Disclaimer: All rights of Fairy tail go to Hiro Mashima!

The big, solid oaks protected them from curious souls who were brave enough to go this far in the forest next to the road without the protection of a mage. The sun had already set and darkness covered their surroundings. The silence of the forest soothed most of Lucy's nerves. She lay down on her new, soft sleeping bag after a hard, nerve-wracking day. Gray had guided her to several shops to get them a 'basic runaway-kit' as he liked to call it. It was weird to pay without revealing anything about their name or hometown as they had to go by unnoticed. Gladly, there were no weird encounters or familiar faces in the city and they found a perfect spot in the woods to set up their "camp". If you can call a pair of sleeping bags and a campfire a decent camp, that is. They made sure to have their campfire at an open space, to prevent from setting the woods on fire. Well, when there was an ice-make mage around, the chance of a forest fire would be really low.

Looking at the sky, she could actually see the stars above in this cloudless night. Some constellations were unknown to her, but she recognised the one from the Ursa Major. Gray was searching for something in his backpack while she admired the clear sky. She was glad he came along. She had tried to run away many times before, but there was always something she did wrong to get caught and brought back. Not this time. She knew this time would be different. Instead of going to a hotel, they slept under the open sky and prepared their own food. Above all else, she felt free. If someone would come to get her, she would definitely fight them with all her might. She couldn't give this up. Even if it was only the taste of freedom for one day, it was luring her into another world. She couldn't face the reality of her old life, so why couldn't she just forget about it and start all over again? She could invent a new Lucy. One who wasn't as afraid to be a failure? She could defend herself and would if it came down to it. She wouldn't go back. Her new life was waiting. Her new life was calling her to do it her way for once.
Suddenly there was an item that brought her back from her thoughts, blocking her sight of the stars.

"You're blocking a perfect view Gray."
"And here I thought you would be grateful."

She sat upright and took the bag from him.

"You're giving me a present for running away?"
"It's from a pharmacist. I don't really know if it helps, but she said it would. It's against your nightmares. You'll only need a spoonful before you go to sleep."
"You got me medicine? When did you have the time to buy this? We've been busy all day."
"What can I say? I have my ways of being a great guy. Oh she also said you couldn't take it in the day, don't ask me why."
"Jeez thanks a lot. How much was it? I'll pay you back."
"Just take it, ok? It's a gift."

She suddenly felt a hand on her head, caressing her hair. Looking at him, she saw that it was partly a gift for him too from the way he smiled. A bit of concern and relief was mixed in his expression. He wouldn't be worried anymore if she took it and she would be able to sleep peacefully again.
Gray's cheeks were turning red and she suddenly got aware of her staring at him. A blush appeared on her cheeks and Gray's hand left her hair alone.

"I just hope it works, that pharmacist lady was… how can I put it nicely? …Weird."
"That's not nice at all!"
"It is! I could've said she was a rude, crazy woman or something like that."
"You also could've said she was peculiar."

And just like that, the awkward moment passed. They laughed and finally decided to go to sleep. Lucy wasn't as worried to fall asleep anymore as the medicine worked instantly. She rolled herself up in her sleeping bag after taking it and fell asleep when her head lay down on her self-made pillow of a sweater. Gray looked at her and couldn't believe it really worked. After putting out the fire, he also went to sleep.

Gray woke up from drops of water which gently fell out of the sky. It was still night, but they hadn't thought of making a shelter against the rain. He turned to wake Lucy, but she was still fast asleep. He put a rain coat over her as he looked around for some shelter nearby. Nothing seemed to be decent. They couldn't sleep here in the rain and he didn't want to wake Lucy from her first real sleep since weeks, so he decided to take care of it. He held his hands together and whispered: Ice Make Shelter.
Ice started moulding in his hands and he pressed both of them on the ground. The fallen rain turned into ice and rose from the ground, forming a wall and a small roof. He checked to see if it was steady enough. When he made a few adjustments, the rain poured harder and he heard a voice from behind him.

"Drip...Drip...Drop..."

It was a teasing, female voice. Gray turned around, but didn't see anyone because of the heavy rain and sudden mist. A feeling of danger was fighting its way through his brain and he tried to look for the source of the female voice.

"What do you want?"
"Juvia found them..."

A sudden figure showed up from behind the mist as the woman walked slowly towards Gray and Lucy. Her fur coat with different shades of blue weren't even affected by the rain as she sheltered herself with a pink umbrella. Her hair was another shade of blue which was curled up by the ends, gracing the smooth skin of her face. The only thing not matching her beautiful appearance was the sadness dominating her features.

"So Jude already sent someone, huh?"
"Drip… Drip… Drop..."

When she said that, the rain poured a bit harder down in anticipation of what was going to happen. As though the rain knew what was going on and waited for their next move, unable to focus on anything but them. The sky was covered in dark clouds where there were none spotted a few hours ago when they went to sleep. The woman in front of him tilted her head a bit to the right.

"Juvia only wants Lucy Heartfilia."
"I won't let you bring her back."

Gray took on a battle pose and glared at the strange woman. She sighed before she raised her free hand at him and water started to gather from the fallen rain on the ground, even the rain that was still in the air. The raindrops stopped falling down and immediately went to Gray instead. He couldn't get what was happening by the speed of the attack. After blinking with his eyes, he was trapped in a giant ball of water and he couldn't breathe. This Juvia person in front of him giggled at the sight of his expression.

"Juvia doesn't like it if people are in Juvia's way."

While Gray struggled, he didn't even get out of the centre of his water prison. In the meantime, Juvia walked towards Lucy at a steady pace. He wouldn't let this happen. He tried to summon his magic, but the water and loss of air seemed to prevent him from casting it. He couldn't die here. Not like this. Not when his friend needed him. He tried harder and poured the magic he could still reach, into the water surrounding him. It froze and he broke free, getting a surprised look from Juvia. He breathed as much air as possible to compensate for the lost minutes and took hold of a battle stance again.

"Juvia can't believe it... Juvia's water prison… Shattered?!"
"I don't want to scare a woman, but if you try to hurt my friend I will stop you."
"An ice-make mage… Juvia must admit to be excited..."

Juvia showed an excited smile and Gray was glad that the woman got away from Lucy to get more into their fight. They faced each other, both on edge to start and show off their skills as a mage. There were no rules when mages decided to fight, only those who were decided on before it started. So for that matter, the stage of the fight was already set as Gray could've easily been killed not more than a couple of seconds ago. Their gazes were on each other, daring the other to be the first one to make a move. The rain was pouring down on his clothes, with every passing second they clung tighter on his body. It made him uncomfortable, so he stripped himself down to his boxers. He welcomed the breeze that cooled off his body. His opponent seemed confused with his behaviour.

"Why would you strip in front of Juvia… who is your enemy?"

When Gray looked at the woman standing in front of him, he saw a blush appearing on her cheeks. This was going to be even weirder than the meeting with the pharmacist…

"I'm not going to hold back because you're a woman."
"Juvia can't wait."

He moulded his magic in his hands and got ready to attack. She only stared at him. When he let his magic go in the form of ten spears, they went straight to their target. If she wouldn't dodge it, then… Gray's heart skipped a beat when she didn't move at all. A spear went to hit her head, her waist and one of her thighs. The places they hit were gone, holes into the body of Juvia where wounds should be. He heard a seductive giggle when the spears hit the trees behind Juvia.

"Juvia is a water mage with a body made of water… Physical attacks won't work, you can hit me as many times you like. Juvia will stand her ground."

Blades made out of water were formed by the movement of her hand and Gray could jump away in time before they could cut him. Two trees behind him were chopped in half without any effort.

"You're good, I'll tell you that."
"Complimenting Juvia won't really help you."

She threw more attacks at him and he dodged or froze them before they could hit him. He was using a lot of magic at a short period of time and his muscles were becoming heavier than before. With Lucy at the mansion, he was able to take a break. They never took too long to practice or they got caught by her father. But in a real battle like this one there was no such thing as a break. He didn't know anything about this mage in front of him. She could last for a whole day with good training, and in that case he wouldn't stand a chance… She threw some more attacks at him and her speed made him unable to counterattack as he could only dodge. He wasn't going to last long like this, so he decided to face her head-on. Her next attack was turned into ice in mid-air and crashed on the ground. She was astounded and stayed still for a moment.

"Water and ice…"
"Is that all you've got? I won't ever give Lucy over to you, not over my dead body."
"D-Do you love her?"
"What?!"
"Is that why you won't look at Juvia like other men do? Normally, guys won't stand a chance against Juvia's spell of her body."
"There's more to a girl than looks."

The rained was still pouring down and Gray's hair and boxers were drenched.

"Damn this rain, it's so gloomy..."
"… Gloomy?!"

The rain poured down more, which was physically not possible in nature, as Juvia's posture changed. Her eyes looked right through Gray as her sanity disappeared. Every seductive trait she had disappeared as rage pumped through her veins and focused on Gray.

"That's right. No one likes Juvia. Why would you?! What was Juvia hoping for? Why would this be any different?"

She threw away her umbrella and went in overdrive. She didn't mess around anymore and was dead serious when she sent several attacks to Gray. They were faster than before and some hit him as his flesh burned along every cut. Meaning the water of her attacks now boiled from her fury on top of its blade-like aspects.

"Aaargh that's hot!"
"Juvia won't forgive you. You're like all the others!"

The fight was back to being one-sided as Gray dodged but Juvia didn't miss. She was a skilled and trained mage... the difference in battle experience was prominent as his skin got cut and burned; he knew the attacks were too much when it even hurt stretching his arms to defend himself as they were cut and red from the steam. He tried to freeze her attack again, but the boiling water burned his hands. Juvia stopped for a moment, knowing he moulded his ice power with his hands and he couldn't do a decent attack anymore. As it was, she had full control of the fight and they both knew it. She only had to land the last strike. Anger was prominent on her face, along with a glint of disappointment and sadness.

"Juvia thought you were different. Water and Ice is a strong combination... But Juvia was wrong."

She formed a wave of water and sent it in Gray's direction. The steam of the boiling water made the mist thicker and Gray knew he had to act now or he would be a boiled lobster. He put his two hands in front of him and summoned all his magic left in his body, forcing it out of his burned hands. He felt the hot water on his hands for a moment and cried out in pain for the second time they burned, but the water did freeze. The attack was frozen all the way to his opponent as he poured his will into the ice. He froze her whole body which was connected to her last attack. It was done. Relief washed over him and his muscles wanted to give up. But he couldn't give in to his tiredness. He knew she wouldn't be able to breathe in there. He hobbled towards her and looked cautious at the woman frozen in his ice. Looking at her scared face, he decided he couldn't do this... Whatever her reasoning was, he was not a murderer and couldn't kill her... He laid his hand on the ice and it broke under his command. She fell to the ground, gasping for air. When her breath seemed steady again, she looked up at him.

"Juvia is… free… Why did you save Juvia?"
"And here I said to not go easy on you because you're a woman…"

He smiled at her, but grimaced in pain from the burns and cuts he received during their fight. There were burn marks all over his body as Gray fell to the ground. His muscles gave up on him. When he hit the ground, another hiss of pain left his mouth from the friction of his burned skin to the ground. He had used too much magic and his muscles felt so heavy... It was a bad decision to set her free. He could've melted the ice around her head, but was stupid enough to free her whole body. And now he couldn't move anymore, so she could do whatever she wanted to do with him right now. Juvia crawled towards him. Such a fool he was for letting her go. The next moment, she laid his head in her lap and her hand on his naked chest. He felt water coming out of her hand, flowing over his chest to form a small layer of water. The layer soon covered his whole body. This was it. He couldn't breathe, struggling in panic but the water cover didn't budge. The water fought with his skin and it felt like his skin was ripped apart. But then the water started soothing his wounds. She released him from the layer of water and he didn't feel any burns anymore. The cuts were still there, but the burns were gone. He looked surprised at the water mage.

"I thought I made the wrong decision for a moment there."
"Juvia can do this much for minor cuts and injuries…"
"Is that so?"

Gray smiled at her and lay back on her lap. Even though his burn injuries were gone his body still had several cuts and he used a lot of magic. His need to sleep and recover was prominent.

"Thanks."
"You saved Juvia… Juvia owns you her life…"
"What are you blabbering about? We're enemies."
"But…"
"Seems like the rain finally stopped."

Juvia listened to her surroundings and couldn't hear any raindrops anymore. The familiar sound was replaced by the songs and chatter of birds. She could still hear some drops of water falling down from the leaves, but they weren't the normal sound of rain she had been carrying around for her whole life. Looking up, the familiar dark clouds had made room for a beautiful clear blue sky. Sunlight was shining on her face. A bird broke the perfect blue blanket as it flew by in her line of view.

"Juvia has never seen blue skies before."
"You don't? Well there's a first time for everything... beautiful, isn't it?"
"My first blue sky…"

Title: Lenka – Blue Skies

Thank you for reading!