Sorry for the wait, but here you go :)

I don't own Fairy Tail or any of its characters, and I do not own this plot. This belongs to CrAzY-SiLLy-Me, whom I thank very much for allowing me to use her plot to make more GraLu stories.

~Say It Again~

Chapter 12

October: Resonance

"Say it again for me…"

Every single day spent without Gray, without hearing his voice, without seeing him, or feeling his touch always brings a tear to my eye, until I start breaking down again.

Mira has tried yet failed to comfort me a lot of times, and even my parents couldn't give me the consolation I needed.

Levy did her best to cheer me up by treating me to Starbucks, but it only reminded me of the day I first met Gray.

Cana suggested shopping, but I only recalled the first chaste kiss we shared under the mistletoe.

Erza forced me to go to the gym and punch out a few punching bags to let out my feelings, but it only made me cry again afterwards.

Gajeel even went as far as planning a movie night everyday, but seriously, it made me feel left out, seeing the girls with their significant others.

Jellal took me to a museum and said it might help me keep my mind off of Gray, but seriously, it didn't. Why? In history, there is war, and when there's war, there's bound to be soldiers, soldiers like Gray.

Laxus made me go to the park to jog or watch clouds, but whenever I would, I always see couples.

Freed asked me to try the arcade, but seeing the shooting games made me miss Gray more.

After two weeks, I decided to go pay a visit to Ultear-nii, but only ended up backing out, because I didn't want to bother her and her husband, Zeref. So I wound up heading for Ur-kachan and Lamar-touchan's house – er…mansion.

"How are you doing?" Ur-kachan had asked me, smiling warmly as always while a maid had served us tea.

"It's been hard adjusting," I said, taking a piece of biscuit from the plate on the table and nibbling it. "I guess I'm just so used to having Gray around all the time."

"That's true," she gave a sigh. "One moment he's there, and then the next, you see him heading out."

I looked at her for a moment, thinking that perhaps she's had it harder compared to me. Gray is her youngest son, her baby. He is her favorite among the two Fullbuster siblings, and having seen him go off twice makes her feel much more devastated.

"I'm glad you came by to visit," she said with a small smile on her lips. "It's quite lonely here at times."

It always seems like that for the rich people; they have it all, and yet they feel empty. When they have a family, something else lacks when one member isn't around. Ur-kachan already had to let go of Ultear-nii, and Lamar-touchan can't always be around because of his job, and now Gray is back to being a soldier.

"Come with me Lucy." She stood up and offered me a hand. "I want to show you something."

I let her lead me down the hallways, passing by multiple doors until reaching one room which seemed to hold a thousand artifacts – some of them being treasures of the Fullbuster family from way back. Ur-kachan was kind enough to unlock the cases and let me observe them better, even as far as feeling the smooth texture of some of the jewels and rough edges of a few antiques.

"And this…" she began, walking over to the middle of the room, where a necklace, bracelet, ring, and a pair of earrings were displayed. "This was passed on from generation to generation," she explained, unlocking it and pulling out the large case where the jewelries settled.

"It's beautiful," I said, my eyes staring at how red the rubies were. It served as a pendant for the necklace, small charms for the bracelet, a stone for the ring, and of course, the dangling earrings had small rubies at the end. "And it's white gold too."

"That's right," Ur-kachan said, and I noticed how her eyes softened. "I received this from Lamar's mother during our engagement."

"Wow," I breathed, smiling at her. "Um…just wondering, how come you never wear it?"

She laughed lightly. "I do, but only during family reunions." She smiled. "On Ultear's wedding, I chose to wear some of the jewelries Lamar gave me, and if you remember, the bride had the same set of these, except the stones were sapphire instead."

"Does that mean you received two sets from Lamar-touchan's mother?"

"Only when she found out she'd be a grandmother of two." She giggled. "And these would certainly compliment you."

I blinked and stared at Ur-kachan, not quite sure if what I heard was right, or if I understood it correctly. "Pardon...?"

She gave me another bright smile. "I'm giving this to you, Lucy." She passed me the box, and I was still hesitant to take it. "These were also given by my father-in-law's mother to his wife, and my mother-in-law gave them to me, and now, I'm giving them to you."

"But…Ur-kachan, I'm not even a part of this family…"

"Not yet," she said. "But soon." She still held it out, and I slowly took them. "I know, I should know." She placed both her hands against my cheek to push my bangs away. "You're someone I know my Gray will surely marry, I know him better than anyone else, and I know what the look in his eyes mean each time they're directed at you, I know what the true meaning behind those smiles are when they're for you, I know what love is, and I see it in him whenever he's with you." She smiled again, and I felt my eyes begin to water. "It's the same as how you look and smile at him, because you two remind me so much of Ultear and Zeref before they got married, as well as after." She closed her eyes when her forehead touched mine. "It also reminds me of how Lamar and I were, and are."

"Ur-kachan…" My voice hitched because I was trying hard not to cry.

"Look at you…"

I blinked and looked at Mira, seeing her looking at me with a smug smirk.

"You seem different today."

"How...?"

"You're a bit…happy."

I just remained silent and continued watering the flowers.

"Lucy...?"

"I don't know," I told her. "I don't feel happy, but it's somewhat there after my visit with Gray's parents three days ago."

"Anything happened?"

"I guess they accepted me as their future daughter-in-law, and they claim that it's for sure."

"Even I would think so." She snorted. "I won't even be surprised if Gray comes back and proposes to you."

I stopped what I was doing, and my mood dampened. "…I hope he comes back."

"Huh?"

"He's a soldier, Mira. I have to brace myself for the worst."

"Don't you have faith in him?!"

"I do, but I need to face reality." I lowered my head. "There's a fifty-fifty percent chance that he'll survive."

"You're not exactly the same Lucy we know."

I looked at Mira, and then at the flowers.

"You've been quite pessimistic since he left."

"I'm just facing reality."

"Well, look outside for a little reality check then."

I did, and I was shocked to see someone on a motorcycle pull over, get off of the bike and walk towards the entrance of the flower shop.

"So, should you brace yourself for a proposal yet?" Mira asked teasingly, rushing to open the door. "Hello kind sir, how may we help you?"

I flushed, watching as he removed his helmet, and that was when the fifty-fifty thing came back.

"Do you mind if I talk to Lucy for a while?"

"Where's-" he cut Mira off.

"It's important."

She nodded and looked at me. "I'll close the store and step out for a moment then." She did that, leaving me alone with my boyfriend's best friend.

"How should I say this…" Natsu started, looking at his helmet.

My eyes went to see the bike he rode to get here, and I cursed inwardly for not noticing that it wasn't Gray's, because it wasn't black with a hint of silver, it was black with red tints.

"Well, Gray's-"

"Get to the point." I said, lowering my head and clenching my fists. "Is he coming back or not?"

I didn't know how Natsu looked, but I could sense his uneasiness.

"Is he...?"

"We're not sure," he told me. "We're not even sure if he's still alive…"

I stiffened, and tried to hold back my tears. "What happened...?"

"Gray got separated from us during the infiltration mission, and God only knows if he got captured or…he just went missing," he explained. "We've labeled him as MIA – Missing in Action. But in the military, when you're MIA, you can also be considered as KIA – Killed in Action." He placed a hand on my shoulder. "But we're trying to locate him, I just feel that it's only right to let you know." He lowered his hand. "Jura is currently telling the news to Gray's parents and sister."

"I… You promised you'd take care of him…"

"I know I did Lucy, but there are some things we can't control, even if we want to." I looked at him to see Natsu's gaze looking elsewhere. "I stayed near him all the time during our mission, but an explosion got the team distracted. The next thing we knew, we were running, and…" -he frowned- "I lost sight of him, and so did the team."

I trembled.

"But with how we know him, we believe he's still out there." Natsu looked at me. "It's just that this is reality, so we need to accept the fact that at some point, he may not come back."

"Don't say that…" I pleaded, letting my tears fall helplessly. "You're his best friend!" I yelled. "You know him better than I do! You've been with him longer than I have! So how come you're losing hope like that?!"

"Lucy, this is life – this is the harsh reality of life." His narrowed eyes. "Even you know that from the very beginning."

"You could have at least not been directly blunt with me!" I cried. "Don't you even know how it feels like to lose someone important?! He's you're best friend Natsu! I'm his girlfriend! We both should know how hard it is!" I noticed how he clenched his fists and lowered his head, and when he spoke, his voice was shaky.

"Don't you understand how difficult a soldier's life is?"

Somehow, I managed to grasp what he was trying to say – that a soldier is trained to feel nothing during these times, because they know that war means losing some comrades and friends, and they are demanded to suck it up.

"Don't you think I'm not feeling devastated as well?" Natsu looked at me, eyes holding a glare, but shedding tears. "I was the one who promised to take care of him Lucy! And seeing how I failed to fulfill that is making me feel so much worse than trash!" His knees couldn't hold him up much longer, and he fell to the ground, hands on the floor supporting his weight, looking as if he's begging me for something. "After all the times he's always watched my back, I can't even watch his right now! I don't even know how he's doing!"

I continued to silently cry. I knelt down, and pulled Natsu into a hug, sharing the same pain he was feeling for his best friend, for my boyfriend. For Gray.

The endless calls and messages on my mobile were ignored as I continued to stare outside my window, listening to the rain.

Despite what I said to Mira about being a realist, I still can't bring myself to accept what had happened.

"Lucy?"

I looked up and saw mom enter my room.

"Aren't you hungry?"

"No," I murmured, pulling my knees up and letting my arms rest over them while burying my head. "Just…leave me alone."

"He wouldn't like you being this way Lucy." I felt her sit beside me and place an arm around my shoulders. "You can't just sit all day and not do anything…"

I decided to just keep my mouth shut, because I didn't want to say the wrong things.

"Alright, I'll leave you alone then, but please promise to eat something later."

I gave a small nod, and soon, was left alone in my room.

My ears picked up the sound of a whimper, and I glanced at the foot of my bed where Bolt was struggling to climb onto. Smiling slightly, I crawled over to him and helped him up, letting him lie on my lap as he snuggled closer to me, trying to comfort me when he stood on his hind legs and licked the side of my face.

"Maybe you're the only one who can understand me, Bolt," I whispered, lying down and hugging him. "I just hope he's okay…"

I felt Bolt move a bit, and I looked at him to see him bite onto the strap of my cell phone, afterwards, tugged it to my direction. I figured he must've wanted me to at least put it on silent mode, so I took it from him, accidentally pressing the "read messages" button instead. The most recent one was from Natsu, and I decided that reading some of the messages wouldn't hurt.

I forgot to give you a letter from Gray. He wrote it on the night before our mission and entrusted it to me, saying that I should give it to you if something happens. I just left your house after handing it to your father, since he said you wouldn't leave your room. Anyway, take care of yourself Lucy, Gray wouldn't want you sad or crying.

I sat up almost immediately after that message and ran out of my room, unsure if Bolt followed. What mattered right now was to get that letter from dad.

"Dad!" I called, reaching him as he nearly choked on his water. "The letter! Where's the letter?!"

"Calm down," he told me, taking the envelope from his pocket. "Here."

I took it from him and ran back to my room, ignoring my father's calls.

As soon as I reached my room, I locked the door and jumped onto my bed, mindful where Bolt lay and slept.

This letter probably contains something sad, but I don't care…it may be the last thing Gray left me with.

"You're serious…"

"Yes, I am," I said with narrowed orbs. "What made you think I was kidding?"

"Geez…" I watched as Erza plopped down on her couch and sighed. "He didn't even ask you to…"

"I know, but I want to."

"Lucy," she looked at me like a mother would to a child who just got into trouble. "He said that something bad must have happened if you read his letter, and that you shouldn't let it get to you no matter how hard it is."

"Since when did I ever listen?" I shot back, lowering my head. "I told my parents about it, and though it took a while to get them to agree, they did."

"But-"

"I'm asking you for a reason Erza," I cut her off. "Mira would never let me go, nor would Cana. Levy would surely understand, but she won't have enough guts to do this, so please!" I lowered my head. "Please Erza, please…"

"Look, I don't know how I can get in," she said. "You can enter as a medic but how sure are you that you'll be able to enter a rescue team? You're inexperienced for the battlefield!"

"I can get Natsu and the rest to pull some strings, even Ultear-nii and Lamar-touchan might be able to help - both in my case and yours!"

"Do you even understand what you're saying?!" She stood up and walked over to me, afterwards, grabbed my shoulders. "Listen to yourself Lucy! Listen to what you're saying!" she cried out. "You're being irrational! You're not thinking right! You're not being Lucy Heartfilia!"

"I know," I said, trying to remain calm. "I'm just Lucy."

Erza looked at me with hopelessness and sighed. "No," she said, pulling away and handing me back Gray's letter. "He told you to be safe, he said that he wants you to take care of yourself and not do anything irrational." Erza looked at me with narrowed eyes, yet they seemed pained as well. "And you're doing the opposite." She sat back down. "Lucy, he only wants what's best for you, so don't…" she trailed off and sighed. "Are you going to lose his trust again?"

Somehow, that got to me.

It's nearly the end of October, and I still haven't heard any news from Natsu about Gray's whereabouts.

I asked him why he was still around and not back in NDA, searching for Gray, and he told me that he and the others (Juvia, Lyon, Loke, and Jura) were ordered to not participate in any rescue mission, for fear of their emotions getting the best of them.

Now I understand why Gray won't promise me that he'll come back – he didn't want to give me false hopes, fake dreams, and illusions of a happily ever after…

…But…

"You said…" I spoke softly, gripping the tags around my neck as I inhaled the scent of the salty air coming from the sea before me. "You told me that…" I tried hard not to cry, but I couldn't help it. My tears trickled down from my eyes, and I sniffed, hiccupped, and finally broke down, my knees giving in as I fell to the wooden floor of the dock I was on, the same spot where Gray and I became lovers. "You said that if I took that last step…" I continued crying; sobbing so hard that it was beginning to be difficult to breathe properly. "That I'd know if there's such a thing as forever!" I yelled out, my grip on the tags tightening as I hunched lower, my forehead nearly close to touching my knees. "But…but I…now I know…" My voice started to hitch due to crying so much, and somewhere in the back of my head, I wanted to beat Natsu up for asking me to meet him here, of all places…

Due to my non-stop crying, my heart nearly leapt out of my chest when someone had touched my shoulder from behind. Because of how fast I had turned, I fell onto my rear and felt my cheeks heat up in embarrassment. My shock overcame my grief, and I hesitantly raised my head, wanting to know who had me jump.

"N-Natsu...?" I spluttered out, finding my voice when I saw him, though he still had that stupid helmet on, and I recalled him saying something about his hair looking disarray each time he removes his helmet. "Don't do that…" I said, sitting up and wiping my tears away, not really wanting to get back up since I knew my knees would still be too weak to hold me up.

I was pretty much grateful when he decided to kneel down on one knee before me to match my level, and I still kept my head lowered.

"What did you want to see me for?" I asked, eyes widening slightly when he raised his hand to lift my chin up. "Stop joking around!" My hand moved in reflex, about to slap him, but he caught my wrist and shook his head, as if mocking me, and it made me twitch, but then, I ended up calming down, thinking that he was just trying to comfort me. "Seriously," I murmured, my head lowering again. "Is this about Gray?" He gave a nod, and I tried not to hope too much, for fear of being let down again.

He held out his other hand to me, seeing his closed fist.

"Oh…" I murmured. "Something from him?"

Again, he gave a nod, so I opened my palms as he let the object drop, at the same time, pull his hand back to assist the other in removing the helmet.

"This…" My eyes widened when I looked at the object. Gray's dogtags. "Is this…"

"He wants to know if you'll forgive him."

I froze.

"And…he's getting impatient from waiting for your answer."

"How...long..?" I slowly raised my head, and I saw it. The dark blue eyes, the raven hair, and that smirk. That stupid smirk, that same smirk I fell in love with.

"Three days ago."

And I tackled Gray to a hug and cried yet again.

"You idiot…" I murmured, burying my face onto his chest. "You…big idiot…"

"I think…" He sat up, yet still held me. "You're a bigger idiot for loving this idiot."

I wiped my tears and gave him a bright smile. "Gray…" I sniffed again, this time, crying tears of joy. "How would you feel if I told you I'm pregnant with your child?"

He pulled me to him. "Excited." And his lips touched mine.

For someone who was excited, it didn't show, but Gray's kiss told me otherwise.

"It's like the whole world stops to listen…"

Once again, sorry for the somewhat late update. I'll try to get the next one out sooner. And yes, I know this is short.

Thanks :D