Ice Cracks 2

-—-

Gray sighed contendently as he watched the unconscious blue-haired woman in front of him.

Its been a month and a half since the Tartaros battle and they had won. Fortunately, all of them survived, including Juvia. And just a week ago, the antidote worked with the raijinshu and all four of them including Laxus was doing very well.

Another sigh passed his lips as he began twirling some of Juvia's blue locks, unconsciously, it became a habit for the Ice mage to play with her hair. His other hand then went on the pillow where her head was laid.

Gray's eyes softened as he silently talked. "Hey..." he called out to her, smiling faintly. "It's been so long, when are you going to wake up?"

Juvia Lockser laid quiet and unconscious on her bed inside the infirmary room in the guild. Her chest rising and falling in soft rhythm.

Gray closed his eyes and remembered what happened a month ago.

He woke up with a jolt inside the infirmary room of the guild, he felt himself all covered with bandage and he smelt of ointment. He forced himself to stay awake but he still felt a little worn out.

"Where are the others?" He asked and winced when he felt something painful on his back.

The purple haired girl laid him down again. "They're all fine, Gray-san."

He opened his eyes and he shuddered when he saw nothing but darkness.

Kinana waved in front of his opened eyes. "Gray-san?"

"I-I can't see anything!"

The girl gasped and quickly called for help. Moments passed and his other (fully recovered) guildmates rushed to his room.

"Gray," Erza, who's head was bandage called him.

He recognized the voice and he quickly searched for some answers. "Damn it! Its dark!"

The rest of his friends looked forlornly at him, "Gray, please calm down. Just relax and your sight will be back in no time." Master Makarov said, holding his son's arms.

Gray bit his lip before plopping himself back on his mattress. "It's only temporary, we figured that you might lost your vision for awhile because of what happened back in..." Wendy explained and stopped on midsentence.

That triggered something on Gray.

"Juvia!" He cried out, and he struggled to get out of bed once again.

"Please calm down." Erza said calmly but threat was threading with her tone. "She's fine. She's on the other room, safe and alive."

He breathed heavily and he let his guildmates lay him on his back once again. "Safe and alive..." he repeated with resolve, he closed his eyes.

Erza's words soothed him quickly, and Juvia's smiling face flashed before his eyes. Soon, he drifted to sleep and the rest of the guild finally calmed down.

His sleep lasted for two days and the whole guild and the rest of his nakama's had finally regained their usual gidiness.

It was only Lucy and Juvia who are still unconscious.

A week passed and Lucy finally regained consciousness and Juvia was left all alone inside the infirmary.

"I wonder when will you wake up?" He asked her one time. His eyes solely focused on her small face.

Poryuska-san said that the poison from Keith entered Juvia's body. Being water herself, the particles had an easy access and quickly assaulted her body.

The worst is, while she's unconscious and fighting for her dear life, one of the demons released its powers and it was a water type magic. It was black and poisoned and Juvia, including Lucy, Natsu, Gajeel and Levy were affected.

Her suffering doubled and it blocked all the passages of air inside her body. And now, she's the only one who they are waiting to wake up.

Her condition was stable but Poryuska-san said that her body might take a long time to recover. She also said that he might be a big help for Juvia, since he's an ice mage. There will be a time where her body will turn into water, and in that case, Gray needs to freeze her for a while so she can stay in shape, who knows what will happen if her arm turned into water and the cloth of her bed might sip her water in. Poryuska-san said that it might be better to prevent that from happening, poison was still inside the water mage and it might stop her water body from regenerating and she might lost her arm for real.

So here he was, looking out for her while he also take his time pondering about what he really felt about her.

His fingers itched to touch her cold skin and without any words he cupped her face.

Everything's clear for him. He won't let something like this happen again, he will protect her with all his might and will not fail this time.

What he only need right now is for her to be alive, he need to see her breathing, feel the warmth of her skin radiating against him.

His patience has build up and he told himself that he could wait for now for the right time for her to wake up.

His hands went to grab her left, smaller one. He gripped it tightly before pressing it close to his chest.

...

"She's in a coma." Master explained, sighing deeply as he watched Gray beside Juvia after he regained his vision.

"What we only need to do is to wait for her to wake up." He winced at the thought and sighed.

If only he could do something better than that...

October.

She was still quiet. Laying peacefully on her bed as he watched her chest rise and fall. Three months of waiting for her and he's still seated quietly beside her.

"Gray..." Lucy called him from behind, he felt a warm palm pressed on his shoulder.

He looked at her and he blinked. Together with Lucy, Natsu, Wendy and Mira, they all entered the infirmary room.

Seconds passed by, Gajeel, Laxus and Elfman followed. All of them holding a basket full of different kinds of flowers.

Gray stood up and gave room for the flowers as they placed it all on the counter above Juvia's headboard.

"Juvia loves flowers. We just don't know what kind is her favorite so we gathered it all and decided to put it all here." Mira smiled, glancing thoughtfully at the silent water mage, sleeping on the bed.

Gray bowed at them, his hands were in a tight fist beside him. Everyone in the room stared at him surprisingly.

"Thank you everyone."

December

She's still sleeping.

Fairy Tail decided to throw a small Christmas party inside the guild and the other guilds participated as well.

At the opening of the mini concert they've made for those who want to perform that night, Master Makarov dedicated a prayer for Juvia.

All of them went silent and prayed for her fast recovery. Soon, they all gathered at the stage hall, and Gajeel did the honors of performing the first act.

Gray stayed inside the infirmary. Holding onto the blue-haired girl's hand as he chose to drift to sleep together with her.

"Merry Christmas." He told her, smiling faintly as he closed his eyes and placed his head beside her.

January

Its a new year. Another party was held and everyone told Gray jokingly how killjoy he is for not celebrating it with them.

Even everyone wore their Yukata's and participated at the town's festival.

He wore a black Yukata and Lucy complimented him on how it suits him very we. "Its sad that Juvia would be missing New Year, and the fact that she would also miss seeing you in a Yukata."

He scowled grumpily, putting his palm on his cheek. "Whatever."

Before eight in the evening arrived, he was already back at the guild's infirmary. A few hours before, he was out with Natsu and made their annual tradition of writing their wishes on a paper before they hang it on a bamboo tree.

He remebered what he wished, his hands firmly around Juvia's.

I wish for Juvia to wake up soon. We missed a lot of times together and she needs to make it up for me. Please.

I want to talk to her.

He blushed faintly, he didn't know that he could be that bold. Well after all no one knows that exept him, so he prayed again for Kami to hear his wish.

April.

He looked at the mission board and chose his thirteenth mission since the New year began.

As soon as he cameback, he quickly checked on Juvia and talked to her. It became a habit, talking to her for the past few months. He enjoyed talking with her, even the said girl was not responding, only breathing and sighing.

They told him that she might be listening on what he is talking about and the thought only made him excited. It means that she's conscious and he regretted not doing it sooner.

He was sitting quietly on the small couch placed a few steps away from her bed. He was reading this book Levy gave him, saying that he might like it and soon he found himself taking interest on it.

He reached for his mug of coffee without looking at it, he sipped on it, his eyes still on the book.

Without any reasons, he glanced up from

his book to look at Juvia. Slowly, his eyes went back on the book again but his eyes quickly averted on her.

From his seat he saw her forehead wrinkled in slight movement, her eyebrows shotting up softly. He stood up, the book fell on the floor with a loud thud, and he forgot about it as he made his way beside her.

"Juvia..." he whispered, blinking his eyes as his hands were busy checking her hands and shoulders if they're moving.

Hope was shown on his face, his lips twitching into an excited grin.

"Juvia!" He couldn't hide his emotions as he lightly shook her shoulders. But soon he stopped it and realized that it might make the situation worst.

Her nose scrunched and he saw her lips opened in a small pop.

"W-Wa..." he heard a tiny, cracked voice. "Water..." it was raspy and low, Gray gulped. It was Juvia!

Soon her eyes slowly opened.

He was stunned to see her blue orbs open once again, it was brand new for him.

He smiled, and found himself holding a glass of water she's asking earlier. He wanted to thank Wendy later because she placed a glass and a pitcher of water beside her bed.

"H-here..." he offered to her shakily. Juvia remained unmoving. Her eyes staring up at the ceiling.

He leaned closer, he felt his face burn as he stared at her carefully. His nervous hands then placed the glass of water back on the table before cupping her cheeks as he hovered his eyes above hers.

Her eyes seemed to be a bit fuzzy at the moment, it was cloudy and it made him thought for a second if she's really awake.

Her eyes blinked and he saw that natural glow on it returned. She focused it and she saw him.

He smiled. "Juvia!"

The water mage manage to give him a small, strained smile, closing her eyes in relaxation when he pressed his forehead on hers.

"Welcome back." He told her, and Gray was not ashame of showing her how glad he is right now.

Without any thoughts, he pressed his lips on her forehead and Juvia was stunned for the first time since her last moment with him.

Her eyes watered at his warmth and she couldn't help but cry. "Im back..." she said in a husky voice and even it hurts her throat, she tried to speak again. "Juvia's home, Gray-sama."