A/N: This is going to be slightly longer than I expected but I finished it and this one hit me right where I hoped it wouldn't, still loved it so let me know what you think in reviews.

"I never wish to see you again!" Juvia exclaimed angrily with growling voice "never again!"

Gray was stunned in the place, shocked as his breath stumbled on way out and into his throat. He rushed toward her, trying to catch her "Wait!" he shouted but the more he ran further she was from his grasp. Suddenly she stopped and turned, the distance between them was reduced and he ran even faster… a mere hair from grasping her shoulder she looked up at him and whispered words that echoed all around him, over and over "never again". Her image suddenly turned into water and evaporated completely, making Gray only grasp air.

He knew well that this is a dream... a nightmare. For the last week every time he went to sleep he would see same thing again and again. First night was hardest, he didn't chased her but instead merely fell onto his knees as words took physical appearance and inched toward him, surrounding him… never… again…

After few days however he realized that he is into the realm of dreams as Juvia always said the same… I never wish to see you again and he knew it is a dream because Juvia always speaks in third person and always called Gray with some form of proper honorifics. The knowledge however brought no comfort even if he would to realize he was dreaming every time he would have same piercing pain in his chest but now he tried to catch her only to find that she is beyond his grasp.

"Why are you haunting me!?" Gray screamed looking around as his word slowly turned dark, his fists clenching, trying to fight off the creeping shadows "Why are you still coming into my dreams?!

Another long and ear-piercing scream and he opened his eyes, bathed in sweat as he sat up. Why is this happening to him? Why couldn't he catch one night of sleep even after a week of events that happened in Fairy Tail hall? He took several long breaths, deeply inhaling stale air of his room as he stood up and walked toward the window, looking at sunrise. This week was heavy on him.

Ever since Erza told him to stay away from Juvia he couldn't help but constantly think about her. It wasn't love that drove him toward her, at least he thought it wasn't… there was some other feeling, concealed under the mask of desire but he couldn't muster himself to admit any kind of affection and yet there it was… that one feeling inside his chest that simply drilled itself deeper and deeper. He felt as if he lost something, something important, something that was part of him.

He walked out of the bedroom with back of his hand wiping forehead and eyes

"Another nightmare?" voice came from couch

"Hey Leo, yea I kinda… wait… Where did you come from?!" Gray suddenly jumped as he realized who he was talking with

"Come on Gray, as if I need a key to get here" Leo chuckled, crossing his legs and spreading arms on the lean of the couch "Get it? Because I need a-"

"I know what you meant!" Gray shouted "Uugh… why are you here?"

"I came to visit. Oh and your clothes?"

"What?" ice mage suddenly looked down, noticing that he is naked as if he was born two minutes ago… wet too from the sweat. He attempted to cover his groin but suddenly he realized "Hold on, this is my house! I get to be as naked as I want"

"Suit yourself, are you sure you want to show up all your qualities?"

"Why? Do you like what you see?" Gray smirked

"Please, my love for Lucy is unending… a shining beacon in the night that shall never be extinguished" Leo suddenly raised his hand up slowly, making poetic pose

"Riiiiiiight, you do realize she is dating lizard-braing now?" The words seem to have struck Leo and his eye twitched

"That might be the fact…" Leo's gaze was now fixed again on Gray who in the meantime managed to put his boxers on and he adjusted his glasses "but it will not change how I feel"

"So why are you here? Just to tell me how you feel about Lucy?"

"No Gray" as lion spoke it was Gray's turn to twitch eye… why do everyone keep saying those words to him "I came here because I was worried. You seem to be having nightmares every night"

"How do you know? Were you watching me? Oh come on Leo that is… why? Did Lucy told you to come?"

"Actually I came on my own. We are friends after all" Gray smiled at his words and sat down on couch beside him "Before you ask, I know what happened"

"How?" Ice wizard looked to his right "I didn't see you in hall that day"

"Being leader of Zodiac has certain privileges. My magic pool is greater than the rest, and I can use it to travel through the gate on my own and stay for longer periods of time, even see what transpires around key-holder."

"Do you think I should have acted differently?" Leo just nodded to his question "Without a doubt"

"You lost a valuable ally Gray, one who was prepared to aid you and love you unconditionally but you managed to set your conditions too high it would seem" lion suddenly stood up and fixed his suit, standing in front of Gray and his hands found ways into his pockets.

"And what do you suggest for me to do now?" Gray asked looking up at him

"If it was any point of time before your outburst I would have said that you should take a leap of faith. Love is not something that simply comes because you weight good and bad and decide it's worth it… there is a risk involved too. You cannot know if what you feel for someone is real until you try or that it never existed, you merely avoided to give it a chance."

"Oh yeah? So why don't you take that chance with Lucy?" Gray smirked looking up to try and notice his reaction and he succeeded. Blank expression on Lion spirit's face turned slightly sad

"Gray, you will die…" he spoke slowly "Natsu will die, master Makarov will die, Laxus, Mirajane, Lisanna, Levy, Elfman, Evergreen… everyone will die… Lucy will die… it is inevitable. If they are all careful, strong and lucky they will die when their time comes, from old age with one last smile on their faces remembering adventures they've been in and people who shared their happiness and sorrow. But I will never die"

Leo suddenly looked straight into Gray's eyes and he could see that proud, strong lion was smiling wide with eyes filled with tears "I will continue to live on in service of another celestial wizard hoping that he or she will be just as half as good to us as Lucy is right now… I will have to bear the memory of it every day. I will have to bear the thought of losing Lucy. It is inevitable Gray as is the fact that Sun sets after each day and you cannot begin to comprehend the weight of it. My love for Lucy may be special but unlike you, I will suffer the pain of loss and have to live with it for endless years. You can, however, live outside of that pain, so tell me, my old friend, why did you choose to spend your short life pushing away someone who so desperately wanted to make you happy?"

Gray was left completely speechless at Leo's words and he could feel that in them there was a tint of sorrow. He was right of course, every single word was in its place and he simply had nothing to say that would make his position any better. It really must suck he thought to himself. Another long minute passed and Gray swallowed hard before giving voice to question that suddenly appeared in his mind.

"So you are saying I should keep trying?"

"Oh no no" Leo suddenly spoke with vigorous voice "you already made a mess, I am almost convinced that Juvia is not right girl for you"

"So I should just give up?" Gray looked up at Leo

"On Juvia? Yeah" Leo nodded, taking few seconds to look around the house, some form of nostalgic feeling surged through his body "But don't give up on trying to at least find love, trust me it gets easier to endure every day when you have someone to return to. Well my time is up, I should be going"

"Yeah, was nice seeing ya" Gray lifted his right arm, hand clenched into fist and Leo did the same, connecting his fist with Gray's before he slowly vanished into light, returning to Celestial world. Ice wizard was now left to sit alone in his house, looking around. With Leo, that makes now almost entire guild who told him to give up on Juvia.

"Why give up?" he shouted "I haven't even started anything and everyone is telling me to give up on her! I am not falling in love damn it!" Gray's breathing was fast and after few minutes he calmed down "This place really is empty…"

At the guild hall things at this point turned pretty much into normal everyday routine with minor changes. One of it being Natsu who had too much energy and attempted to fight with just about everyone from Lily to master Makarov who decided to accept the challenge and… squashed him with his hand that somehow became two times the size of Natsu. Still he tried. Elfman on the other hand wasn't bragging as he usually tried and was simply sitting at the table, reason being Evergreen sitting across him and telling him the origin story of every single rule of her that she made… not that he didn't like listening to her but 5 hours straight? Not manly.

A bit further from them was table where Macao was sitting along with Freed and Bickslow, mostly talking about what happened during their seven year absence. Freed seemed particularly interested in this story, sinking in every bit of information. One other table however was reserved for very special group. Lucy on the bench, Erza her left, Levy across the table with Cana beside her. The reason why this was special table was because Cana didn't have bottle in her hand and Erza's cake was left mostly untouched. One last thing, everyone but Lucy had a very obvious pink blush on cheeks

"R…really?" Erza said, her hand that held fork was shaking

"That he did" Lucy simply nodded

"Tell me more! What happened next?" Erza pressed on

"Well next he pushed me down on the table and…" Lucy teased a bit with a grin

"Really? The table?" Suddenly Erza's cheeks became even more red, she was obviously enjoying the story Lucy was talking "This is Natsu we are talking about and with all the food he didn't took a single bite?" Lucy simply waved head, proudly confirming Erza's suspicion.

"Wow, kid finally discovered the joys of sex" Cana chuckled

"Are you sure you should be talking about such things? I mean here?" Levy suddenly shifted on her seat, still very much red

"Oh and like you don't think the same about certain dragonslayer whose name we won't mention but is closely related to long… steel… rod?" Cana winked at Levy but instead of further embarrassing her she simply waved head and frowned

"Like I care about Gajeel!" Levy's frustration was in fact fully justified in Gajeel's lack of forward movement toward her. Her gaze was fixed toward mentioned dragonslayer who was polishing his guitar and "I am through with that big pile of iron"

"Oh really?" Cana suddenly decided to test this theory and she moved closer to her, lips almost brushing against her ear whispering softly in her seductive voice "shubi du baaa…" and with that much to Lucy and Erza's surprise and Cana's expectation, Levy bit her lip hard, wiggling on her seat

"Well someone needs fresh pair of panties" Cana moved away as she was being punched repeatedly by Levy "Not funny!"

"What's funny?" Gray suddenly sat down at the table, just beside Lucy and the group suddenly straightened and looked away in attempt to hide red faces

"Nothing, nothing" Lucy quickly replied taking her cup with coffee and sipped. Gray was suspicious but didn't want to pry in, especially with Erza around "by the way, did Leo visit you?"

"Yeah, how did you know?" Gray asked looking at Lucy

"He asked me where you are, I told him you were at home, and by the way… please put your shirt on"

"Really?" Gray looked down and noticed that he was bare chested but somehow rest it only further fueled imagination of girls. He shrugged it somehow and continued

"We talked this morning, I do kinda miss hanging out with him" Gray stretched his arm a bit as Mira brought him glass with beer which instantly became cold under his touch "Where is heatstroke?" his gaze looked toward five female hands pointing toward other side of the hall where he was getting beaten by Gajeel and his guitar "Wow… what's gotten into him?"

"Maybe you should ask what's gotten out of him" Cana winked and Gray merely raised his eyebrow but upon checking Lucy's uneasy reaction and bright red cheeks… well Gray is smart guy he knows to take a hint

"Go figure…"

Lucy cleared throat trying to change topic "And what about you Gray? How are you today?"

"Could be better I suppose. I took enough of time out and I'm running low on cash so I think I'll be taking a job"

"Well I have a perfect thing" Mira smiled wide placing poster in front of Gray on the table "We just got it but I figure you'll be perfect for the job"

Gray took a sip from his beer and read the poster. His expression cheered up a bit, having it read while Lucy peeked and read out loud

"Wanted… group or individual to dispose dangerous monster residing in private forest property… mh mhm Clover town… reward 2 million jewels… 2 million jewels!?" Lucy suddenly shouted loud, Gray's fingers folded parchment and Lucy displayed best of her puppy eyes "Can I tag along? Please?"

"Sure. Doesn't say what kind of monster but if pay is this big must be big one or group. Might be best to travel in group… oh, train!" Gray said and instantly all of them ducked as Gajeel was running past them, holding Natsu by his collar, barely missing them.

Lucy squealed happily "One monster and my rent is good to go for this month! Wonder if we should take Wendy"

"Wendy left this morning with Carla, Happy and Lily" Mira giggled as she glanced over at Natsu "they took the escort job here in Magnolia" and with that she returned back to the counter

"Oh, well those are easy jobs, good learning curve. Cannonball!" Lucy shouted now and all of them ducked again, this time Gajeel was sent flying above them and landed on other table while Natsu charged

"Will you be joining us Erza?" Gray asked looking toward her

"Sadly no, master Makarov said that he might need me soon so I cannot risk being away" she replied, taking another small bite from her cake

"Holding you onto it to take care of the fort, crab!" Ice wizard spoke and everyone except Erza took whatever they had on the table and moved away from the table, leaving Erza confused

"Wait, what is cra-" before she could finish Natsu landed on table, squishing her slice of cake "Naaatsuuuu!" she yelled at him angrily as he ruined her delicacy

"Oh right you weren't there when we made that code… Well now you know what to do" Gray chuckled watching Natsu's face turn as white as vanilla under Erza's murderous glare

These codes were designed especially for the purposes of preserving food and drinks that were on table during the brawls. Upon hearing designated code, they knew exactly what was coming their way and knew how to react to avoid being hit. "Train" was always connected to Gajeel who liked to grab Natsu and run toward nearest wall to slam him, usually resulting in picking up whoever was along the way but a simple ducking was sufficient as Natsu was always high up. Lucy could swear she once heard train horn as Gajeel rushed. Cannonball was universal code for whoever was sent flying while crab was a new term for when poor sod was thrown on the table. The reason it was called "crab" is because Natsu picked a fight with Laxus and the later sent him flying, landing straight on the table with plates of finest roasted crabs.

"Well we should get going, like, right this instance. Natsu, get up!" Lucy ordered as she took another sip of coffee and walked toward the exit door, followed by Gray and Natsu who barely managed to escape scarlet wrath.

They boarded into the train, much to Natsu's displeasure but it was shortest and fastest way to reach their destination, and within first five minutes he was already green, head laid down on Lusy's lap with her hand slowly moving through his pink hair. Gray on the other hand simply grinned at the sight as he watched countryside.

"Been a while since visited Clover town" Lucy said softly, eyes glued down to her Natsu but words were directed toward Gray who simply nodded "Are you sure you are ok?"

"Yeah just… umm… rough sleep" his expression turned from pleased to neutral and then to a frowned, worried even "so how is she?"

"How is who?" Lucy asked, lifting head to face him

"You know who" Lucy sighed as he made sure she cannot wiggle out of it

"She is doing fine… teamed up with Gajeel and took couple of jobs, nothing too demanding… She is holding well if that's what you meant"

"Tell me the truth Lu…" Gray looked toward her, catching her gaze. Lucy's big eyes blinked few times and she looked down at Natsu who growled all kinds of sounds from his stomach

"She is better than how she was but… she isn't over you yet, probably never will"

He couldn't understand why but he felt the rush of sadness washing over his entire being. Gray knew well that this was probably for the best… leaving her to cope with situation until she falls in love with someone else, perhaps that someone would be better than him, no… definitely would be better.

"Are you just going to leave it as it is now?" She asked, holding hand over Natsu's mouth who attempted to burp

"What other choice do I have? I remember you and rest of the guild telling me to back down"

"I know it's just…"

"Just what?"

"You don't exactly look like you've had better time than her" She was right but he did not want to tell her about his nightmares or the fact that he would glance every now and then toward her. Every laugh from her was another spike in his chest

"It's over Lu… I screwed up big time"

"Natsu screwed too, more than just couple of times…"

"Yea but Natsu never told you what I told Juvia. There is a difference between a tease and outburst… speaking of, what's with the sudden change of heart on your end? I thought you would be the first one to remain solid in statement to avoid her"

"I am" Lucy added quickly after him "It's just that, I wonder if it was good thing to do… I mean… I look at her and I know she is suffering then I look at you and, let's be honest you are not looking better either" Lucy tilted head with eyebrow lift up as she was checking on his slightly bloody eyes and bags under "You are both my friends, I don't want to take side in this"

"Gajeel would kill me if I attempt anything and if he fails, Erza would ensure job is done" Gray smirked, leaning head back as he watched countryside again

"Maybe, but would it be worth the risk?"

Why did she suddenly say that? There is nothing more left between two of them and even if he would to even try to fix things there are no guarantee it would succeed. What would be his motivation to even try? Friendship? Regret? Love? What love? She never gave him space for develop such feelings for her and even so… even so… why does that word pains so much? Why does it press him inward and clenches his very heart?

Half hour later and train stopped at station and though he would enjoy watching Lucy pull Natsu by his leg, he decided to help out and they left the clickity-clackaty contraption from hell that caused their dear friend so much pain… and gave them some joy in the process too.

"Alright I'm back! Let's kick some monster ass!" Natsu shouted loud as he started running from the station

"Should we tell him the forest is other way?" Lucy asked as he looked into distance toward Natsu

"Nah, he'll return once he figures there is nothing but plains over there" Gray smirked and they both said in soft tone, Idiot

"Seriously Lu, what do you see in him?" Gray asked as he looked toward Lucy, noticing her slight blush

"He is kind, he is not smart though but he has his moments, he can be gentle, loyal, brave and makes me laugh… he is beside me even when I don't ask him to be" she spoke in soft tone, rolling her eyes that preluded chuckle at the sight of Natsu running back

"So you just weighted good and bad and saw he is good catch?"

"No, it doesn't work like that" huh where did he heard that before… "He is just Natsu, that was enough of a reason for me to take a leap of faith"

Leap of faith, that he heard before. Gray wondered if it was meant for them to repeat those words one after another.

They made their way toward the designated forest, guards allowed them to pass as they showed poster but they themselves dared not to enter… must be some terrible creature. It didn't take them long until they felt strange chilling sensation, crawling up on their skin. Natsu's nose picked up something and they decided that it is best source of tracking around, relying on him to find what they were looking for but the deeper they went into the forest, less light was available. With another 50 meters and they could hardly see further than their arm's reach… the shadows were unnatural.

"Luce, Gray…" Natsu frowned. Lucy took his hand while Gray placed his hand on Natsu's shoulder "We found it…"

"Where?" Lucy asked low, trying to recognize anything around but other than tree silhouettes there was nothing else to be seen

"There…" he nodded in front and they focused their gazes… pair of red eyes were barely visible, standing low, not more than dog's height from the ground

"What do you think that is?"

"Whatever it is… it's not good" Gray suddenly took a stance, preparing to cast his magic since eyes moved up… the creature was crouching and now it decided to stand up and let out a howl… Long, growly, echoing howl of a wolf was heard and the sound filled their very bones with ice.

Shadows slowly began to retract, as if moving toward him and they could now see the shape of creature… It was humanoid, taller than average human by half more, completely hairy with long claws and lupine head.

"G…Gray?" Lucy started reaching for her zodiac keys "That looks to me a lot like werewolf!"

Movement seem to have agitated it and werewolf rushed forward, running on all four with unnatural speed, right claw tried to reach for Lucy and slash her but Natsu managed to push her forward along with him "Look out!" he shouted as werewolf missed her and continued running but Gray left no moment to ponder

"Ice-make lance!" multiple lances rushed toward the creature but it was too fast, noticing and evading every single one of them making Gray curse. Now, it's turn came again and it rushed toward Gray who summoned another set of lances, but instead of being hit, werewolf jumped to the left, then to the right, evading magic with ease but before it could reach Gray, Natsu shouted "Fire dragon roar!" and cone of fire appeared in front of it, stopping advance and making it change direction.

"Gray, this is going to be tough one…"

"Yeah tell me about it! Where is Lucy?"

"She is fine, watch out here it comes again?" Natsu prepared to attack along with Gray and within a second they casted magic again, attempting to hit their attacker but there seem to be little to no effect as it quickly evaded anything that they could throw. A moment later and wolf managed to jump on Natsu, knocking him down on the ground with loud growl. Natsu stared at its eyes, completely red, almost glowing, and just as he was preparing to land fatal blow it's head snapped, looking to the right from where a single cry was heard "Ice-make cannon!" and a second later cannonball connected to its abdomen, sending it flying into the tree.

"Natsu!" Gray shouted as he ran toward him and shot another round at werewolf but it saw this one coming and quickly ran dodged "You alright there?"

"Yeah, just a bit of scratch…" Natsu looked at his shoulder where four claw marks were showing, blood slowly pouring out, he didn't even saw that one coming but he remembered that those claws pierced his skin when he fell onto the ground

"Lucy!" Gray called for her and she ran over to them, helping Gray pick Natsu up and they stood back to back… creature was nowhere to be seen but it's growls were present, coming from one side, then another, it circled around them.

"You got a plan?" Natsu asked

"He is fast, if we want to land an attack on him we need to lure him into position where he cannot dodge, otherwise we'll just drain ourselves before we hit him" both of them nodded to Lucy's suggestion but problem was that there wasn't anything that they could use as dead end… Even more their fear intensified since they could no longer hear its growls and a second later creature rushed straight forward with same speed

"Ice-make shi-" Gray started but creature slashed the air, runes appeared around it's wrists and even though it was good 15 meters away, Gray's chest got slashed, five marks on one and five on other, creating large X shaped rows. He coughed up blood and even more rushed from his wound, eyes widening from the pain

"Gray!" Lucy cried as he fell on one knee but arm quickly moved over chest and created thin layer of ice, closing the wound

"Son of a bitch!" he coughed "it's not a creature it's a take-over magic!"

"Like Elfman?" Natsu asked before creating another fiery roar and caused werewolf to back down and resume it's fast circling around them

"Yeah… We need to take this guy out before he tries this again… his magic is almost instant"

"I got an idea how we can corner him" Lucy said and quickly grabbed her key, pushing it forward and summoning Taurus who immediately smirked at his summoner

"Miss Lucy, you are lookin' fine as ever"

"Not now Taurus! We need to hold him off…"

"How much time do you need?" Gray asked

"About 20 seconds"

"Where do I lure him?" Gray asked her as he took stance

"Straight, wait Gray! Stop!"

Wounds burnt him heavily but he remained focused "Ice make…" he panted slightly "seven slice dance…" and with finished incantation he rushed forward. His gambit was to lure creature into belief that him alone is easier pray, better than to attack other two. Gray was correct and werewolf jumped suddenly, almost out of nowhere. Gray managed to evade this attack by a single hair and he turned on his heel then made his attack. Despite injuries he executed his attack perfectly but werewolf easily evaded every single one of them, and claws slashed the ice on left arm that he tried to use as shield along with ice on his chest, reopening the wounds and he coughed again from pain

"Gray!" Lucy shouted and he found himself in difficult position. His hands connected to the ground and geyser of spikes emerged, making wolf back down a few steps, enough for Gray to start running back and wolf to follow. As it ran, trees started to fall from Taurus's attacks. First they fell from the left and the loud thumps quickly made wolf focus only on his right side but then another tree started falling from that side too… Wolf had no other choice but to follow Gray. Within a single moment, Gray jumped and turned, expecting to land on his back, crossing arms to block but werewolf executed its deadly attack and runes started glowing. Natsu rushed forward and cried loud "Fire dragon wing attack!". Two streams of fire connected and caught creature unable to dodge in midair… the attack managed to send it back and on its back, motionless but breathing hard and shadows slowly began disappearing, and light came through. His body started shifting, losing the hair and lupine features as he returned into form of half-naked man.

They were victorious in this battle and rushes over to Gray who was on the ground. The attack creature's last attack connected enough to slash Gray's right side, and puddle blood spread on the ground creating small puddle. Lucy began calling for his name… her voice slowly becoming more and more distant and his eyes closed.

Never again

Words rang into his head as he quickly opened his eyes and looked up, wincing heavily at the pain and he looked down. His body was covered in gauze, entire chest and even arm below elbow. Gaze wandered around as he recognized beds inside hall… they brought him all the way from Clover town. Man this stings he thought as he moved hand over his chest and tried to stand up but noticed Juvia sleeping on chair beside. Was she here all along? She indeed looked exhausted, he must have been out for couple of days and yet she looked so peaceful. For few minutes he simply watched her, her blue hair, small hands and rosy cheeks but for most part he just looked at her lips, pink, smooth, slightly parted. She was breathing slowly, calm… Why was he thinking about her lips now? Every memory of her jumping on him or hugging him or even dragging him occurred in his mind in the next 10 seconds. How much he suddenly missed all of that. How much he wanted to hug her tight, to thank her for being close to him even after all of what he said, to say how much he is sorry…

He shook head hard in attempt to disrupt any possible bad thought that might come to him and tried to stand up but the strain made him grunt and the noise woke her up

"Gray-san?" he looked at her trying to smile

"Hey… just gonna… aau…"

"Gray-san should not get out of the bed" she walked over and pushed him back down with ease. He simply watched her as she was fixing the covers and for a split second a single lock of her hair brushed his nose and soft scent filled his head. He was completely lost in this moment and that single scent, the single image of her face soothed all of his pain in an instant

"How long were you here?"

"Juvia was here ever since Gray-san was brought, all in bloody clothes" she finally finished and moved back, taking chair and placed it bit closed as she sat down "Juvia was worried and wanted to make sure Gray-san is properly healed"

"You shouldn't had to worry" he tried to smile "I am tough son of a bitch to kill" but instead of her usual chuckle she frowned

"Juvia cannot stand to see Gray-san being this hurt… it would kill her… this is why Juvia needs to be away from Gray-san since Gray-san is not careful with his jobs"

"It's the kind of things we do, Juvia" he spoke slowly "we help people who cannot help themselves"

"Yes but it only made Gray-san more hurt" she looked down, fingers brushed one against another. Few seconds later she tried to stand up and leave but his hand quickly grabbed her wrist

"Please don't go…" he whispered

"Juvia doesn't want to… but Juvia must… it is for the best…" she choked on every word, it hurt her to say this, she could not wish for anything more than to nurse him into health but her heart still ached so much and she gently took his arm and placed it back on bed. She left the room and closed the door… He didn't want to say anything, not a single word, not a single complaint that san was another spear in his stomach but he endured and placed hand over his eyes. He allowed himself, just this once to let it go, just one single tear.

"Is it worth the risk?" he whispered to himself… for long time he remained silent, not uttering a single word or moving a single muscle and finally, in a split second, edge of his lip curved up in a slight, barely noticeable grin "Damn it, am I really falling in love now? I guess I am to find out"

A/N: Guess you don't get to read lemons, still I gave you a small tease and I hold onto my words... next chapter is going to be fun one and I promise to put a lot of details into the tease I made in this chapter. Also I took half a day trying to figure out where to put Leo and I really wanted to put him into this chapter. It's the suit... gotta be the suit.