Hiya. I'm really sorry guys, I know I said that I update within five days of posting but I'm having a serious case of the can't-be-bothered's. Oh and I'm also sorry for blabbering on about whether or not I should delete it or not. I'm going to stop that now. I'll just suck it up and move on! n.n But in return I'll try to make this chapter a bit longer than usual.
Ok, so in this chapter, we get to have a little sneak peek into Gray and Lucy's past. Aha, you guys excited? :D
Also, here are my replies to your reviews for the last chapter!
FairyTailLover333: Thank :) I agree completely! Lucy and Gray should definitely be together! Hehe. I'm working on it :) Also Lucy will eventually find out about the plan but it's going to take a while.
FallingStat93: Yes, I can tell :D aha, don't worry, I'm going to finish. I've made up my mind! Thanks for the review~!
IYRGirl: You think so? Tee hee, glad to hear it! Sorry for taking so long to update but thank you!
Fairytaillover416: I know right? Excited? Aha! THANKS FOR THE REVIEW! Hehe, shouting is fun, ne? :D
Chapter 7: Flashbacks and Dreams
Gray's POV
"Gray you idiot! Can't you see what you're doing?" The blue haired girl was shouting at him, her deep blue eyes filled with tears and glowing with hurt, "Juvia has tried so hard to gain your affections and yet you just through Juvia's efforts back in her face."
He was shocked to say the least.
This girl, who usually referred to him as Gray-sama because of her high level of respect for him, was now screaming at him in pure outrage and angst. Gray never would have imagined that she could have ever bring herself to be mad at him but he had underestimated her.
Juvia was usually shy and quiet with very few exceptions. The bluenette had only just recently voiced her feelings towards him but he was unsure how to respond since he didn't feel the same way towards her.
"J-Juvia..." was all he could say.
"No! Don't even talk. Juvia doesn't want to hear what you have to say. Juvia knows you are already in love with Lucy-san. That is why you never talk to Juvia anymore. Because of her. Can't you see what you're doing to Juvia? It hurts Gray. Juvia is hurting. You spend all your time with that lovely little Lucy-san but Gray never has any time to spare for Juvia. She is tired of it all."
"Juvia, that's not it. I still talk to you. We still hang out." Gray was trying desperately to defend himself but she simply wouldn't listen.
The sky had begun to fill with dark storm clouds and within moments rain was falling down heavily from the sky.
Gray felt the cold water droplets splash down over his figure and flinched. It was getting so cold. He didn't want to stay out here much longer.
Juvia just stood there. Her usually wavy blue hair was now sticking to her face, neck and shoulders because of the heavy rain.
He could barely tell the difference between the rain drops and the tears that were streaming down her face.
He watched as the blue haired girl bit her lip in frustration and tried to brush away her tears. It was a futile effort as they were only replaced with more and more tears.
She looked so terribly sad yet all Gray could focus on was how none of this made any sense.
Sure he'd been hanging out with Lucy more in these recent times, but he hadn't completely forgotten about his childhood friend.
They had still talked over the phone twice a week as per usual. They still hung out at lunch times, even is Lucy and all her new friends were there too.
Surely Juvia didn't need to spend every lunch time alone with him.
Besides, he thought it was fun hanging out with everyone.
Levy, Lucy, Juvia, Gajeel, Lisanna, Lyon, Sherry, Cana, Laxus and Gray...
They were all really good friends but still Juvia found something wrong with it.
Lucy.
What was it about Lucy that she hated so much?
Could she really love him so much that she was willing to throw away her friendship with Lucy?
It had seemed like they were good friends. But lately Juvia seemed to be getting more and more frustrated with the blonde girl.
Was she jealous of how close the two of them were?
Gray sighed. He would never understand women.
"Shush!" Juvia shouted and the rain began to pour down ever harder than before. Lightning filled the sky and thunder echoed around the two young people standing at the edge of Juvia's property, completely drenched by the downpour.
"Juvia doesn't care what you have to say anymore. Gray, Juvia is tired of trying with you. You never put in the effort anymore. All Juvia does is love you and you don't even acknowledge her. Gray has caused Juvia too much pain and suffering. Juvia is sick of you."
"No, that's not true! Juvia, I don't love you in the way you want but I still love you as friend! You're my precious childhood friend who's always there and I know I take that for granted but you're special to me!" He shouted desperately over the loudness of the thunderstorm.
"Juvia is done. Whatever Gray has to say...Juvia doesn't care anymore," the bluenette turned her back on him, tears overflowing from her dark blue orbs.
She looked back at the dark haired boy and in a voice filled with pure pain and sadness she uttered one last thing to the boy she loved, "Juvia hates you. Goodbye Gray. Forever..."
And then she turned around again and left a sad young boy on his knees, crying like a child in the rain.
"Juvia..." he whispered, his pained expression boring into the blue haired girls back, "Come back... "
He sat up quickly, panting and gasping for air.
Gray hadn't had that dream in almost 6 months. Even though it had been 6 years since the incident, the fact that Lucy was now back in his life was bringing back memories he would have rather forgotten.
It was so very long ago. Way back when Lucy had been living next door to him for nearly a year.
He still found himself having that dream ever so often, yet it had been pretty much half a year since the last one.
And now they had returned once again to haunt him.
Lucy's POV
The sun was shining brightly through Lucy's bedroom window.
Morning had finally come and as the blonde girl stretched her slim arms above her head, she wondered exactly what this day could possibly hold for her.
She had this feeling stirring in her chest. A feeling of excitement and happiness and a sense that something was going to happen.
Hopefully something good.
She smiled to herself as she tossed back her bed covers and swung her feet over the edge of her bed.
There was a cheerful expression lighting up her face as she walked down her hallway and into the kitchen, her steps light, as if she was walking on air.
For some reason, she felt as if today was going to be a good day. This seemed slightly out of place as her past week had been full of what she described as 'doom and gloom'.
It was nice to be back to her old perky self for once.
She made her way over to her pantry were she kept her bread. She took a slice from the packet and went to place it in the toaster.
She hummed quietly to herself as she waited for her toast to finish.
She wasn't quite sure why she was in a good mood today, but ever since she had discovered that tiny memory fragment of Gray in her dreams, she had just felt so warm and happy inside.
But this also frustrated her.
Lucy could tell that her feelings for the dark haired boy were growing, swelling in her chest and making her heart pound a thousand times a second.
But he was with Erza now. She had seen their lips connect and their cheeks flush red in an intense heat.
They were together.
It pained the blonde to know that the guy she was falling for, and just starting to remember, was now in a relationship with someone else.
She wasn't sure how to respond to these feelings.
The only thing she knew was that she couldn't act on them. There was no way that she would stuff up his and Erza's relationship.
"LUUUCCCYYYYY!" A cheerful voice echoed throughout her apartment.
"Yeah?!" She called back.
"Are you going to the hospital today?" A short girl with blue hair skipped into the room with a cute grin on her face.
"Well of course," She replied as the toaster went off, "I have to work the day shift today so I won't be back until around 6 P.M... so you'll have to make tonight, ok Levy?"
"Oh don't worry about it, I'll probably just order us some take away or something anyway. But I wanted to ask if Gajeel and I could come with you today to the hospital. We wanted to see how Gray's going."
"Oh, that's right. You were friends with Gray back in middle school weren't you?" Lucy asked, picking her piece of toast up carefully and lowering it down onto a plate.
As she began to spread strawberry jam over the golden toast, Levy's face darkened a little.
Although this went unnoticed by the blonde girl as she continued to cover her toast in sweetness.
"Yeah that's right." Levy chirped, "So I was wondering if we could hitch a ride with you on your way. Gajeel and I would like to pay him a little visit just to see how he's doing."
The bluenette was smiling, completely unaware of the tall figure creeping up behind her.
Lucy giggled a little and braced herself for the ear piercing scream.
Levy looked confused, wondering exactly what her best friend was laughing at. She turned to look over her shoulder but by then it was too late.
Large hands crept up to her small hips and muscular arms encircled her tiny waist.
She screamed, an extremely high pitched sound that was harsh on the ears as firm lips trailed over her neck.
He then planted one last kiss on her cheek before the small girl twisted herself round to face her attacker.
"Gajeel!" She shouted, faking annoyance, "You know how much it scares me when you sneak up on me like that!" She yelled playfully, twirling a piece of his long black hair around her finger.
Gajeel simply leaned in and nuzzled her neck, his arms gently hold her against his muscular form, "But I can't help it! You're just too damn cute when you squeal like that." He grinned at her, staring sexily at his lover through half closed eyes.
She giggled and pushed herself closer to him, placing her arms on either of his shoulders before linking her hands behind his neck.
Pulling his head closer to hers, the two were lost in a passionate kiss, hidden behind a mix of jet black and ocean blue.
"Oi, you two!" Lucy scolded and the pair sprung apart, "This is my apartment too you know. And I'd just like to tell you that falling asleep to the sounds of you guys' going at it is something I'd rather not experience again, ok?"
The blonde shuddered from the memory. It wasn't a very pleasant experience, and although Levy was her best friend, she still wasn't quite willing to put up with something like... that.
Levy blushed a deep shade of red and pushed her two index fingers together, trying to look innocent, whereas Gajeel just stood there with his arms crossed over his chest, looking smug.
Lucy gave a little sigh, "You guys still want to come visit Gray?"
They both nodded, choosing wisely to just not say anything that could possibly make the blonde girl any angrier.
"Fine. I'm going to leave in an hour to so be ready to leave soon, ok?" She finished up her toast before sauntering out of the room to grab her uniform and shower.
On her way there, she passed the front door.
Her deep brown orbs caught sight of an envelope lying on the carpet in front of the entrance.
She cocked her head to the side and upon realising that someone must have slipped it through the mail slip on the front door, leaned down to pick it up.
Lucy made her way back to her room before even taking a look at the letter.
On the front side of the envelope there was 'Lucy' written in caps lock in a neat style of writing.
Her mouth formed an 'o'. She never usually got mail this time of the month since most of her bills came towards the end of the month. And it couldn't be a festivity card since it was only September.
With a small pout and a confused expression, she opened the envelope and two pictures and a note fell out.
She read the note first.
Lucy,
I realised that I may not be able to make you remember just by being there, so I got Natsu to send you these pictures. Turns out him and Gajeel have known each other for a while so don't freak out an think I'm a stalker of anything like that.
I wanted to show you this in hopes that maybe it might spark an old memory that lies deep in the back of your mind.
I also didn't want to overwhelm you so I only sent two pictures. But I have plenty more if you'd like to see them.
They're nothing special, just a little hope of mine.
Please remember...
Gray.
The note was fairly short and Lucy found herself with tears her chocolate coloured eyes.
She couldn't believe that Gray had gone so far as to send her pictures of the past. He must really care about her to do this.
It made her smile. He was so sweet.
She picked up the first picture and took a sharp intake of breath.
There were two blue haired girls standing next to each other, one considerably shorter than the other.
A boy with long black hair standing next to the shorter bluenette with his arms crossed over his chest.
Next to him was a girl with big blue eyes and short white hair, smiling and holding a little bird.
And after her came a tall, muscular boy with blonde hair and head phones slung over his neck.
And still the line went on pretty girl with long crimson hair stood in between the blonde and a silver haired boy.
Facing away from the silver haired boy, stood a girl with dark brown hair, wearing a bikini top and raising a soda can up into the air.
And at last, there was a shy looking girl with blonde hair, holding the hand of a shirtless boy with deep blue eyes and midnight hair.
She flipped the picture over and it had the names of all the people in the picture on them, in order of their appearance.
Juvia, Levy, Gajeel, Lisanna, Laxus, Sherry, Lyon, Cana, Lucy, Gray.
She recognised most of them. Levy and Gajeel obviously since they were her flat mates.
Lisanna she vaguely remembered as they caught up every now and again, whereas Cana was her cousin. They there was her and Gray, holding hands just like in her dream.
The ones marked as Juvia, Laxus, Sherry and Lyon she couldn't remember.
Before she could get too emotional she put the photograph down, quickly replacing it with the other one.
What she saw made her gasp with shock.
Tears flooded her eyes and she found herself clutching her chest in heart ache.
This picture...
xxxx
Oooooh! I wonder...what exactly is that picture of? Can you guess? Tee hee, how exciting!
Kyaaa~! And I'm the only one who knows what's going to happen next. Bwahaha!
Remember to read and review guys! Maybe then I'll update a little quicker :D
Thanks for reading :3
- LW / Wonder-chan :)