I'm so tired LOL! But THANK YOU to everyone with the follows and favorites! I really do appreciate it and it gives me an emotional boost! I hope you enjoy the chapter! If not, I don't blame you!


Gruvia Week: Day 3
Family l Listen

A few weeks had passed since Juvia's burial. Fairy Tail has successfully revived itself and everything seemed to be almost back to normal. Aside from the big blow to the members, nothing seems to have changed drastically other than new skills that every member has picked up during the year dedicated to training and learning. But it was no surprise that Gray still had some difficulty adjusting back to a regular life. Sure, many would argue that he has gone through about 90% of his life without Juvia's presence, but it appears that her existence did leave a heavy mark onto the Ice Mage. He remained depressed as he did not enjoy things he would normally and his body would reject any attempts at feeling better. Gray did not know how to live anymore. He could not simply move on. He spent most of his time sitting by the river, at the spot where Juvia had given him a scarf as a gift. He would reminiscence about it all the time and hate himself more for not treating her better.

"Gray," a deep, womanly voice called out to him. He did not respond immediately to it and just slowly turned his head slightly, just until a flash of crimson red appeared at the corner of his eye. With her scarlet red hair, it takes no second thought to identify Erza.

"What?" he responded minimally, staring back at the flowing river.

"We can talk about it," she said in a calming voice as she sat right beside him. "Or I can talk, and you can listen."

"...," the lack of response made it clear to Erza that Gray preferred to just talk right now. He shifted his position to bring his knees up to his chest as he buried his face between them.

"I was really hurt when Jellal killed Simon," she admitted without a crack in her voice. The smoothness and confidence in her voice proved that she has accepted what has happened. Although you may never be happy with a loved one gone, it is a good sign when you can openly talk about your experiences to help a friend. She had to go through a lot to get herself back on her feet. It was one thing to have a beloved friend pass away, it was another when that very friend was murdered by another loved one. Jellal may have committed one of the worst mistakes he has, but since then, he has made it a purpose in his life to make the world a better place through Crime Sorciere. For Erza, her past would come back to haunt her when she met Kagura Mikazuchi, Simon's little sister who swore to avenger her brother. She was fueled by hate and anger that she almost lost herself as a human being. She did not want that to happen to Gray. Despite how there was no sole person to blame for her death, Erza knew Gray very well that he was capable of destroying himself if he loses it. "I would always blame myself for Simon's death. But I am alive because of him. I have to keep walking in order to cherish the life he lived, and keep on living."

"Juvia's dead," he blunted said with a slight chill in his voice. "Even if she was still here, I would still be alive."

She sighed. Cause Gray was right. This was not some sort of movie where someone's death was honorable and done out of sacrifice. If Juvia had a choice, she would not let her body go like that. She would never leave Gray alone. Her own wishes betrayed her as she was taken away. She thought she was okay, she did not want Gray to worry, she was trying to be strong, just like anyone else would. The 'Fairy Queen' shuffled around to grab something that she was holding to give to Gray. It was a pink booklet with a red heart and white embroidery on it. It was like a matching set to go with the umbrella she would always carry. Since Gray would not turn to look at her, she simply placed it in between his feet for him to see. He immediately recognized it as something Juvia would own.

"What... is this?" he looked at Erza this time, with the hard cover in his hand.

"The battle of Tartaros may have destroyed the town, including Fairy Hills, but we put a barrier around it to prevent any personal belongings to get ruined," Erza explained. "After the disbandment, most of us grabbed a few things, but left everything else. Lucy and I were looking to see if there should anything that ought to be buried with Juvia or preserve for the guild's memory."

"Why are you giving this to me?"

"It's Juvia's journal, or diary. Everyone agrees that you should be the one to read it. To know what Juvia thought-"

"I dont want it," he immediately shut down the idea of him reading through the book. He slammed the cover to the ground and started walking away. Disappointed, but expected this sort of outcome, Erza accepted Gray's reaction and continued on. She purposely left the book at the spot where he dropped it and headed for the opposite direction. With her intuition answering back to her correctly, the Ice Mage returned moments later to pick up the journal where he keeps it on him for the remainder of the day. He had a destination to go to in mind.

The travel time did not take too long for he has visited this place many times, but not lately. He could always allow his body to just get there mindlessly without any given thought. The path would always be the same, there would never be a detour. The thing about this place had never changed each time he would come see it. It would always be the same things to greet him all in the same places. But there was no one to greet him but a little wooden sign.

It was a bitter family reunion to Gray. Not only did he feel like a failure as a son and a man, but he also felt like he did not deserve to be in the presence of his father. He was not proud of letting someone go like that. But the Fullbuster son has come here to remind himself that he has gone through deaths of people he loved and has come out a better, stronger person. He leaned against the broken stone wall that he would usually sit on across from the grave of his parents. This would be a good time to examine the diary that Juvia had in her possession. But before he did so, he looked up at the sky. Since his hometown was up in the north, it would usually be snowing around this time. But on this very rare occasion, there were just grey clouds that covered everything above him. It was quite irritating for Gray to see just clouds. It was like Juvia was being shut in the heavens through the clouds. Or Gray would rather have it rain. There has not been a single drop of it ever since that day. Where there is rain, there is Juvia, right?

Gray had to mentally slap himself right there. Juvia had never liked being associated with the rain, it would always follow her around. Sure, water may be the element that had fit with Juvia best, but she did not want to be compared to the gloominess and sadness that rain gave to other people. It was a burden for her to always have the rain around. In fact, she became a more cheeful person because of the sun and the warmth it gave instead of the cold water droplets. She loved Fairy Tail because of its warm atmosphere, and she loved Gray for showing her how beautiful the warm sun is. And if Juvia could ask for anything right now, it would be Gray to always be warm, to think of Juvia was a warm person. But even so, having a little bit of rain would give Gray some comfort to think that her presence was still around, watching over him to give him some guidance.

He closed his eyes and flipped to a random page in the book. He read it out loud for his parents to hear. This was a family moment he wanted to do.


June 19, XXXX
Wednesday
Juvia successfully managed to sneak into Gray-sama's shower and...

Maybe not that page.

Decemeber 30, XXXX
Friday
Gray-sama and I had a romantic job together at the children's elemetary school of Magic. We were in charge of teaching children the basics of elemental Magic. All the kids were so cute! Juvia has decided that when she becomes Gray-sama's wife, she wants to have five kids! But maybe Gray-sama would only like to start off with two... Juvia wants have her children named Ash and Marina! Since Gray-sama and father share names of similar color, Juvia wants to do the same! Juvia's name is rain in Spanish, so Juvia wants her daughter to do the same. Marina We would be one big happy family where Juvia can be the best wife for her beloved!

He immediately closed the book and placed it in his lap. It was enough reading for now. He does not know why, but he just smiled at how silly Juvia's random writing was. She was full of sweetness. Her fantasizing was a bit over the top and more detailed that he thought it would be, but that was just how Juvia was. She cared a lot about Gray and he should have cared a lot more about her, or at least showed it.

He laughed to himself, but cried at the same time. He was really sad, but reading Juvia's writing made it feel like she was talking to him. It made him feel a bit better. So he kept on reading random pages. He wanted to keep 'listening to her' with his family by his side. It was almost like introducing Juvia to them, at least in his mind. He remembered as a child he would often talk to the grave of his parents. Hearing himself talk would keep him sane, to remind himself that he was still alive. Juvia could still be somewhere out there. Who knows, perhaps he will meet her again someday like he did with his father.


Totally failed this chapter LOL sounded better in my head oh well... hopefully I won't procrastinate too much for the rest of the week because my break is now over... I know I don't want to stay within the exact days and dish out something within 24 hours, but I want to for the challenge heh. Thanks for reading and I hope you look forward to the next!