"Juvia!" Gray yelled in shock before stepping forward just in time to catch the blue haired mage before she hit the floor.
She wasn't unconscious. Gray cradled her in his arms as he looked down on her disorientated face in concern. Juvia did not swoon at the fact that Gray had just caught her in his arms like everyone unconsciously expected. Instead, once she found her bearings, her eyes widened and she pressed her fingertips to her forehead, muttering lowly.
"No… No, this is not meant to happen yet…" she continued to mutter while Gray frowned, trying to stand her up straight.
"Juvia, can you stand?" he muttered gruffly, very aware of the guilds worried eyes on them. Juvia looked up to his face slowly, her own twisted in pain and depression as she nods quickly and stands, stumbling a few steps away from Gray.
"Yes," she breathed. "Yes, Juvia can stand. She's sorry. She just felt rather… dizzy, suddenly."
"Well, are you okay?" Lucy made her way over, pressing her hand to Juvia's arm comfortingly. The other girls such as Mira and Levy walked over too, concern flooding in their eyes. Juvia's discomfort was very apparent as she swallowed thickly and backed away once more.
"Juvia is fine," she gasped, as if fighting a sob. Gray tilted his head and stepped towards her.
"Juvi-" he started but she held a hand up.
"Don't," she said sharply. "Just don't."
Gray narrowed his eyes angrily, suppressing a snarl as he marched forward to stand in front of her, looking down on her small form.
"Don't what, Juvia?" he hissed. "What's wrong? You think we're all blind? Something is wrong. And by the looks of it, something big. We deserve to know Juvia, we're your nakama. Why are you hiding anything from us?"
Juvia's eyes welled up with tears and she turned her head away, breathing heavily in her attempt not to cry.
"Juvia doesn't want to hide anything!" she threw back. "But Juvia does not need to share everything. There are some things we can't share. Everyone has secrets."
"Concerning their health?!" he shouted in disbelief. Juvia glared.
"Why does Gray-sama care?" she asked suddenly. Gray recoiled slightly, as did the rest of the guild who bit their tongues as they observed the argument.
"What?" he muttered, stepping back.
"You heard Juvia," she shot back, taking a step forward and tilting her head as Gray fell another step back as she did. "You have hardly shown any interest in Juvia beforehand. Not even for her health. So why now?"
Gray blinked at her before glaring once more. "Hey, that's not true and you know it." he hissed. "We're friends now Juvia, much closer than we used to be and maybe I don't show it but I get worried. And this? This is an obvious concern. You almost collapsed just now. You're white as a ghost, your voice is scratchy, you look like you haven't slept in days." Juvia's eyes narrowed as he listed more and more symptoms. Gray went on.
"You're ignoring the guild. That's enough to prove that there is something wrong since we know how much you love to talk to your nakama." Gray took a step forward till his chest nearly brushed with hers. He lowered his head so that his eyes were on line with her own. Juvia didn't even flinch, she met his cold gaze head on.
"Something is wrong." He said slowly, his voice rumbling low in his chest as he did. Juvia closed her eyes and leaned away before standing back to address the entire guild.
"Yes." She said. "Yes, something is wrong with Juvia."
The guild frowned sadly, all shuffling forward to eye the young mage. Gray's eyes never wavered from her face, his jaw taut as dread gnawed in his stomach.
"I-it's bad," she admitted. "And she knows that you all deserve to know. But Juvia only realised there was something wrong this morning. She's getting her head around this herself but she will tell you when she's ready. But – But she just can't right now."
Gray swallowed thickly, the other guild members stood forward to comfort the young mage but Gray was nowhere near happy with that answer.
"You really think we're going to be satisfied with that, Rain Woman?" A voice grumbled and Gajeel stepped forward. He had been quiet this whole time. He was probably Juvia's closest friend, so Gray supposes his stunned reaction is only natural. "You say you only figured out you had this… whatever the hell is wrong with you today. Then isn't it best you tell us right away so you can get help?"
Juvia smiled sadly and stepped towards him to place a hand on his arm. "Juvia cannot get help. There is no help for her." Gajeel frowned aggressively.
"What do you mean there is no help?" he growled lowly. "What the fuck is the matter? What's wrong Juvia, you can't leave us all in the dark like this."
Juvia fell a few steps back, surrounded by all her nakama's sad, worried faces she felt overwhelmed and ganged up on. She knew they all meant well, but what she had to admit was just so hard she could hardly piece the words up in her head to get them together.
The guild erupted into conversation, mainly towards Juvia. "Tell us," and "We can help you," were very apparent till Juvia suddenly buried her face in her hands with a loud sob before lifting her head and squeezing her eyes shut. She raised her voice loud above all the others as the five dreaded words rang from her mouth.
"Juvia is going to die."
Silence. Everyone froze. Gray's heart just about stopped. His world stopped spinning. Out of all the terrible things he could have expected her to have, he never, ever would have expected this.
"W-What?" Levy choked out, the first to recover. Well, the first to remember how to use her mouth. Gajeel wrapped his arm around the small blue haired girl's waist as she choked on a sob and looked at Juvia with heavy, crimson eyes.
"What do you mean you're going to die?" Gajeel said slowly, quietly. Others muttered the same question but Gray forgot how to move his tongue to form words. He couldn't comprehend the meaning behind what Juvia said.
"Juvia is one of the unfortunate of her people who suffer the effects of too much water in her system as any, well, normal person would." She said quietly, having pulled herself together to admit this horrible truth to her friends. It's strange. The moment she released the words she had dreaded to say to her nakama, it was as if a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders. Now she had to concentrate on comforting and explaining to them.
"You know there is such a thing as being over hydrated and it is fatal. Juvia has had symptoms to water intoxication and hyponatremia. In about two months or so, after suffering many symptoms of both illnesses such a nausea, pain, loss of consciousness and confusion, Juvia will fall into a coma." She swallowed thickly and looked over to Gray, who had yet to say a word. "Juvia is afraid that when she falls into this coma... She will never wake up again."
The room was deadly silent before it erupted into sobs and outrage. The sobs were mainly from the girls. Lucy, Levy, Cana, even Erza cried, gasping for breath at just the thought of this. The boys too shed tears. Natsu ran a hand over his face, cradling Lucy in his arms as a few stray tears fell from the corner of his eye as he held his sobbing girlfriend. Gajeel did the same with Levy. Most people embraced Juvia. Promising anything and everything that they will find a cure, make her better. The last person Juvia turned to was Gray.
The guild quietened down when wide ocean blue orbs met Gray's dark navy, almost ice like eyes. Juvia blinked sadly before taking a reluctant step forward. The guild was aware that Juvia and Gray shared a very fickle relationship. But then again, even when Juvia was more or less a stalker who was more obsessed with Gray than in love with him, he never let another girl as close to him as he did her.
As Juvia toned down a bit with age, her and Gray grew closer as he found it easier to spend more time with her. Yeah, in the morning she'd still cheer as he entered the guild, but he liked her company. This may not be apparent to him, or even Juvia, but it was definitely apparent to the guild. Gray just needed something to wake him up and see how much he feels for this girl.
And being told she was going to die seemed to do it.
He narrowed his eyes and grabbed her wrist before heading out of the guild, ignoring everything around him expect the feel of her fragile wrist in his hand. He threw open the guilds doors and proceeded to drag her out, not looking back at her once.
Gray didn't live far from the guild. His apartment was quite spacious and he liked his privacy. Though, his privacy didn't cross his mind as he continued to drag the water mage through his door as he ignored her questions and slammed his door.
He faced his door for a moment, pressing his forehead against the cold wood before finally turning around to face the dying blue haired girl he had grown quite fond of.
"Gray," she whispered, her voice sounding heart broken. Despite the situation, Gray couldn't not help the tightness in his chest as she called him Gray. Not Gray-sama. Gray.
He swallowed audibly before stepping forward, coughing to hide a sob before he finally gives in to his tears.