Hey guys! Back here with the next chapter. This story was getting super long, so I decided to split it into a couple chapters. Don't worry, it will continue! I am not done with these guys yet... Mwahaha!

I present to you: A Gruvia Frozen!

Chapter one: Do You Want to Build a Snowman?

They had just been playing around, having fun with their magic.

Gray was freezing the water that Juvia had thrown in the air, creating beautiful snow. He was amazed at how the snowflakes still had unique patterns and how it felt like real snow. They had created real snow. He looked over at Juvia, who was, for once, not staring at him. Surrounded in the unique beauty that was the snow, she was the most stunning. The contrast of the white specks on her cobalt blue eye lashes made it appear as though they were sparkling. She was watching the gentle fall of the snowflakes in awe at the beauty they possess, and he was watching the beauty that she possesses.

She caught him staring at her and offered a soft, joyful smile. Then, as the mischievous woman she was, she surprised him with a snowball in his face. As the snow slid off his shocked expression, his face melted into a smirk.

Damn women thinking she can surprise HIM.

His smirk jumped into a feral grin as he leapt forward, scooping up snow in his right hand as his left lunged for the shrieking woman. She managed to slip from his grasp and dodge the snowball he had thrown at her.

Gray chased her through the forest into a clearing, where she had disappeared. He looked around carefully; she could have melted into the snow at any time, made of water as she was, planning to reform and catch him.

SPLAT!

He turned around and caught her by the waist, the snow pile she had dumped on his head falling over both of them. He relished in her warm giggles and the playful glint in her eyes. Swinging her around, he dumped her in a snow pile and fell next to her.

She proceeded in coaxing him into making snow angels with her. Though the cold of the snow was seeping through his jacket, he didn't mind. His attention was on her joyful face.

Juvia sat up, exclaiming that they have to build a "Snowman-sama," and then proceeded to start forming a snowball to do so.

Gray watched her for a bit, admiring the happiness that was rolling off her, and then, under her pleadings, began to help with the next ball. Their snow man came out lopsided, but Juvia exclaimed that she loved it anyways, because they had made it together. Gray, caught up in the moment, dubbed their snowman "Olaf" and pretended to use the stick arms to ask Juvia for a warm hug. Juvia promptly dashed around the snowman and tackled Gray in a hug, burying her face in his chest.

After a moment, the pair was off again, dashing though the woods in another snow-induced purist. Gray shot ice from his hands, trying to trip Juvia. But it just made icy piles that she climbed up and jumped off. Soon, she had him creating piles ten feet in the air for her to jump to, exclaiming "Catch me!"

That's when things got out of hand.

It was simply a shot of ice gone wrong. In his haste to keep the woman he had begun to adore safe, he slipped on the ice below his feet right when he was shooting out the next ice pile.

He missed, and the sharp shard of ice went right into Juvia's head.

She screamed in pain. Rather than going through her water-made body, the ice latched onto it, beginning to freeze her.

He dashed forward to catch the falling girl and cradled her in his arms. He watched as his ice magic took its toll on her. Just like the snowflakes, a pretty frost pattern emerged from the shard in her forehead, slowly freezing her water.

Gray was in shock, staring into the deep blue eyes of the woman he cherished. He was at a loss.

Her fingers came up to caress his cheek, her eyes playing on his as the frost crept down her face. "It's okay, Gray-sama. Love can thaw a frozen heart."

But there was still nothing he could do as the ice overtook her body made of water. The ice that HE had made. His ice had frozen her.

And he just couldn't love her enough to fix it.

Gray awoke with a start, sitting up suddenly. His sheets, which he had thrown off in the middle of the night, got tangled in his limbs, sending him to the floor.

He groaned as he hit the hard wood. But he embraced the cold floor and sprawled out where he was thrown by the bed.

This was the fourth night in a row that he had the same dream.

His eyes closed in frustration as he slammed his fist on the floor. Everything I begin to love gets ripped away from me… This is why I can't let myself love her. I'll just hurt her.

He took a deep breath. Conceal, don't feel. Don't let her know.

Gray let the normal façade slip over his face again.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Gray-sama! Gray-sama! Will you go on a job with Juvia? Please, it's the perfect job for Juvia and Gray-sama!"

Gray looked up from his drink at the girl approaching him. Seeing the enthusiastic look on her face and the sparkle in her eyes made his heart flip way more than he would ever admit. He huffed and looked back down, glaring at the wooden counter top of the bar as though it had some hidden secret to help him suppress his growing attraction toward the blue-haired mage.

She sidled up to him, and then losing some of her gusto, shyly handed him the paper with the job information. Gray took it, ignoring the flips in his stomach as their hands brushed.

He balked when he read the description.

'Snow needed!' was printed in big letters across the top. 'Our town depends on the snow in the mountains every year to melt into the mountain river, which runs through our fields and waters them. For some reason, it has not snowed the past three years in the normally frigid mountains, which has put the town in a severe drought. We need mages with the ability to create snow to help with this process and save our town!'

Gray didn't even look at where the town was or how much they were offering. He didn't even listen to Juvia's ramblings about how romantic it would be for them to use their magic together. All he could see in his mind was the reoccurring dream. His body froze up and his mind went into panic mode.

I'm just going to hurt her.

He shook his head and abruptly stood up, almost knocking over the girl who was standing next to him. He turned to her, snapping, "I don't want to, Juvia." He winced at how rude and harsh his words were, but the damage had been done. Huffing, he turned and stomped his way out of the guild, throwing open the doors.

She froze, confused and hurt at his outburst. Gray had never fully accepted her advances before, but he had never spoken harshly like this to her. Tears welled up in her eyes, she hadn't even said anything remotely offensive, or even insinuated that they were a couple like she normally did! All she had done was requested to go on a job with him. Her hands crept up to her eyes and she burst out in tears, running out the back of the guild toward her room in Fairy Hills.

Mira, who had observed the whole exchange silently behind the bar, watched the girl retreat. Confused, she picked up the seemingly harmless job description and looked at it for something that would set off the dark haired ice-mage, but found nothing. Surely, something else was going on with him? It couldn't have been Juvia's harmless advances, right?

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The next day, Juvia skipped into the guild, determined to forgive Gray for his outburst. "Gray-sama was just in a bad mood! He didn't mean to be rude to Juvia," she muttered to herself. But glancing around the guild hall, his dark tousled hair and white coat were nowhere in sight.

She walked up to the white-haired takeover mage behind the bar. "Mira-chan? Have you seen Gray-sama today? Juvia wants to talk to him."

The bubbly girl shook her head, "No, I haven't yet. He might still be at home. Is it about his outburst yesterday? He doesn't normally act like that."

Juvia nodded, "Yes, I want to ask Gray-sama what is really wrong, because it was very weird of him to speak to Juvia that way."

Mira giggled slightly, "You could just go to his house and ask!"

Juvia cocked her head and looked at her, "Juvia has never been to his house before. Do you know where it is, Mira-chan?"

Mira nodded, giggling again "Of course I do! I know where everyone lives. It's a perk to helping out Master." She reached under the bar for a piece of paper and a pen, and then turned to grab a book that was perched on the end of the shelf. She searched the pages for a moment, and then finding his address, declared "Here it is!" Jotting down quick directions, the smiling girl passed the paper into Juvia's eager hands.

"Thank you, Mira-chan!" The girl gathered her gift to her chest and then dashed out of the guild, only stopping at the door to see where to go next.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Gray was avoiding Juvia.

Choosing to hide in his house rather than go to the guild, he hoped that his absence would help ease his rejection of her and avoid confrontation.

He flopped on his couch and fumed at his stupidity. He couldn't have just politely rejected the job with her? But no, he had to be rude and harsh. He was upset that his surprise of seeing the job description caused him to lash out. Normally he had more control of his emotions, but something about this girl made them all bubble to the surface.

He was startled out of his thoughts by a frantic knock on the door.

"Gray-sama? Gray-sama, are you in there?" Juvia's sweet voice cut through the room from outside. He froze, staring at the door in shock.

She continued, speaking through the door. "Juvia just wanted to apologize if she upset you yesterday. Juvia didn't mean to! Juvia was just excited about seeing a job she could do with Gray-sama, and… and…" Her voice dropped, and he could hear the emotion in it, "Juvia has never really seen snow before… Juvia has heard a lot about it and really wanted to try to do some of the snow activities! Juvia wants to build a Snowman-sama with Gray-sama."

Gray sat there on the couch, shocked at what she had said, and even more surprised that the scene in his dream matched what she was saying, down to her calling a snowman 'Snowman-sama.' But still, he made no movement to get up an answer the door nor to alert the girl he was in fact, home.

He could hear her sigh, "Juvia guesses that Gray-sama isn't home. Maybe he went into town? Mira-chan did not mention that he had gone on a job…" her voice trailed off as she walked away from his door.

And Gray just stayed sitting on his couch, struggling with the fear that her words had said.

I could hurt her…

Conceal, don't feel. Don't let her know.

But still, he couldn't help but smile at her words – "Juvia wants to build a Snowman-sama with Gray-sama."

To be continued…

I can't promise that the next chapter I post here will be the continuation, but it most likely will. Seriously, guys. This is going to be so good!

Thank you all for Following, Favoriting, and Reviewing! I love hearing what you have to say, so please continue. Your comments encourage me!

Siren