into it, as did he – the night before he had been too tired to even kiss her the way she should've been kissed but now that both of them were rested, he kissed her as if life depended on it and in a way, it did.

"Promise you won't leave me behind again." She panted when he started to kiss her throat.

"I won't leave you behind again, no matter the mission." Gray agreed easily, focused on his task of thoroughly kissing his girlfriend. "And I will show how sorry I am as many times necessary."

Juvia laughed at that. "Okay. Juvia will hold you to it."

They started to kiss again, touch – gods, he missed her warm skin against his own, he didn't know how much until that moment – and grind. Oh, he really missed the griding. Things were beginning to get really heated when they felt a rather large dark blue head sneak its way between their stomachs, pushing them apart.

"Bozu!" Juvia exclaimed and noticed his mouth full of worms. "We already talked about this: thank you for trying to feed me but I will not eat worms!" She was exasperated and failed to notice the dragon's glare at Gray, confusing him even more than before – he had a feeling the interruption hadn't been about worms at all.

After telling her dragon off until he returned to eat – meanwhile Avalanche let out a gurgle of laughter (at Gray or at Bozu he couldn't say) – the mood was ruined and they resumed their picnic while Gray told her about his mission and Juvia filled him in on news about their friends.

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"Okay, Avalanche, you have to help me." Gray whispered to his dragon while Juvia caressed her dragon a few meters away at the stables (who, by the way, was glaring at Gray again and every time the humans seemed to try to get closer, he got in the way). The owl-like dragon tilted his head in question. "I want to be alone with Juvia and Bozu's been acting very weird towards me and I need some alone time with her, buddy." Gray told him and the gurgle of laughter that time was definitely at Gray's predicament. "Yeah, laugh away, asshole." Gray rolled his eyes and pushed the dragon (who didn't bulge) away and Avalanche gurgled more. "Alright, alright. Can you please, keep him here with you tonight? I know you two sleep in Juvia's hut now – nice job on protecting her, by the way, buddy–" it earned him a scratch on the chin "but we really need alone time."

Avalanche made a questioning sound and Gray's face turned red as he whispered. "Mate, Avalanche. I am really hoping to mate with her tonight and I don't need two dragons inside her hut listening to the whole thing!"

Finally the dragon understood his human's needs and made an agreeable sound. It really seemed as if his human needed mating by the way he was smelling whenever he looked at his female.

"Thank you." Gray sighed in relief. "You are the best friend I could ask for."

"Gray-sama?" Juvia asked and Gray looked up just to see Bozu wrapped around her protectively, baring his teeth at him from behind her, Juvia didn't suspect a thing. "Shall we retire?"

"Yeah, sure." Gray scratched Avalanche's head one more time whispering good night before he walked away.

"No, Bozu. Stay." Juvia told her dragon, who was about to follow his human. "Juvia will be fine, alright? You'll hear if she's in trouble. Good night, baby." She cooed and the moment she turned her back and Gray looked over his shoulder, he saw the dragon hiss at him once more.

What was going on with that dragon?

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"Son!" Silver Fullbuster – Chief of the Hairy Hooligans and Berk – yelled before he even got off from the saddle of his blue and yellow Deadly Nadder, Icepick, and the moment he landed, he ran towards his son, giving him a bone crushing hug. "Oh, you are alright after all."

"I knew he would be." Juvia's friend, Gajeel Redfox said, landing on his Razorwhip, Metalicana – a dragon covered in metal armor and two talons on each foot, spiky sail and spikes all along its wings. His tiny girlfriend, Levy McGarden, blue hair just like Juvia and an expert on dragon physical proprieties riding right in front of him, smiled and waved at Gray.

Apparently, once they heard their friend returned, all the other Riders decided to come back to the Edge, at least for a short visit, all of them landing around their Chief.

"I'm alright, dad." Gray told his father. Silver and Gray's appearances were uncanny with its similarities – they looked like copies of each other, their only difference being age and different scars.

"Good." Silver smiled and turned to Juvia. "Oh, my daughter, how have I missed you!"

Wait, daughter?"

"Hello, father." Juvia answered shyly and accepted the hug giving an apologetic smile to Gray over his father's shoulder.

"Father?" Gray couldn't help but to ask when the older Fullbuster released the young woman, who ran to greet their female friends with hugs as well.

"Yes." Silver nodded and gave no further explanation, knowing full well Gray intended Juvia to be his bride when the time came, making the young man blush. "Now, tomorrow we can talk about business. Today, we celebrate! Natsu and Gray returned from their journeys safe and sound!"

"You just want a party!" Gray accused his father.

"Right on!"

"Party! And we brought boar!" Natsu celebrated as well and told hos Monstrous Nightmare: "Happy, fire in the hole!" He pointed at the firepit and the dragon hit it.

"I still can't believe, after all these years, you named your Dragon 'Happy'." Gray said, approaching his pink haired.

"Hey, I don't complain about yours being named 'Avalanche', do I?" Natsu snorted and both bumped fists. "Nice to see you are not dead."

"Yeah, feeling's mutual."

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While most of the girls were inside finishing the boar, they would roast for the celebration, the guys were around the pit, their dragons either flying around or playing with each other near the woods.

Gray decided that if someone knew what could be happening with Bozu – who, once again, during the day had done his best to keep Gray and Juvia apart – it was that group.

"So… something's weird is happening with Bozu." Gray told the guys, who frowned and looked at the dragon in question, gurgling laughter at Lucy's Nadder, Stellar, as they played. "He just won't let me and Juvia be alone. Like, we are about to kiss and suddenly he's pulling her away, I swear one time today he actually dragged her with his mouth. Perhaps it's a territorial thing with Juvia?"

"Strange." Silver said. "He was fine with me."

"Yeah, me too." Natsu agreed.

"Same." Gajeel answered but then seemed to think. "I don't think it's territorial per se otherwise him and Avalanche would've gone down a long time ago."

"That's true." Gray agreed. "Well, that's one theory out of the window."

"But I think…" Gajeel thought for a moment. "I think he's mad at you about leaving Juvia behind and he doesn't want for it to happen again."

"What?"

"You… you didn't see the way she was when you left, man." Natsu was the one to speak, then. "She was… devastated. Bozu tried to cheer her up but all she wanted to do was to be locked on her hut."

"I took a while for her to feel better, almost a month." Gajeel told him, red eyes getting darker. "We knew it was a mission, she did too but even so, she was… not that Juvia." He pointed to the communal hut where they could see Juvia being her radiant self. "She was a shell."

"Maybe Bozu made the connection and is trying to protect her from you." His father told him.

Gray thought it over for a moment; it made sense, Raincutters were extremely loyal and if Gray had hurt Juvia…

"Oh, Thor." Gray groaned. "I'm going to have to apologize to the bloody dragon and ask his permission to resume dating Juvia, won't I?"

"Pretty much."

"Yeah."

"Be grateful Bozu's not a Razorwhip, otherwise you wouldn't get a word in."

"I hate my life."

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The boar was roasting when Gray excused himself for a moment to go to his hut where he found his still unpacked bag and found a little box inside it, put it on his pocket and quietly went to the stables.

Spotting Bozu wasn't too difficult, he was at his bay and the moment he stepped inside, Avalanche was behind him and Gray felt much better to have some backup.

"Hey, Bozu." Gray greeted the dark blue dragon who hissed. "Yeah, you are pissed at me and I finally figured out the reason. You are mad because I left Juvia, right?" The snort he received from Bozu and Avalanche was answer enough. "Alright, I messed up, I was wrong." He told the dragon, he took a step closer. "But I was trying to protect her too, you know?" Bozu's head tilted to the side. "Where I went… not the best place for women to be, not even one as formidable at defending herself as Juvia.

"It was a dangerous place and if she had gone, you wouldn't have come with us just like I couldn't bring Avalanche." He hoped that held some weight and thankfully, he could see some tension leave the Raincutter. "Look, I haven't told her yet, but when I am ready, I will marry her." He tool the box from inside his pocket and opened, showing the dragon a betrothal necklace with a dragon and a raindrop on it. "It means… she'll be my mate forever and I won't hurt her again. We will be together.

"You want to protect her? I do too so it will be much better if we cooperate with each other instead of fighting." He told the dragon, getting close enough to touch but not daring to just yet. "Please, I will help you keep her safe and you'll help me do the same." The dragon made a dubious sound. "I know, I know, you'll keep an eye on me but… can I please have some time with her?" He asked, finally caressing the dragon's snout. "I hurt her that badly again and you can roast me, how about that?" Bozu gurgled some laughter and Gray felt calmer. "Do we have a deal?"

After a moment, Bozu's snout pressed itself harder on Gray's hand and the human knew they had reached an agreement. "Thank you. I will not disappoint you." Bozu's sound of warning was enough warning and Gray chuckled.

"I need to get back to the party." He told the dragon. "If you could keep the necklace between us, I'd appreciate. I'd like a few more months before she thinks I'm proposing to put a blanket over the whole 6 months away thing." Gray caught himself. "Alright, you can't actually speak so you can't tell her anything. Well, even better." He snorted. "Thanks, Bozu, see you tomorrow for training. You too, Avalanche." Gray told his own dragon and walked out of the stables back to his hut where he'd hide the small box.

Before putting it away, he took a last look on the betrothal necklace. He had commissioned it three months before and it was a dragon curled around a drop of water and his hand sweated a little bit, picturing the moment he'd give it to her. He closed the box and put it away.

Soon, when he was ready, he'd give it to her.

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AN: Well, someone had to be pissed off at Gray and this time, was Juvia's dragon, seeing she doesn't seem to be able to get angry at him herself. HAHA

Hoped you enjoyed the ride (pun intended lol) and thanks to: light is in the dark, Nap Team Captain, Fin-Fish Jun-Tenshi, Waffels, Lavi-hime 4E -3, JayScriptMage345, Freecia(aka meowica97 haha), Guest, Martygruvialover, Guest, marie7730, Snoopy A, Jesscc98, Kiitcatt, AliceRedfox, janestripes, 3-Kitty-3, icy-rain499, Dragonll237and MariFive! You guys made me so happy with your support! Thank you very much and I hope you enjoyed the finale!

03/02/2018 ~ BonneyQ