Earlier the night before, Gray quickly bottled up a few of Juvia's tears and then the two of them swam toward land.

"Are you alright?" She asked him as he pulled her out of the water. "You must be exhausted especially since it was your first time swimming on your own and against a strong current no less."

"I am tired but I'll pull through." He said. "You're not hurt anywhere are you?"

"Well..." She tried to use her hair to cover the bruise on her cheek from where Keyes had struck her so many times. But Gray got a glimpse of it when she did and he gently brushed her hair aside so he could get a better look at her face.

"Did he do this to you?" He asked. "That creep who tried to violate you?"

She nodded while looking ashamed.

"They wanted my tears. I couldn't cry so he...He used pain to try to force them out of me. And when that failed he resorted to fear."

"Bastard." He cursed as he moved his hand to caress her bruised cheek. "God forgive me for saying this but I hope he burns in hell."

"Don't say that. You're too good to hope for the suffering of someone else."

"I'm not too good. I'm human which means that sometimes I will hope for things like that. At least for certain horrible, unfeeling, souls who are probably beyond redemption."

"It doesn't matter now. He's gone."

"You're right. He's gone and I promise I'll never let him or anyone like him ever lay so much as one finger on you again."

She looked away from him shyly.

"It still amazes me that you're saying such things to me. Did you really mean it when you said that you loved me?"

Now it was his turn to feel a little shy.

"Yes...I did."

"This makes me so happy because I love you too. With every fiber of my being. As God as my witness, I've never loved anyone so much. But I'm confused."

"About what?"

"Why do you love me? I am not human and I heard what you said about me back on the ship. I thought that-"

"I didn't mean what I said. What you heard when I was talking to Laxus and Natsu was all a lie."

"If the words you said were not true then why say them? Does your religion not say that it is a sin to lie?"

"Yes it does. I'm sorry Juvia. I lied because I was trying to convince myself that I didn't love you. But as my father used to say, no amount of lies can hide what's really in your heart."

"It's because I'm not human isn't it?"

"Pardon?"

"That's why you were trying to convince yourself not to love me, it's because that I'm not human. It's alright. I don't blame you for it."

"Yes it was because you're not human but not for the reasons you think. I'm not disgusted or repulsed by what you are. And I don't think of you as some animal. You're a woman, the most beautiful woman I've ever laid eyes on. So beautiful that I'm sure you're one of God's own creations."

"Then I do not understand. If you can see me as woman despite that fact that I lack humanity why did you try so hard to avoid having feelings for me?"

"It was because I was afraid that if we had any life together it would only be for so long. When you and I die we have different afterlives. I was afraid of getting my heart broken again, like when I lost my parents. When they died it shattered me and my only comfort was that I'd see them again in heaven. But you wouldn't be able to go to heaven, you'd cease exist once you died and I'd never see you again ever."

"Oh Gray." She said leaning over to embrace him. "I'm so sorry. I didn't think about that at all."

"It's not your fault."

"Still I shouldn't have expected you to return my feelings when you risk suffering through something like that." She said. "But you know...That fate can be avoided. You see if..."

But she trailed off. She wasn't sure if she should tell him that if they were married she would gain a soul. Yes he said that he loved her but was his love so deep that he was willing to commit himself to her and her alone til death do them part? What if this was just a brief moment of passion and his real true love was someone else. Someone he had not met yet. The thought of it crushed her but so did the thought of guilting him into marriage and it turns out she's not his true love. She needed to think about this.

"Nevermind." She said. "Now is not the time to be discussing things like that. Not when we need to focus on getting off this island."

"Agreed. But once this is all over I...I...I." He swallowed. "I wanna ask you...Something...Something that we may or may not have to talk about."

"Sure. I'll gladly answer any question you have and I'll gladly hear you out."

"Great. In the meantime let's get a fire going and get some sleep. It's really late."

"Uh...Gray dear." She said looking down at her tail. "In a few moments I'll have legs again."

"I know. That'll make things a little easier for us."

"Yes darling but I'll be naked."

"Oh!" He realized and went red in the face. "Good point. Hold on I got something."

He stuck his hand into his satchel and pulled out her old dress he had salvaged from the sea when he found it.

"I managed to get this but it's a little tattered and I think the salt water might have shrank it some."

"Do you have a knife or something sharp?"

He handed her his dagger which she used to cut out the lilac trimming from the dress. Once her legs grew back, Gray adverted his eyes and Juvia used the trimming to create a makeshift top and skirt for her to wear.

"There we go." She said. "Not perfect but at least it covers me."

"Alright now I'll handle getting the fire ready. You just follow me."

Gray managed to gather plenty of wood which he then used to start a fire which would to keep them warm for the night. It had become so dark and cold so that fire was just what they needed however it wasn't enough to stop Juvia from shivering. Gray notice this so he took off his jacket and covered her with it.

"That better?" He asked.

"Yes but now you're completely bare from the waist up." She said. "You'll freeze without a jacket."

"So will you."

"Here let's try this."

She sat closer to him and arranged the jacket to where it would cover them both. The jacket, the fire, and their body heat which they were now sharing due to how close they were should have been enough to keep them from freezing to death that night.

"I hope this doesn't make you uncomfortable." Juvia said.

"It's fine." He assured her. "Hey I brought you something."

"What is it?"

He opened his satchel and pulled another thing from it. It was his mother's music box which he gave to her.

"Oh that's so sweet but you really shouldn't have. You could have lost it when you were swimming back there."

"Nope. I had to bring it because I wanted to give it to you."

Juvia looked at him surprised. At first she was completely speechless by his gesture and attempted to give it back but he stopped her by putting his own hands over hers.

"It's yours." He said.

"I can't accept this." She said.

"I know how much you like it."

"But it was your mother's. It's probably the last thing you have of your parents. The most important thing you own."

"Exactly. That's why I want you to have it." He insisted. "Because for past few months since I've met you, you've become the most important person in my life. Besides I still have my father's bible so I'm not giving you the only reminder I have of my parents."

Juvia smiled and pressed the music box to her heart, completely touched by his words and his gift. It was enough to make her cry tears of happiness again. It was so weird being able to cry like this. All her life she had never once shed a tear no matter how sad or hurt she was but the knowledge that someone loved her, loved her in a way that she had always dreamed of being loved, it made her so happy that she just couldn't contain her joy.

"I promise that I'll never part with it." She said. "I'll take good care of it and it will be my most prized possession.

She opened up the music box, winded up the small key in the back, and let the song play. Like many times before Gray felt the urge to cry when he heard it but this time if he had allowed himself to do so, it wouldn't be from sadness or grief. It would be from bittersweet joy. Because now he felt the happiness that his father felt when he gifted it to his mother all those years ago. That he had given a gift of love to the woman who held his heart.

The two of them listened to the music box play until exhaustion finally took over them and they fell asleep holding each other.