Through the Years I

Juvia wasn't surprised when the townsfolk welcomed her with cold, wary glances and loud whispers, parents hiding their children and Evelina frowning at her. She wasn't surprised when they asked her to leave, either, fearful of what could happen to them because of her by her own hands or by someone from the higher spheres. She could understand that―she had expected it.

It didn't quell the burning sensation, the itch at their disdainful thoughts or the sting on her chest, but it, somehow, helped.

She was surprised, though, when they apologized with soft words and lowered gazes. Evelina had readied for her a backpack with food and resources, even some jewels from the already low income Juvia knew the elderly doctor had, and sat her down for their last dinner together.

"They're afraid. Demons are―not legends, I guess, but the stories we know are enough to suspect the worse. All about ol' dark mage Zeref and everythin' else that comes with it. People're afraid of that." She had looked up, then, a confident smirk in place. "Me too. However, you're welcome to come back any time."

Juvia had spluttered at that, not expecting the invitation and stuttered with no logical sentence or meaning.

"Don't look shocked," the doctor chastised. "It's not like we don't like you. In a better world, you'd have been taken care of and become another of our neighbors. It isn't. So for the moment take it as our only present."

The morning after, even though nearing summer, was chilly coated with a thin fog.

Juvia was surprised again when Gray, cold Gray who had hated her at first for all the right reasons, leant against the signs in the outskirts of the town. He waved, his sleepy face flushed, and grumbled under his breath.

"It's not what you think," he began. "I just stayed here temporarily 'cuz of you and don't smile like that, already had enough with Gustav's grins and 'yer a fool, lad' and always wanted to leave to―to somewhere. I dunno," Gray stammered, his hands grabbing the straps of his pack. "Anyway, if I'm traveling alone and you're traveling alone and we could travel together instead to make it easier and―"

Juvia squealed, face maybe a bit too close from his, and felt like hugging him.

"Yes," she yelled. "Yes, yes, yes!"

Next she did hug him, griping him like her life depended on it.

"Don't h―stop it," Gray protested between gasps of air. "I get it, I get it!"

Juvia unwrapped only after a final squeeze, her back straighter when standing as Gray cleaned his pants from the imaginary dust, all the while huffing as well as muttering, and she looked expectant for what was to come.

This, her new life in that strange, same world, could have been better; then again, it could have been worse―much worse, with no friend at her side and no place to return to.

"Where now?" she asked as happy as she felt.

"Does it matter?"

She beamed. "Juvia always wanted to see the sea."

Gray sighed. "South it is."

ooOOooOOoo

Fiore had changed. That much was clear in the numerous towns and cities along the road; less wild and more civilized, with new technology she'd only heard of from the few description people had given her. She didn't have much to compare with in the first place, her memories from centuries ago not all right there, and even then she, or Zeref-sama more specifically, had avoided any human installments like the plague. But the sensation was obvious with an once-over.

The roads were paved, the travelers with no fear and the first village they visited surrounded by a healthy forest and an energetic market open to the newcomers, a sharp contrast of her quaint life back in Daffodil Town.

It was fascinating.

"Where are we?" Juvia asked, wide eyes inspecting one of the magical object in display.

"Some village who knows where." Gray clenched the map, scanning for the exact spot they had landed in and shrugged when he didn't found anything of help. "Hope there isn't a guild around at least. That'd make it easier to find a job for us."

She twirled around. "Guild?"

"What." He blinked owlishly and nose wrinkled until it downed to him. "Oh, yeah. Guilds are, uhm, mages who create a group and work for jewels doing missions that people ask to them. Kind of. That's the gist." He scratched at his nape. "They're to make things easier and safer for the mages and customers, I think."

Juvia poked her head over his shoulder, peeking over the map and her brow furrowed when she noticed Gray was on the process of taking his shirt away.

"Like a Circle then," she said, followed by an explanation when she noticed his confused frown. "Although instead of doing magical research it's for doing odd-jobs."

Gray nodded. "That's close enough."

She smiled, the animated ambient affecting her mood. She didn't recall people being so open to strangers, neither, although the apparent safety there might have helped it. Absently, Juvia wondered if the creation of those guilds had anything to do with it and looked at Gray, who was muttering under his breath about logging and where to find food.

"Why don't we join one?" she inquired. "Gray-kun wouldn't need to worry as much."

He froze on the spot, his mouth half-open as his head turned around before closing the gap between them.

"I thought you were one of Zeref's demons," he whispered.

"Juvia is."

Gray gulped, avoided her eyes and kicked a pebble.

"You know that Zeref's known as the Dark Mage, right?" he grumbled, appalled. "He's not liked. Everything he created is destroyed or kept an eye on. Guilds are under the watch of the Magic Council and if they ever hear about you―you'd be―they'd―"

His warning sunk, slowly, and Juvia sighed. She had hoped that it wasn't the case even though the chances were minimal. She had listened into sufficient conversations to deduce that, even after all the time that had passed, the remaining fear for Zeref-sama still circulated between hushes and warning tales.

With a wince and a shake, her shoulder shagged.

"Oh," she breathed out. "Juvia's sorry."

Gray grunted, his attention back to the stands where vendors trapped costumers and pointed one woman at the very end o f the line that seemed short of helping hands. He tugged on her hand, his eyes flickering to her with each step they approached their destination, before something gave in and he pouted.

"Feh. We don't need a guild," Gray declared, chest puffed out. "I already traveled alone before, well, before you. How harder it can be with you? So let's do this."

Her lids fluttered, once, twice, before her face bloomed into a full smile and she trotted next to him.

"Right," she chirped and then added with a mischievous smirk, "Juvia's really happy Gray-kun is with her."

He blushed and she couldn't be gladder.

ooOOooOOoo

"Juvia, we're saving jewels. Starting right now," Gray grounded out as he slapped another leaf away. "We have to."

Juvia looked up from the map she had been carrying, an odd look crossing her, before she caught what he had said.

"Saving?"

"Yes," he continued. "It's taking us forever to reach the coast. The trains are goddam expensive for us. Walking is stupid. This forest's stupid. So we're saving for our personal transport." He smashed his hands, freezing a path before them. "Like the one we saw on the market."

Her forehead scrunched in thought, her mind flying back to the exposition so as to find what her partner was talking about, all the while careful not to step on a overgrown root or clash against a low branch. If memory didn't betray her, which it did more times than she dared to count, there had been the usual, or what she thought was the usual, vehicles of four wheels―energized by a system she didn't quite understand but trusted was pulled thanks to magic.

Juvia doubted they could use those yet, something on how the seller shushed them away as soon as they approached those things. There had been, however, that stand next to the carts with animals as huge as an adult―rabbits and wolfs and even a tiger, or they resemble those at least.

Juvia giggled.

"Gray wants the panther, doesn't he?"

Gray huffed.

"The leopard's cooler."

ooOOooOOoo

The sea expanded beyond their sight, blue and crystalline and shining, the sight awe-inspiring whit the sun up and the harbor with pirates and sailors equally active. She had heeded stories about this. Zeref-sama have told her them when she had asked and then she would dream of traveling beyond the desert and the ruins she had come to known while he watched amused at her excitement and then― then―

"It's beautiful. Juvia never imagined it'd be like this."

"You're a water mage." Gray scowled. "Of course you'll like it, your element and all that jazz."

Juvia flinched at his dry tone. Maybe it had been because of the longer than expected trip to reach the seaside; the days drawn out with extended missions for each stop they made and, although a necessity, tiresome in their own right. Alternatively, it might have been for the people who glanced at their way, suspicious peeks all of them with anger behind dark glints, and Juvia pondered if they should stay there any longer.

Both options were disheartening, the moment ruined with his grumpiness adorable it may have been, and Juvia gave one last longing stare to the sea, hoping they would enjoy what activities she had heard of from the tourist they had crossed paths with, before turning around and facing Gray.

"Juvia was just saying," she pouted. "Gray-kun's been acting weird these last days. It's something wrong?"

He chewed on his lip, sight set on the landscape in front of them as his jacket sliced off from his arms and Juvia made a mental note of picking it up as soon as it dropped.

"No, it's nothing," said Gray. "Don't worry."

"Then there's something going on," Juvia answered.

His nose wrinkled while he let out an exasperated snort. "I told you there wasn't."

"You told Juvia it was nothing and not to worry," she pointed out. "It's different."

"How?" Gray cocked an eyebrow. "It means the same thing."

"Nuh-uh."

His scowl deepened. "That doesn't make sense."

Juvia leant forward as he stepped back from her. She narrowed her eyes, hands clenched behind as Gray copied her motion.

"Juvia still thinks there's something you aren't telling."

"Humph," huffed Gray.

Her lips curled, the strained silence putting a damper and she had to open and close her mouth many times before finding the words she wanted to blurt out. Juvia swayed from one foot to another, her eyebrows knotted together, and exhaled.

"Will you tell Juvia?" she asked quietly.

Gray growled, a glare in place, and then sneered.

"Will you tell me about why you where imprisoned and Zeref and everything else you've kept quiet? No?" he snarled. "Wonder why, ah? Maybe Juvia should learn how to not be snotty 'coz makes people hella uncomfortable and I don't wanna tell you and―"

"―Gray-kun isn't proud of it," Juvia barged in. "Or maybe because Gray-kund doesn't trust Juvia enough."

The words wilted, his lips a thin, white line as he sniffed gruffly. Juvia wriggled, her feet dragging on the floor as she pondered if she had pushed her boundaries. She could sense her magic, whirling and coiling inside her, flaring awake against her wishes. And not long before the sky began to obscure with ugly looking clouds.

Juvia fisted her fingers, arms gluing to her sides as she fought back the tears and the rain when Gray squinted to the darkness above them and rustled, exhausted.

She sniffled.

"You aren't crying, are you?" he asked with a slight tremble to the pitch of his voice. She didn't answer straight away, which made him squirm, hands rising with nervous movements. "Look, it's just a bad date, a really bad date, and we've travelling for a month plus something and I'm tired and probably you're tired too, it's been that long, so let's forget this mess and find an inn, 'kay?"

She nodded slowly, bringing out a sigh from him.

"Don't worry," he repeated.

"Juvia's sorry," she snuffled. "She didn't think."

Gray grumbled some more at the same time he started to walk towards the town at their back before stopping and swirling around to face her. He didn't look ahead, attention focused on his feet, but Juvia's heart throbbed regardless.

"Yeah, I'm sorry too."

ooOOooOOoo

They had been lucky when summer turned out be hotter than expected, drying the water reserves and parching the earth, and more so when an old couple hired them for the whole summer and part of autumn to work on their farm. They hadn't been as lucky with the couple's personality, matching the definition of irritable, bad-tempered and unreasonable to a tee, and as the blob of water in midair quivered, drops falling, Juvia had to focus again on her task unless they wished to lose the job handed down to them.

"Watch out. You don't wanna overwater the seeds," Gray called out as he buried the hoe into the ground.

"Juvia'll be more careful," she fretted, her water spaying on the soil with meticulous precision. "But you didn't tell Juvia. That's so―Juvia feels wounded!"

He raised the hoe again, ready to strike it down, and arched a brow on her direction. "About?"

"Your birthday is in November!" she shrilled, dismayed.

"Yeah, what of it?" he drawled. "It's not like you memorized, dunno, doc's or Gustav's back in the town."

"Juvia does know theirs," Juvia huffed, glancing over their supervisor working on the land just some meters away without minding them. "Except yours! Juvia didn't know! We didn't celebrate back then."

The hoe smacked the ground and Gray rolled his eyes.

"You're getting too wound up for that," he guffawed. "It's just a birthday and it's not like I was―we were on good terms then."

A cough resonated in the scorching day, attracting their mind to the elder man who swept a stinky eye in their direction before returning to check the vegetables. She flinched, with an ashamed blush creping when she looped around to face the rest of the dry plantation. They continued without a hitch for awhile, the only sound that of water and clash of rocks reverberating in the place as well as Gray's labored breath as the background noise.

She summoned her magic once more to continue with the task.

"But it is," said Juvia after a minute passed, her concentration centered on the dried plants.

"Wha?" Gray mouthed.

"It is important," she pressed on, her voice no above a whisper. "Not for Gray-kun, maybe, but it is for Juvia. She wants to congratulate you properly. Because Gray-kun's one of the most important persons for Juvia right now!" She stared down on him. "And that's reason enough."

Juvia beamed, her insides giddy as she bumped her hand for extra emphasis. She saw, with a good amount of amusement, how Gray's eyes widened, mouth slack and his face, and torso now that she noticed his lack of garments, dyed with a vivid red that something told her wasn't entirely for the heat.

He avoided her and she inclined closer to him.

"Uhm…"

"Hey, brats!" an old voice cut through. "Stop chit-chatting and get on your damn job!"

They twirled around to face the wrath of their boss, who just turned around muttering under his breath something that might have sounded like 'useless little monsters', and Juvia deflated.

Gray growled next to her, with a cold glare and a vice-grip.

"Gray-kun, don't." She placed a hand on his arm and he scowled.

"He can't keep using us like this. When we're off from this nightmare, I'm giving that old geezer a piece of my mind." He hung the hoe above his head for a second longer than necessary before smacking it down. "And a frozen house."

ooOOooOOoo

Juvia swayed her way closer to Gray, hand firmly grabbing on his shoulder just in case his strength gave in, while she worriedly casted a look over the gash around his forehead. Her dress dripped onto the floor, shivers running up and down while her body cramped with stain, and her jaw clicked shut.

"What happened to you two?" asked the woman at the other side of the bar. "Wildness, a stormy night, a―?"

"Bandits," Gray grunted, his eyes unfocused. "On the way here."

The owner of the inn called Anna's Hole, built somewhere on a town named Onibas, reclined her head on her right hand, scrutinizing them as she made a bored 'ohh' sound that put Juvia on edge. Gray's increasing weight at her side didn't ease the situation, and she urged him to stay conscious for a little longer with a nudge.

"Hmmm…and you wanna stay the night, right?" the host, who was, Juvia guessed, probably Anna, slurred, drumming against the wooden counter.

"We can pay," she chirmed in when her companion took too long to answer. "And if it's not enough Juvia'll help around, ma'am."

The woman smirked. "That's what I wanted to hear." She walked out from behind the counter with keys at hand. "Follow me."

The ride to their room was slow, with Gray slumped against her, and then the staircase became a nightmare. Juvia wondered, with alarms going off, if the hit to the head had been worse than what they considered at first. It didn't bleed anymore, the superficial wound already taken care of, but the dark circles under Gray's eyes and the hunched way he hold himself, so unlike the usual firm and conceited posture, didn't relieve any of her worries.

What if she had reached him too late, or if they poisoned him somehow, or if he suffered from one of those contucious she had heard about. Or what if―?

"It's not something to fuss over," said Anna with an amused twitch of lips. "The gal's all right. Looks like magic exhaustion only."

Juvia backtracked, her breath hitching. "How―?"

"Please, as if two normal, powerless kids'd survive a fight with bandits," she snorted. " 'sides, my tavern gathers mages from all places and I'm no fool," she explained airily. "But you're really lucky."

Juvia twisted under Gray's weight, a frown appeared on her face before asking, "What does Anna-san mean?"

"There been problems a short while ago with a near cult who tried to resurrect the dark mage Zeref or something. The Council and all came to wipe them out. Some of the members got out, though, and've been causing havoc lately." The woman shrugged with a forlorn expression. "If you're gonna travel these roads, go with the merchants. It's not good for two kids to go around alone."

Juvia hesitated on her next step, her hold trembling as she took the new information in with belated breath and stomach lurching. Her voice died, fingers clutching at Gray's side and she even stopped walking for a moment, the corridor expanding before her. Her tongue tasted sour, lips turned pale and Juvia did not react until Gray pinched her with a shake of his head.

She exhaled.

"…thank you for the advice," Juvia said with a lowered gaze.

"S'nothing, girlie," Anna said, smiling, and opened a door to the left. "There you go, room nice and tidy. Take care. And I want you up at six. Sharp. You gotta pay back the stay."

Gray grumbled as she carried him to one of the twin beds, the door closed behind them. It was still afternoon, broad light shedding from the window and the hustle from bellow racketing, but it didn't dissuade her. The exercise got the best of them both and, by the time Juvia managed to lay him down, her body finally surrendered to tiredness.

She plunged against the mattress of her own bed, all clothes still on.

"Juvia's draiiiined," she moaned.

"Yeaaah. Tell me 'bout that," Juvia heard Gray murmur from his position, sleepy. "That went worse than expected."

She hummed in agreement. In a last attempt of ensuring that everything was okay, she brought the last straws of strengths out while asking:

"Is Gray-kun okay?" Juvia stood up from her place. "Does he feel okay? Anything you want or need? Maybe we should change the bandages―"

Gray groaned, removing the jacket with effortless practice before pushing her away again. She caught something akin to 'worrywart' blurting from his mouth, although, honestly, she couldn't bring herself to care after the day they had. In fact, the silence that followed was a welcomed change, Juvia thought, with only their lulled breathing breaking it.

It went on for minutes without end, to the point where her lids started to flutter close despite her mind's warnings not to, and only Gray's voice pulled her out from the soothed state.

"Juvia." When she didn't answer right away, he called again, "Juvia, you there?"

"Hmmh," she managed to answer.

Gray cleared his throat. "Did you, uh, transform at the end? When I was knocked out," he spouted, very still from his place on the bed. "Didn't get what was going at the last moment there."

There was a long, awkward silence where blood pounded on her ears, her senses all awake as his question silently echoed in the room. It had been, for all purposes, a curious question and not the accusations she'd feared. Except Juvia almost felt the hint of, not fear, which was something he should have felt in reality because she had been enraged like never before and not truly in control of her own magic and then there was nothing except water and bodies laying around―but something thick swarming his words, and her muscles tensed.

It was nerve wrecking.

And she didn't want to be seen as what she knew she, in truth, was―never wished for that and―

"No," she lied, "Juvia didn't."

Gray sighed, his face not visible from her position, and her lips thinned.

"Okay," he said after a moment. "Anyway. Just really happy those guys weren't the cult or whatever that woman's spoken about. That'd have been nasty."

Juvia frowned, fingers playing with the hem of her dress. A noise of something shattering came from the lower floor, making her twitch on her spot until she gave up. Juvia sat up against the old, rusty headboard with a timorous question bubbling inside her, and then gazed at the badly painted wall.

She clenched the pillow closer.

"Why would anyone want to resurrect Zeref-sama?" she inquired, voice quiet.

"As if I know," snorted Gray, arms covering his face. "They're nutters, cultist and shit. And the one who want Zeref back much more."

Juvia giggled, stiffly. Gray twisted at her stance.

"No, no, no. Juvia doesn't mean it like that," she said, playing with one lock of her hair. "Gray-kun, what Juvia tried to say is that, well, Zeref-sama's alive. He is immortal." Gray peered through his bangs." Zeref-sama cannot die. So, he can't be resurrected, neither."

There was a beat of disconcert, Gray abruptly lifting himself from the lying spot and Juvia watching, with sharp eyes, how his stoic expression changed into bewilderment. She presumed it was something she should have expected, and her heart pounded wildly as her feet sunk into the mattress, the pillow tightly held against her frame.

Gray stared, and she mirrored the motion.

"Really?" he grounded out. "Zeref's alive and not…dead?"

"Yes." She nodded and he slumped on the bed once more.

"That's something I really didn't want to know."

She hummed, a smile forming at his petulant tone and loosened up while lying down. She turned her head so as to face him on the twin bed.

"Juvia thinks it doesn't matters," she said. "If Zeref-sama hadn't acted till now and kept himself on the hiding for this long, he won't start now."

He huffed.

"S'ppose is true," Gray conceded with an exhale, scraping at the gash. "Still, though. It's worrying."

ooOOooOOoo

At some point, nearing winter's worst days, Gray had asked her: 'do you wanna go visit doc and the others?' with a far-off look and the usual thoughtful wrinkle on his brow.

"For the winter," he had said, "that way we won't worry―well, you won't need to worry about the cold and things. And it's been long, the Winter Festivals are coming, so I thought―"

Juvia had said yes in a heartbeat even before he could end the sentence and then, they were off.

The calm town of Daffodil, it turned out, didn't vary in the slightest since the last time. Maybe it had one too many houses and the road renewed; everything else, however, remained exactly the same, from the mines to the houses, old and musty and covered with snow.

It was comforting, as was arriving to the old house she had lived in for months.

"You've grown," Evelina commented as soon as she opened the door to welcome her. "How old are you now? Nine to be ten?"

Juvia yelped in excitement, throwing herself to the doctor's legs and hugging her with abandon. She heard a soft laughter coming from the woman, a hand resting on her head as well as the slight nudging to push her inside the house.

"How have you been doin'?" Evelina asked, cleaning the kitchen's table from whatever she had been doing before. "Good, I hope. And where is the ice-boy? Gustav told me he went with ya."

She snorted at the last part and Juvia blinked.

"Gray-kun's visiting Gustav-san," she said, sitting down. "And yes! Juvia and Gray-kun a bunch of places since we left. Juvia learned a lot, like how those guilds work and the new inventions, there are so many of them Juvia doesn't know where to start! But―before that, can Juvia stay here?" she asked, hurried. "Just for a couple of days."

Evelina chuckled, patting her on the head.

"As long as you don't expect me to heal any wounds you got without paying. Have enough of that with the occasional rip-off travelers, thank you," she sneered. "Otherwise, I don't mind, though others might," she warned. "Be careful of that."

Juvia smiled with one side of her mouth, Evelina doing the same, and she rested against the chair.

"Thank you," she said truthfully. "Juvia hopes to see the winter festival, too."

The doctor rattled around the kitchen, taking out cups and a pitcher and some everyday snacks, before sitting facing her.

"You're welcome," said Evelina. "In any case, how did it go? Got any problems?"

"Only once," she confessed after a deep breath. "Juvia and Gray-kun were traveling around and they were attacked by bandits."

She looked down to the table and Evelina whistled.

"Nasty," commented Evelina.

She shrugged. "It wasn't much."

Juvia sipped her mug, feet hanging and coat heavy as the woman's assessment hung over her head with all its weight. She could, with a sort of dreadful realization, perceive that the doctor knew, somehow. It must have been the age and the experience, plus her reluctance or something entirely different what gave her away.

Much like Gray, maybe; but unlike him who just never questioned her, Evelina regarded her coolly before speaking up.

"Must be harsh for you," said the doctor, her face soft and voice softer still.

Here, Juvia frowned utterly confused.

"Uh?"

"Not bein' able to run from that," she repeated. "It must be hard for you, although seeing how you're holdin' up is something of awe."

Juvia blushed, squashing the worry growing at the pit of her stomach.

"It's all right. Juvia knows not to use it and she doesn't." At the doctor's pointed stare, she rectified, "Only when Juvia really, really needs to."

"Hmm," Evelina nodded. "So, tell me more of your adventures."

Juvia smiled, hesitant but relieved, drank from her glass and continued the story.

ooOOooOOoo

The night before they set off was a dark one, new moon and all, but not outrageously frosty for the season they were in. It had been a long day with the celebration of the solstice, the little town aflame with a few stands, bonfires and drunk people. Juvia amazed at the vivacity, dragging an unenthusiastic Gray along as she herself followed the kids they had once played with through the streets.

It had been elating how they seemed eager to show her whatever nook and corner they were familiar with, more so when the kids hauled her to one of the game stands and the past completely forgotten. Afterwards came the fireworks, where she did push Gray next to her for an earned spectacle despite his flustered grumbles.

"It's just fireworks, seriously, what's so amazing 'bout it?" he had said, although keeping track of the display with rapt attention.

Then, there was the usual cool down where some aimlessly wandered waiting for the pubs and bars to get on, and others, mostly parents and their children, went home.

Juvia stayed out on a bench, glancing over the folks walking before her and munching down on a sweet she had bought.

"You aren't gonna sleep?" asked Gray with a yawn, sitting next to her. "We shoulda wake up early."

"Evelina-sama said most people get sick around this hour, after the partying, so it'd better to avoid going to her home for awhile until it calmed down."

"Eh," he mused. "That sucks."

"Does not. It was worth it."

"That doesn't mean it's not a downer," argued Gray.

"Hmrph," Juvia huffed. "And why's Gray-kun here?"

"Gustav has the keys and he's somewhere around with his boyfriend or something," he informed. "Couldn't find him before, when running around like chickens with you."

Juvia cleaned the rest of sugar from her fingers with a napkin.

"Juvia could help Gray-kun search for him now."

Gray shuddered. "He's at the bar, probably. I'm not entering there."

He pointed an installment at the far corner from where they were. It seemed rowdy, to say the least, and they could see someone throwing up at the door.

"Yeah..." she mumbled. "Juvia understands."

There was a light silence after that, comfortable albeit the noise, and Juvia propped her head on his shoulder with a simulated stretch. Gray didn't take any of it, though, and shook her off with a threatening glower.

Juvia grinned impishly, and he flushed with a frown.

"So," Gray spoke up after muttering under his breath, "tomorrow, where do we go next?"

She pondered the question a bit before giving up.

"Juvia doesn't know."

"We could try for Crocus. It's the capitol," proposed Gray airily. "There gotta be plenty things to do there."

Juvia smiled at that, hands resting at her side.

"Juvia likes how that sounds."

She watched as Gray bobbed his head, his hands behind his neck as he leaned against the bench. The cold winter night began to stick its head out, some flurries descending, and Juvia gaped at it. She puffed out a blur of fog as Gray wriggled into a more relaxed position, and she wondered, only half concerned, if she would have to worry about scattered clothes again.

Then, loud enough to be intentioned but low enough that she might have misheard it, he said:

"Or we could search for Zeref."

Something stopped, wholly stopped, and she vaguely considered if it had been her heart. Her breathing system, too, seemed to shut down, until her blank vision detected Gray's serious gaze on her and time returned to its flow.

Juvia sensed blood cursing through her veins and the air filling her lungs before a quake tore through her.

"Wha―what," she stuttered, her fingers clutching on her dress. "Wh-why so sudden, Gray-kun―why Zeref-sama―"

"You always call him that," interrupted Gray. "Zeref-sama. You always call him that even with everything he's done."

She gawked, bewildered at his word. Juvia couldn't bring herself to speak with her mind blacking out like it was doing then.

Gray shuffled with his jacket, a scowl marring his faction and mouth tightly closed.

"It's just―I've thinking since you told me about, well, the Dark Mage still being alive," he said.

Juvia gulped, the knot undone at this. "Juvia still doesn't understand."

His nose scrunched. "I guessed you'd like to meet him or something. Dunno. Just say yes or no."

Juvia frowned, hands restless as she plucked a loose thread out. Her mouth curled down, a fast beating drumming against her ribcage while she considered his words carefully, although Juvia already knew, and coiled when she noticed his intense stare.

She sighed, chewing on her bottom lip.

"It won't work," she uttered after a long time.

Gray's glare narrowed. "Why?"

Juvia grinned with one side of her mouth, in spite of the nervous wreck and the wish of quitting the prickly conversation as quickly as possible.

"Juvia thought Gray-kun didn't like prying," she pointed out.

He scoffed, aggravated.

"Look," he sniffled tartly, "I'd rather not face him, okay? He's the cause of what's wrong with… with everything: my parents and Ur and all those monster he created― But," Gray grinded out, cutting short whatever he had started to say with a shake, "if anyone told me there was the chance of my family being out there, alive, I'd take it and search."

Gray glared, cheeks red, brows furrowed, before standing up and kicking at the snow accumulated.

"So that's why I asked," he said.

He was looking at her, not entirely reproachful but forceful enough to draw a shaky sigh from her. Juvia still felt the defensive streak on her core, urging her not to say a thing for all Gray had become to her and in spite of his sullen expression.

Juvia avoided his gaze, at first, before something snapped and her hands writhed in front of her, her eyes lowered to her lap.

"It won't work," she said levelly, "because Zeref-sama was the one who sealed Juvia. And Juvia is―afraid, maybe. She… just doesn't feel like Juvia's ready to face Zeref-sama."

Gray sat down again, a blank expression in place. "Ah," he mouthed, perplexed. "Any reason for the sealing?"

Juvia shrugged as she bent closer to him. "Juvia discovered something she shouldn't." At his lifted eyebrow, she explained further," Juvia tried to stop Zeref-sama, he got angry with Juvia and then she awoke here, with Gray-kun."

From her position, she could sense his chest contracting as if he was about to question further, but before Gray went through with it there was an exhalation. Juvia watched as he struggled with flickering glances directed at her and combed his hair.

"The more I know the less sense it makes," muttered Gray at the end. "No Zeref?"

She snorted. "Juvia'd rather not."

"Next Crocus, then." Gray nodded.

Juvia giggled at his exasperated groan as she settled against his shoulder, which he did nothing to shake off this time except for the disapproval shown by pursing his lips. Curling deeper into her coat and gazing at the pedestrians living off the last lingering festivities of the solstice unaware of them both, Juvia wondered back to the disconcerting conversation of a minute ago.

Her tongue darted out to wet her lips at the fresh memory of something specific he had said.

"So…"

Gray turned to face her. "So?"

"Was it one of Zeref-sama's demon?" she asked softly. "Was that the reason you didn't like Juvia at first? Because a demon made something to you before?"

Gray blinked, before his head wiped in her direction at her question and she shifted with him. He glared, his muscles tensing and jaw clenching as he regarded her with unfazed, cold eyes. Juvia didn't react, already expecting that response from him when Gray's dark scowl diminished a bit with a shudder.

She laughed slightly, spotting the discarded shirt at the same time Gray did, and she watched as his shoulders slumped with a sigh.

And she waited, patient.

"Yes," said Gray finally.

"If Gray-kun tells Juvia," offered Juvia with a flourish of her hand, "Juvia will answer Gray-kun's questions about anything he wants."

He sent her a withering look . "That's blackmailing."

"Only if Gray-kun wants," she rectified. "And it's a trade of information. Technically."

Gray sneered until a yielding, tiny smile tugged on his lips. Juvia smiled with him, as if they were accomplices of something bigger, and shyly elbowed him. He elbowed back.

"If you say so." He scratched at one of his cheeks. "It's a pretty long story."

"Juvia's is, too," Juvia said. "Which means Gray-kun and Juvia'll have to part in the afternoon instead of the morning."

Gray grouched, accompanied with a roll of eyes, while taking a more comfortable position and invited Juvia to join him.

"Remember in the harbor the first time we went to the sea?" he asked.

She thought about for a moment before motioning no.

"No…?"

"Your memory's awful," accused Gray.

Juvia pouted and he sniggered.

"It's not that bad," she said and Gray grunted with an astonished frown.

"After all the racquet you put up 'cuz of my birthday you didn't remember it," he said.

"But she gave you a present!" Juvia remarked. Then, deflated when Gray cocked a brow, amused. "Although three weeks late… It doesn't matter."

Gray huffed and her pout accentuated.

"S'kay. I made my point," he said with a nervous twitchy grin.

After that, Gray took a deep breath, the sort of one Juvia linked when someone was about to tell a long, sad story and she couldn't do anything else but scoot closer to hear better with an encouraging, sympathetic smile. Gray sighed, smiled weakly at her and cleared his throat.

Her turn would come later, and she prepared herself for that.

"Anyway," Gray began, looking far, far away, beyond the townspeople and the village and the world, "it was around that time when Deliora attacked my village―it was pretty much like Daffodil, but in the north, and…"

So it went.


Notes: Here it is! Faster than I expected knowing I'm like a snail when writing and how I've been marathoning anime nonstop, which, btw, for those who like Adventure/Fantasy anime go watch The Twelve Kingdoms RIGHT FUCKING NOW.

Anyway, next chapter will be after a timeskip and the last one before we kick in with the manga's arcs. I'm pretty excited about that rather than fearing it, strangely enough. Although I guess I'm gonna shit my pants once I start going through them. Plot, ew. But it'll take time because I gotta reread the manga from the start and-holy-shit-that-what-I-have-done.

As always, thanks for favorites and follows and the lovely reviews from Contrail, NudgeThePyro and loki,charms!