Author's Note: I'm pretty grateful to those who liked reading the story. Here's Chapter 2.

Disclaimer: Fairy Tail is by Hiro Mashima. I'm just here to write and have fun.


The Promise

Chapter 2 – Changeling

Two months into training and Juvia feels as if she can hold her own against Gray's Ice Devil Slayer attacks. Their training didn't start smoothly at first. During their first month Juvia kept holding back, frustrating Gray during their sparring matches. He would yell at her to give him a good fight but she would insist on not going all-out for fear of hurting him. One day, two giant monsters emerged from the frozen forest interrupting their training. Juvia was training near the cold lake when she heard Gray calling out to her. She ran as fast as she could without losing her footing and as she was approaching she could see clearly two gigantic beasts towering over Gray. Without missing a beat, she began calling out her attacks.

"Water Cane!" Juvia's attack hit the monster closest to Gray. Meanwhile, Gray used his ice-make magic to take down the other monster. The attacks did little damage to the monsters, swatting their attacks as if they were annoying flies. Juvia stood next to Gray, both assessing how they would attack and defend themselves from these beasts.

"Has Gray-sama fought these monsters before," Juvia asked with labored breath.

"Not this kind. I don't like how our magic didn't affect them much," Gray said with contempt.

"Juvia has an idea. Let's lure them to the lake."

"Ok. What's your plan," Gray asked while running alongside Juvia.

"Juvia wants to try her new magic against them. But Juvia will need one of Gray-sama's ice-make weapons."

Gray was suddenly intrigued by this. Just as he turned back to see if the monsters were following them, he noticed they didn't follow.

"Dammit! They must be stupid or something. They're not chasing after us. Keep heading to the lake. I'll lure them there," Gray said as he stopped and ran back. Juvia nodded and kept running.

"Ice-make Lance!" yelled Gray as he caught their attention. "That's right you dumb monsters. Come and catch me," taunted Gray.

The monsters began stumbling their way towards Gray as one of them tripped on itself and tumbles forward, bumping into the other monster and eventually creating a giant runaway snowball; a snowball heading straight towards Gray.

"What the…Ah crap!" Gray yelled as he started running back towards the lake. "Juvia! Whatever you're doing make it quick or…". Gray couldn't finish his sentence as he stared up to what looked to be a giant water monster coming from the lake. He ran up to the edge of the lake to see Juvia in the water creating this giant.

Juvia sees Gray and yells out, "Gray-sama!"

"Right!" answers Gray and without hesitation he creates Cold Excalibur and throws it up to the water giant. It grabs the ice-make sword and goes into a defensive stance. Gray hears the giant snowball coming and as soon as it was within range, Juvia gracefully commands the water giant to stab the snowball in its tracks. The move stopped the snowball but it also did something else they didn't expect. The two giant monsters transformed into two children as they both landed on the snow. Juvia ended her attack while Gray looked at the two children cautiously.

"Gray-sama they're just children. We should find out if they are ok," says Juvia as she emerged from the lake.

"Stand back and I'll check on them. I don't want a surprise attack," answers Gray.

Juvia stays in place while Gray walks closer to the two kids that are lying face-down in the snow. He crouches down to the one child with dark brunette hair. As he's about to check the kid's pulse, the brown haired kid jumps up and screams, "Kyaaaa! We come in peace!"

Gray falls back on his rear and stares at the kid in disbelief. The other kid with blonde hair starts to stir in the snow and gets up to see Juvia standing a few feet away. The blonde kid's eyes widen while staring at a concerned Juvia. "You! Why d'cha attack us lady? We were trying to talk to this guy here and you come out of nowhere and attack us! What's your problem lady?!"

"Uh no! Juvia is sorry! She thought you were about to attack Gray-sama since you and your friend…"

"Brother! He's my brother!" answers the blonde kid.

"Your brother were standing over Gray-sama menacingly. It was logical that Juvia thought you were about to inflict harm."

"Well you thought wrong lady. My brother and I were trying to get out of the forest and we heard noises coming from this direction. We thought you could help us find our way back to our parents."

Gray cuts in to make sense of it all. "Hold on. Why were you guys transformed into monsters anyway? Is that your takeover magic or something?"

"Takeover magic? Is that what we just showed you guys?" the dark-haired brunette kid replies. Gray and Juvia look to each other and then back to the kids to offer an affirmative reply.

Juvia slowly walks towards the kids as they sit up and dust the snow off their jackets. "We wish to help you and your brother as our way of sincerity. Please, let Juvia and Gray-sama help you and your brother find your way back to your parents."

The two boys stare at Juvia and suddenly fall smitten to her charms. Gray stares at the two boys and suddenly starts to laugh. It never fails. Juvia's love magic seems to work every day. She helps the two boys stand up and takes them back to the cottage where they can clean up and have some food before they head out to look for their parents.


Just before sunset, Juvia and Gray find the brothers' parents who were frantically looking for the boys in the forest. Juvia and Gray assured them that the boys were fine and that they were happy to help them find their way back to their parents. The mother was insistent on giving Juvia and Gray something as a token of appreciation. She ran back to her tent and a few minutes later emerged with a small bag which she handed to Juvia.

"Oh no, we can't take this. We're just happy to have helped them find their way back to you," Juvia says with modesty.

"I insist. My husband and I wouldn't feel right if we didn't give you and your husband something in return," the children's mother stated.

"Gray-sama and I are not married," Juvia answers politely. At that moment, Gray rests his hand on Juvia's shoulder and continues to say, "We should head back. We're losing light. Thank you for the kind gesture but she's right. We can't take this from you." Gray picks up the small bag from Juvia's grasp and was about to hand it back to the mother until she placed her hand out and stopped Gray from handing the bag back to her.

"Please. Take it as our way of saying 'thank you'. Our two boys could've been hurt out there but they were able to meet you two and now they're back here with us. I won't take 'no' for an answer."

Juvia and Gray smile to one another and relent. They know they've reached a draw at this point. Juvia takes the small bag and places it inside their duffle bag.

"You are too kind," replies Juvia. "Thank you again."

"Lady, are you leaving," asked the blonde precocious kid. A slight blush was evident on his cheeks as his brother stood next to him with a wide smile. Juvia looks at the two boys, smiles and gives them both a kiss on the cheek. Both boys stand there with their hands reaching up to where she placed a kiss and they immediately giggle and run off. Gray watches this and shakes his head, amused by Juvia's charms.


As Juvia and Gray bade their farewells, they walk back through the forest to their cottage. At some point during their walk, Gray and Juvia eventually held each other's hand. The lack of sun made the dark, cold forest almost unbearable for Juvia. She began walking closer to Gray for body warmth and as she was closing in, Gray slung his arm around her and held her flush against his body startling Juvia.

"I know you're cold. Just hold on to me to keep warm. We're almost at the cottage," Gray says as they pick up their pace. Juvia's teeth began to clatter as her body temperature can no longer keep the bitter weather at bay.

"J-J-Ju-Juv-ia is ge-ge-getting vvvvvery c-c-co-ld," exclaims Juvia as she starts to lose feeling in her extremities. Gray sees the cottage and can sense Juvia getting weaker. He then decides to carry her back in his arms and runs to the cottage. Juvia tucks her head along the crook of Gray's neck while trying desperately to stay warm.

The moment Gray enters the cottage, he looks at Juvia and sees that she is shivering severely from the bitter cold. He runs to the master bedroom and gently places her on the bed, pulling the bed covers over her to keep her from shivering. He runs to the bathroom to find some medicine to rub along her sore and frostbitten body. In the medicine cabinet he finds a bottle of ointment that they use for extreme cases such as this and runs back to the bedroom. He sees Juvia shaking under the covers and the only thought that crosses Gray's mind is to do the one thing to warm her up; he needs to remove all her clothes and rub her down with the special ointment. The thought makes Gray swallow hard and suddenly feel flustered. Juvia slowly opens her eyes to look at Gray, offering him a pleading look for help. She can't keep her eyes open long enough as she's beginning to lose consciousness. Gray realizes this and runs to her bedside. It's now or never.

"Juvia. I need to rub this medicine all over your body so you could regain your body temperature. I won't do it if you're not comfortable…".

Juvia replies, "Ju-Ju-Ju-via t-t-tr-usts Gr-gr-ay."

Upon hearing her response, Gray's cheeks and ears blush harder. Juvia sees this and offers him a faint smile before sliding further under the covers.

Next Chapter: "I Won't Hold You Back"


Author's Note: I want to say "Thanks!" to the following for your kind reviews: Martel, mayrakataryne, jessicuhxoo, Nephilim-Fairchild21, Darkhope, hanako-sempai, BrigitteoO. And there are a bunch of folks (you know who you are!) who started to Favorite or Follow my story. I am incredibly grateful for your support!

Chapter 1 title "The Long and Winding Road" is by The Beatles from the album Let It Be (1970).

Psst - Chapter 3 will contain lemons. Totally NSFW. ;)