Finally, (last?) chapter *yay*.
I thought I was gonna write some lemon. Decided differently, sorry to disappoint you. Gonna change the T rating I think or I go for another chapter with their first time. Not sure yet...
Well, no more talking, let's get startet.
I do not own Fairy Tail.
Chapter Eight: The Answer
After fighting the Alvarez Empire and Acnologia Magnolia and its inhabitants had to suffer great destruction - both on their outside conditions and their hearts. But as always they collaborated to built up any demolition as fast as they could. Much to Gray's regret everbody was so busy treating the injured and restoring the city he wasn't able to go off to the side with Juvia. Five days had passed by without any serious discussion. Gray had to change that!
He managed to receive Juvia's phone number by the help of Erza. According to her Juvia still had a functiual phone. The only problem was: Juvia didn't pick up her callings - all day long. Gray was frustrated. Both of them remained healthy (more or less) but failed to meet each other. Even so, he had to have a word with Juvia and tell her what went through his mind the last weeks and months. And he was certain she was waiting for an answer with bated breath.
Soon after Wendy came to see Gray's healing process the ice mage went to bed after another stressful day. Truth be told, Wendy didn't want to leave until Gray promised to do so. He still had to cure completely. However, Gray was lucky his apartment hadn't been destroyed. He felt rather comfortable to be able to retire to his own home day by day. Natsu on the other side moved in with Lucy because his house looked like Swiss cheese - much to Lucy's disenchantment.
Swathed in his blanket Gray's eyes rested on his phone. Should he try and call again? It wasn't that late after all.
Ring.
Ring.
Ring.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
The number you have called...
Gray sighed.
Karma's a bitch, huh?
It couldn't be helped. He'd give it another endeavor tomorrow.
"Gray-sama"
"Juvia?"
"GRAY-SAMA!"
"Juvia, where are you?"
Gray couldn't see his own hands in front of his face. Where was he? And where was Juvia? He wasn't able to allocate the origin of her voice.
"Help me!"
"Juvia, where are you? Are you hurt?"
Gray did a 360 in order to spot any light. Fortunately, he attained success. Following the foggy source he noticed the voice turned louder and clearer.
"GRAY-SAMA!"
"I'm coming!"
Gray lost ground. It was grotesque, virtually. One moment he was roaming around in the middle of nowhere, the next he was bumping down. The second he touched down he found himself surrounded by an ice landscape.
"What the f..."
There was no one else around. Gray seemed to be by his lonesome. But what about Juvia?
Gray scouted around but everything looked alike. He couldn't even tell if he was going astray or not.
"Gray-sama..." It was Juvia's voice again. Less noisy this time but absolutely hers. Gray wheeled around. And he froze in shock right away.
Juvia lay on the bottom, her back upturned. But the reason for Gray to be paralyzed was her state near death. There was blood everywhere. Gray genuflected so as to survey her welfare. He was somehow familiar with that confrontation. Nevertheless, he was idealess what to do.
"Juvia, what happened..."
She didn't respond. There were only little movements Gray sighted, spasms, convulsions and gasping.
"No, no, no, no, no!"
Gray shaked her body several times.
"Answer me, Juvia!"
She didn't
"NO!"
Gray panicked. Why was he losing control over the situation?
"NO"
He screamed at this stage.
"No, no..."
"HAAA..."
Gray breathed heavily. He was all sweaty. It took him a minute to think straight.
It was a nightmare.
"What the hell..."
He checked his watch. 2:30 am. Gray groaned. No. He couldn't wait any longer. He felt crappy and had to check on her. Or rather, he had to listen to her voice and make sure she was alright in this reality.
You better answer, Juvia Lockser. Or else I have to call round.
Ring.
Ring.
"Y-Yeah?" She sounded rudely awakened.
"J-Juvia? You there?"
"Gray-sama, is that you?" Her sleepy talking gave way to an attentive one.
"Y-yeah, it's me..." What was it again that Gray wanted so urgently to speak about?
"Is something the matter, Gray-sama?"
Now that he thought about it he felt silly he actually called her in the middle of the night because he had a bad dream. How childish was that? Gray felt pressured to fabricate an appropriate excuse.
"No, yes, no, I just, uhm..." He made a fool of himself. But hey, at least he finally cought her.
"Gray-sama seems confused. Did he catch a fever?"
"No, I'm fine. I... *gasp* Basically, I'm not. I wanted to talk to you. But we missed each other the whole week. Would it be to much to ask... if you...could...come over?"
"Right now?" Juvia made a surprised impression. Who'd blame her for that. When in the last years had Gray ever asked her over?
"I know it's a lot to ask. Forget it. I just had a weird sleep. That's why I'm asking silly questions."
Juvia paused before replying. Her warning bells were ringing in her head. Something was wrong.
"Juvia is on her way!"
This was bad. It was so bad. Gray still lay on his bed and wondered what to say to Juvia. How would he explain his odd actions?
"Argh!" He growled, his face red like a tomato.
There was no time to consider much more as Juvia already knocked on his front door. Did she teleport herself over? Gray invited her inside and they shared a pot of tea Juvia had brought. They mostly stared at each other until Juvia broke the long silence.
"Juvia wanted to speak with Gray-sama, too." Her face reddened." Juvia was worried about Gray-sama's recovery. She wanted to drop in but Gray-sama was never at home."
"We're here now. What did you wanna talk about?" Sneaky Gray, handing over the duty to Juvia.
"Ever since our fight with Invel... Juvia suffers from nightmares at times. She's afraid Gray-sama could be in danger again."
Juvia hit the bull's eye but sank her gaze as a result of her comfortless state. Since she made the first move it was Gray's turn to open up.
"Same for me. I just wanted to see you." They paused. Again.
Damn stupid awkward silence!
"To be honest, I intended to keep you here. I mean... Can you stay the night? Well, the rest of it?" They rebuilt eye contact. At that moment both of them peered in one another's blazing red face.
"Juvia didn't bring clothes to change."
"You can have a shirt from me."
"And where is Juvia supposed to sleep?"
"Err, my bed is large enough, so... But if you don't want to, it's perfectly fi- "
"It's fine! Juvia would love to sleep next to Gray-sama"
"Good, let's go to sleep then. I'm really tired."
They quickly settled themselves on his bed. Gray only possessed one blanket but he was not bothered by that and Juvia already flew high. So as not to create another embarrassing atmosphere Gray didn't think twice and snuggled up to Juvia from behind. She loved him, he obviousely liked her, so what the kids' stuff for? As expected she didn't complain.
"Do you remember the last time we lay like this?" He walked down memory lane and took her along. His voice was calm and stable to achieve that.
"Of course Juvia does"
"I wasn't able to properly phrase my feelings"
Juvia didn't reply. It was Gray's point in time to confess.
"After battling that scum Invel I was fucked up. For a moment I thought you were... I held so many regrets. I realised I had lost a dear friend. And not only that. You're not only a friend. Juvia, you are the closest friend of all. I know I don't ever tell or show you what you mean to me. But I want to try from now onwards. So as friends up until today I want us to make progress."
Juvia hid a satisfied smile on her side of the bed. It wasn't exactly an I-love-you-from-the-bottom-of-my-heart alike confession but those were Gray's true and sincere words. She understood very well what he purposed to express. And that was enough for her to work on.
"Juvia doesn't have to wait any longer, does she? This is Gray-sama's answer?"
"Yes."
Done! Finally. So much for this story. But incited by your reviews I'm going to write down my version of this pairing (with one of them dead). It was fun to create moments not showing in the manga that would explain how the heck they end up together but I'll try out something else. Well, maybe after I finished my other story.
Thanks for you advices! Hope you liked it.
