It began raining as the wizards of Fairy Tail lounged inside the guild hall.

"Wow, I didn't know it was supposed to rain today." Mira said pleasantly surprised as she looked out the window.

Everyone else felt the uneasiness of the rain, but soon ignored it, returning to their rambunctious nature. Everyone except Cana & Natsu, they also found it odd that the rain started falling out of nowhere, but unlike the others they knew of it source.

They exchanged looks of sorrow and Cana soon went back to drinking, this time on her 30th glass. Natsu on the other hand went outside, gazing at the sky as the rain fell onto his face. He closed his eyes, he could feel the pain and mourning behind it. It fell the same as it did that night.

Juvia.

…

Juvia stood silent for a few moments as she stood at Gray's gravestone. "Gray." It was the 5th time she said his name aloud, almost as if she expected his to rise from his coffin, but she knew it was just a fantasy.

"I…I'm sorry I haven't come to see you." She said nervously. She fidgeted about, unsure of what to say. She had dreaded coming to this place, it reminded her of what she lost. Everything she thought she knew was lying in a plot 6 feet under her, and she wasn't ready to face it. But she persevered.

"How…how have you been?" she asked the tombstone as if she expected an answer. "I've been alright, the guild has been doing pretty well since you went away." A small smile appeared on Juvia's face, "Erza recently returned from her sabbatical," however the smile began to fade, "but she only comes to accept job requests, she hardly talks to anyone anymore. Master Makarov only comes out to attend Guild Master Meetings & Mira has started going on missions." Juvia clutched her hand to her chest.

"I miss you so much…both of you." She said as she quickly glanced at Lucy's gravestone. "I thought I was ready to face the both of you, I thought I could come here and be calm like Natsu-"Juvia began to sob, "but I can't. I still can't bring myself to think of you two…it hurts too much. What am I even doing here? Talking to gravestones, I must be crazy." She turned around to leave but she was stopped by a voice.

"Leaving so soon?"

Juvia's eyes opened in shock as she turned around towards the graves. There Lucy & Gray stood on top of their gravesites, smiling at her. Juvia began to cry harder as she ran to them, hugging both of them. She thought it was an illusion that she may have gotten sick during her mission, but she didn't care. In that moment her dear friends were alive and speaking to her.

"Why are you crying?" Gray said to her as she backed away from hugging the two. She wiped the tears from her eyes, "I…thought you two were….gone forever." She said through her sobs. Gray put his head on top of her head. "Well we're not so stop crying." He smirked at her.

Juvia managed to smile, "Oh Gray."

"How have you been?" Lucy asked her friend.

"I've been getting along ok." Juvia answered with a smile still wiping tears. The three began to talk about a multitude of things as the rain began to subside. They talked about the state of the guild, the weather, Fiore and tons of other topics, the three of them laughing and talking like old times. Juvia was enjoying herself for the 1st time in a while, that is until Lucy asked her a certain question.

"Where's Natsu?"

Juvia froze and looked down at her feet ashamed. "Why do you want to know about him?"

"Well he always comes here so I thought you finally decided to come here with him." Lucy answered slightly confused.

Juvia looked at her friends regretfully. "I have something to tell you two…especially you Gray."

Lucy & Gray looked at each other confused, Gray shrugging his shoulders. They turned their attention back to Juvia. "Ok, shoot."

Juvia let out a deep sigh and told her about the events that had fell upon her and Natsu over the past year. How she made it appoint to avoid the Dragon Slayer, blaming him for their deaths but she slowly began to open back up. She told them of their recent mission, and lastly she told them of the night they spent together; oddly enough the more she talked about Natsu, the more she blushed and smiled.

"That's what happened." She finished.

There was an awkward silence for a moment, none of the three wizards saying a word. Lucy & Gray looked at each other once more, smiles crept onto their faces as they suddenly burst into laughter. Juvia opened her eyes, thoroughly confused at what was going on in front of her.

"What's so funny?"

"Is that all that happened?" Lucy asked still laughing. "We thought something serious had happened."

"This is serious!" Juvia protested, her face red.

"Well it sounds like to me that you have taken a liking to the idiot." Gray remarked with a smirk on his face.

Juvia looked as Gray ashamed, thinking he was angry with her. "No Gray, it's not like that. I still-"Gray cut her off, placing his hand on her head.

"Look Juvia, it's ok. You don't have to worry about me." He said with a smile.

"But-"

"I'm just glad you're happy. I'd actually be angry if you and Natsu WEREN'T hitting it off."

Juvia looked at him confused, "What do you mean?"

"You didn't know?" Lucy answered slightly confused.

"Know what?"

"You're all he talks about when he comes here." Gray said to a shocked Juvia.

"What?"

"Is there something clogging your ears or something?" Gray asked slightly irritated. "Natsu never shuts up about you."

"Yeah." Lucy added. "It's always Juvia this, Juvia that. You'd think you stopped the sun from falling out of the sky." She smiled at her still confused rain woman.

"But why?"

"Well at 1st he said it had to do with the promise he made, but I guess over time he started to get feelings for you."

Gray put his hands behind his head, "Yeah, you should have seen him before you two went on the mission. The idiot kept smiling that dumb smile of his the whole time he talked to us, it was really annoying." She closed his eyes and gave a smug smirk as he looked into the sky. "That guy, he always was too dumb to stay sad."

"Do you like him?" Lucy abruptly asked Juvia.

Juvia's face grew red, she looked at Lucy then back at Gray as if he was going to disapprove. "Well do you like him or not?" Gray asked irritated.

"I…I don't really know. I definitely feel SOMETHING when I'm around him, but I can't really figure out what it is."

Lucy chuckled, "Well, have you talked to him about it?"

"No I haven't."

"Why not?"

"Because I-"she once again looked at Gray.

"Are you still worried about how I feel? I told you as long as you're happy I'm fine."

"I know but-"

"Juvia!" Gray's tone turned serious, he walked towards the frightened water wizard and gave her a hug. She burrowed herself into his chest, she had missed him so much, and she inhaled as much of his scent as she could as he spoke.

"If you don't take this chance, you may regret it for the rest of your life." He rested his head on top of hers. "You being happy with someone else is way better than you holding a torch for a dead man. Don't torture yourself." He then kissed her forehead.

Tears fell down Juvia's face as she listened to Gray's words, he stepped back towards Lucy; the pair smiling at their friend.

Juvia wiped the tears from her face and smiled at her two friends. "Thank you, Lucy…Gray. Thank you so much."

Lucy smiled wide, "Don't mention it, that's what friends are for right?"

Juvia simply nodded.

"Now don't you think you should go tell him how you feel?" Lucy asked pointing behind the trees.

Juvia looked confused and turned around to her surprise she saw Natsu coming up the hill. She turned around towards Lucy & Gray astonished "How did you-"to even her greater surprise, Lucy & Gray were now gone as if they had never even been there. She stared at their gravestones confused.

"Juvia!" Natsu called running towards her. "Are you alright?" he asked as he walked next to her.

"Yes…I'm fine." She answered disconnected still analyzing the graves.

"You talked to Lucy & Gray?"

Juvia turned around and smiled at him, "Yes, I did."

Natsu looked up at the sky, it was dusk. "Well, let's head back to the guild. It's getting late."

"Ok." Juvia agreed as the two began to walk.

"Juvia!" she heard a voice called her as Natsu continued to walk ahead, Juvia turned around and saw Lucy & Gray once again standing on their graves. Lucy waving at her friend.

"Don't be a stranger alright! Gets kinda lonely up here. Make sure you bring Natsu next time too!" he smiled wide, Gray giving his usual cocky smirk.

"I will!" she called back waving.

"Juvia come on, we won't be able to see if it gets dark!" Natsu called a small ways away.

"Sorry! I'm coming!" she yelled as she ran to catch up. When she reached him the two began walking side by side again.

"Who were you talking to?" Natsu asked confused as they made their way to the Fairy Hills gate.

"No one." Juvia replied smiling.

Natsu still looked at her confused, "Alright, well…you want to visit them tomorrow, together?" Natsu asked nervously.

Juvia nodded, "Yes, I'm sure Lucy & Gray would like that…I would too."

"Alright." Natsu smiled wide showing his white teeth. Juvia playfully pushed him away. "What are you smiling for?" she asked with a small smile.

Natsu regained his bearings and started walking again, "Oh nothing haha."

"Hey Natsu?" Juvia called steadily walking closer to him.

"Yeah?" Natsu answered also walking closer to Juvia.

"When we get back to the guild hall-"

"Yeah?"

"I want to talk to you about something." She blushed looking away as she slowly moved her right arm towards him.

"Really?" Natsu's face was red as he moved his left arm, grabbing Juvia's hand as their fingers slowly interlocked. He then scratched his cheek nervously with his free index finger. "I wanted to talk to you about something too."

Natsu & Juvia looked into each other's eyes, exchanging warm smiles as they walked back towards the guild hall, their hands joined as one.

...

There it is, the ending of Boiling Under. How was it? Let me know what you guys think. R&R :)