Same old guild hall. It's like there was never a mermaid walking through here a while ago. Thanks, Loke. Something about Juvia when I left, though. Usually, I need to use butter to get her off me. I never thought I'd ever see her so distant. Then, there's the whole siren mess. How would there be sirens in the area? I was always told they had practically gone extinct. I don't know. A lot of things weren't adding up these days and I have no idea why so all of a sudden.

Nevertheless, my pockets were running a little thin. Not that I regret a single moment of it, but who knew bringing Juvia to the surface would end up costing me so much? Almost my entire cut from the amulet job went to her. I mean, I'd do it again in a heartbeat, but I'm not exactly made of money. In that case. I should probably check the job board and see if any easy ones with a decent payout are left. They were usually the first ones to go. Just enough to keep life afloat with little to no effort.

"Hey, Gray?" Mira joined me at the request board, "Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure, Mira," I kept my eyes on the board, "What's up?"

"I need to ask you about Juvia," she winced, "Are you…Never mind. It's nothing."

"What about Juvia?" That grabbed my attention. She looked away from me, "Mira…? What about her?"

"Well…" Mira went on, "It's just that…Around the same time you found Juvia, the reports of a siren came in. They were only just rumors then. But from the way Master Makarov saws talking, this siren sounded a lot like someone we know. So, I have to ask…Juvia…is just a mermaid…Right?"

"Yeah," I nodded, "Why?"

"Gray…" she sighed out, "You can't tell me you haven't noticed."

"Noticed what?"

"You fell for her so fast," Mira noticed, "Not that I'm not happy for you two. And when you met, I'd say you were at your most vulnerable."

"How do you figure?"

"You were mad at Cana and me for going behind your back. Sirens feed on vulnerability, Gray. It's how they pick their prey. And you know how dangerous sirens are."

"I know…" I rolled my eyes. If I didn't know any better, I'd think Mira thought she was my own mother.

"I'm sorry," she winced, "But I can't help but ask…Is Juvia a siren?"

"What?" I squeaked, my blood boiling, "No! Of course not!"

"Are you sure?" Mira kept tiptoeing around it.

"Yes!" I groaned, "Come on, Mira. If it weren't for you and Cana meddling where you two didn't belong, I wouldn't have met Juvia in the first place. So what? Yes. She's a mermaid and ONLY a mermaid. Aren't you the one going on about how romantic love at first sight is? And now, what, you don't believe in it anymore? Not even when it's right in front of you?"

"It's not that," she tried to defend herself, "But…"

"But nothing," I cut her off, leaving her behind, "If you'll excuse me, my apparent siren girlfriend is waiting for me."

"Gray…" Mira called after me, "Just…Be care…"

I wasn't going to stand there and let her come at me like that. Juvia's not a siren. She's too…She's too sweet. I don't think she has a mean bone in her body. Defensive, sure, but she'd never do anything that would bring me any harm. She did try going after Natsu in my name, though. But if she didn't care about me and my well-being, she would've let us tear each other to shreds. If she's going to go so far to protect me, why shouldn't I do the same?

I stopped at a corner market and got some dinner for Juvia and me before going to the oasis. I did promise her. And heaven forbid I broke a promise to her. When I started my hike through the woods, the grassy path looked a bit flatter than normal. Must be more foot traffic through here. That's nice. These woods are a nice spot. Quiet, peaceful. It's a good place to turn off. That's why I like coming here anyway.

But then, some of the vines were strewn all over the ground and the berry bushes were practically picked clean. Looks like I'm not the only one that comes out here anymore. What a shame. And here I thought I had this chunk of woods all to myself. Well, with the exception of Juvia, but she was probably here first. As usual, I put our bag of food on one of the rocks and sat off the edge.

"Juvia…?" I kept my voice down, "It's me."

"Gray?" a gentle voice rippled in the water as the prettiest mermaid crested to the surface, "Good…It's only you."

"Well, yeah," I chuckled to myself, "Who else would it be?"

Juvia's face fell and a great sadness washed over her, putting a pain in my chest, "You're not the only one that knows about my oasis anymore…"

"What do you mean?" I picked her chin up, "Juvia, what's going on?"

"Other wizards have been all over here," she quivered in my palm, "When your friend at your guild hall said something about a siren, I had a feeling this would happen."

"Yeah," I shook my argument with Mirajane out of my head, "So did I. I just didn't want to admit it."

"I'm not the one they're looking for, Gray," Juvia's voice broke and those big, beautiful eyes of hers swelled with tears, "But they'll see my tail and immediately think I'm a siren. They'll try to take me out of my oasis and do who knows what with me. I'm just a mermaid, Gray. Yes, I can come out of my oasis, but not for very long."

Good…That's one thing off my mind. Not that I ever doubted her, but the reassurance was nice. I ran my thumb under her eye, catching the tears that so desperately wanted to escape, "I know. I can get them off your back for a while. At least the wizards of Fairy Tail. You'll be safe. I'll make sure of it."

"That's very reassuring, Gray," Juvia nodded, "But how? You're only here so often."

She had me there. How could I keep her safe? It's not like I could stay out here. It'd draw too much attention and it'd only put us both in danger. But then, I had an idea, "When I go to leave, I can freeze the top layer of the oasis. Just enough that they couldn't get to you. It might get a little cold, though."

"You'd do that for me…?"

"Of course, I would," I swore, "I'm not going to let them hurt you, Juvia. I promise. But…You know…I have another idea that could keep you safe. And I'd be able to protect you myself instead of my ice magic."

"What's that?" Juvia hoisted herself out of the water and onto the rock next to me.

As much as I was mad at her right now, she can come in handy, "I could bring Mirajane back here and she can give you legs again. They won't be able to catch a mermaid if she's walking amongst us."

"Actually, Gray…" she stared into the sparkling water, "Can I be honest with you?"

"Of course," I insisted, my hand on her soft cheek, "What's wrong?"

"I didn't like the surface," Juvia confessed, "I appreciate the effort, but I hated being on the surface. The people were too much. There was so much going on at one time. I hated it. Everything was awful. There was only one good thing about it. And that was you…Don't make me go back, Gray. Please don't make me go back."

"Hey," I wrapped an arm around her and pulled her to my shoulder, "I won't. If you don't want to ever come back to the surface, I understand. People can be a lot to handle right out of the gate if you're not already used to them and everything on the surface can be a mess. But sometimes, you meet the right people that don't make your skin crawl."

"Gray…" Juvia laced her fingers between mine, laying comfortably in my shoulder, "I'm glad we met. I don't regret it at all. You're the only people I want."

"And you're the only mermaid I want," I hugged her tight, still struggling to wrap my head around what I just said. I had a mermaid in my arms. It's not exactly something someone sees every day, but lucky me, I'm not just someone. Not to her anyway.

"You don't think…" a light shade of pink swept across her cheeks, "Maybe…You could try my world for a change."

"What?" I'm not quite sure what she's trying to get at here. I know what she said, but…What?

"Would you like to come see my world?" Juvia offered, "I did get legs for you. Maybe…You could come and see what I see."

"Juvia…" my heart skipped a beat, "I…can't breathe underwater."

"Well," her voice…Something in her voice put me at ease, "You could find a way, couldn't you? For me?"

"Yeah…" I giggled a little, "Of course I could. I found a way to sneak you out of the guild hall. I'm sure I could find a way for me to breathe underwater."

"Thank you," Juvia's face lit up. There. She's all better.

"So," I wondered, "What's it like? Down there?"

"It's beautiful, Gray," she sighed out, "It's like nothing you've ever seen. I guess, if I had to make a comparison, if you took Magnolia, made it grander and sunk it, that's what my world looks like. Where I live is anyway. I can't wait for you to see it. I really can't. If you could breathe underwater, I'd take you right now."

"I can't even hold my breath longer than a few seconds," I admitted, "But I'm sure I can find a way. Maybe by the next time I'm here, I'll be able to see it."

Juvia let out a little sigh, "I'm so happy you come to see me."

"I'm happy to see you," I smiled, "And I want you to be careful, ok? Don't come up for anyone but me. I'm going to freeze the oasis now."

"You're going already?" she whined, "What if I don't want you to?"

"It's getting late, Juvia," I pointed out, "I know. I don't want to go either, but I need to be getting back to the guild hall."

"Alright," Juvia let me go and jumped back into the water, "Go ahead."

I had to be careful. If I freeze too little, anyone would be able to break it and hurt her. But if I make it too thick, I could freeze her into it and it could possibly kill her. No. I won't do that. I'll be able to manage. Six inches deep should be able to do it. Carefully, I put my hands on the oasis and started to cool things down. As the water began to solidify, Juvia swam deeper down for warmer waters. But before I could freeze all of it, I had to say my goodbyes.

"Are you ok?" I worried, "You're not too cold, are you?"

"No," Juvia shook her head, "I'm fine. The chill is actually kind of nice. And if I need to warm things up, I can just swim back home. Are you sure they can't get to me?"

"I told you," I took her hand through the small hole in the ice, "I'm not going to let anything happen to you. I'll see you soon, ok?"

"Ok…"

A/N: I know. I know. I didn't post last week. Shame on me. I should be punched. Actually, last Wednesday, I was completely destroyed. I had a long day and I didn't have it in me to write. And I've been kind of working on another project in real time every day for the past couple weeks that I started posting to Ao3 last Wednesday. It's a Fruits Basket/Hetalia fic and it's a delightful mess called Trouble Comes in Threes, if you'd like to go look. But for now, I think I'm going to get back to it. See you next chapter! xx