Gray loved Juvia with all his heart, he really did. But sometimes the woman drove him certifiably insane. Like now, when they were the dead last team left in the hall as she went around graciously accepting the congratulations everyone gave her at being picked for the second year in a row and offering her own condolences to those who were not chosen. Gray sighed as he watched her, groaning as he covered his eyes in annoyance. There was absolutely zero chance that there would be even the worst training arenas left to work in. He didn't particularly want to share, but it was looking more and more like they would have to.

After a few minutes, and when Juvia started assuring Kinana that 'maybe next year will be your year' Gray swore loudly, walking up behind her and grabbing her arm to pull her back towards the entrance of the guild. She giggled slightly at the physical contact, wrapping herself around his bicep as she put a spring in her step to follow him.

"Isn't it great that we're both going to become S-Class together, Gray-sama!?"

Gray sighed as he squinted his eyes against the sun as it beat down on his face. Great, the weather was working against the two of them already. He thought of the one place that may have been left unoccupied, somewhere deep in the woods where they often trained. It was in the bend on the river which was most definitely helpful for Juvia's magic. The woman in question practically skipped alongside him, and Gray couldn't help but smile. He couldn't be gloomy around her, he was pretty sure it was impossible.

Gray hadn't thought they were being quiet as they made their way through the forest to the training area, but the fact he could hear Natsu talking through the trees meant that the Dragon Slayer must be distracted. As soon as he got to the edge of the clearing he could see Natsu pinning Lucy underneath him, settled in between the girl's legs as she grinned up at him. A wind that blew from behind him told him that Natsu would absolutely be able to smell him anyway, so he smirked as he shouted over to him.

"So that's the kind of training you've been up to lately, 'ey Flamebrain? There's no way you're going to be able to beat me like that."

Gray watched as Natsu jumped up to his feet and legitimately growled at him. Juvia laughed behind him, a tinkling sound as Lucy tried to hide her face in embarrassment and Natsu opened and closed his mouth like and idiot before finally finding his words.

"We were here first, Ice Princess! Piss off!"

Gray tutted at the nickname, before drawing himself up to his full height. He was a couple of inches taller than Natsu, and he made sure that he used those few inches to the best of his advantage.

"We're not going to just walk away. This training area is the best for Juvia with the river right there. You can train anywhere, you want, Hothead! YOU piss off!"

Gray noticed Juvia grabbing a hold of his arm, and raised his hand to cover hers protectively. He could train anywhere, but for her to reach her full potential then she needed the water there. Especially with how hot the sun was beating down on the two of them. Juvia reached up on her tiptoes, starting to whisper into his ear.

"Gray-sama, Juvia can train anywhere, she doesn't need the river. Juvia can find another training area."

The ice mage looked down at his partner, mouth turning up in a slight grin as he gently pulled her hand from his arm. He squeezed her fingers in his own for a moment, and the Rain Woman looked at him. She had noticed his body temperature dropping and knew what was coming. Turning slightly, Juvia dropped the bag she had carried with towels and extra clothes, starting to pull her overshirt off. There was no way this was going to end without a fight, and if Gray-sama was fighting, Juvia would be by his side. For his part, Gray had already shucked his shirt and was clasping his hands together as he strode towards the other couple. Lucy sighed, reaching for her keys as Natsu let out a great laugh and, fire erupting around his arms, he bound forward to meet Gray.

Gray threw up a shield almost instantly, protecting both him and Juvia from the almost supernova heat heading towards them. He poured as much magic as he could spare into the wall of ice in front of him as Natsu hit it head on. He grunted as the ice wall shuddered, before feeling a blast of water emerge from next to him as Juvia shot up into the sky.

"Gray-sama! Juvia's water will make short work of Natsu-san! You work on Lucy-san!"

Gray watched as Juvia cleared his wall, shouting out the name of her spell as she turned her body into a spinning drill of water, small blades that he knew were deathly sharp emerging from them as she spun down towards the Dragon Slayer. Gray smirked, allowing the ice in front of him to disappear as he made the most out of the confusion and ran full speed towards Lucy.

His best chance was probably to knock her over, and get her keys away from her. Quick, easy and relatively painless. He was nearly there too, bent at the waist to tackle her when he was sideswiped out of the blue.

He tried to roll but his attacker stayed on top of him, straddling his hips as two hands pinned his shoulders. He growled up at the celestial spirit, but there was a joke in his words.

"Fucking traitor. I thought you said you were gonna help me get S Class?"

Loke laughed down at him, crossing his arms as he sat up.

"You can hardly talk, you didn't choose me to be your partner."

If Gray didn't know any better, he would have said there was a hint of betrayal in his voice. They stared at each other for a few seconds before Loke coughed, adjusting his suit as he stood to his feet and took a battle position.

"Anyway, isn't fighting you helping you train? Ergo helping you become stronger, ergo helping you get S Class."

Gray grunted, rolling easily to his feet. He dusted himself off, clasping his hands in front of him again, ice seeping up his arms.

"Yeah, okay. That's what you're doing."

Without another word, Gray lunged forward, sharpened ice blades emerging from his elbows as he lashed out at his former partner. He usually reserved the Seven Slice Dance for a finishing move, but he wasn't really in the mood for a full out fight against the spirit. Especially over a training ground. He began his assault, lashing out quickly to slash Loke across his chest. The lion spirit was powerful, Gray knew that, but he didn't really have a defense against ice swords with him at that exact moment, so this shouldn't be too challenging.

Loke leapt out of the way as Gray came at him, trying to keep as much space as possible between the two of them as he built up the magic energy he would need to fight. He was stronger than he had been the last time they fought, and now he was here under Lucy's magic and not his own. He took deep breaths as Gray came towards him, before letting out a burst of light at the last second.

Gray was buffeted back by a light that was almost blinding in its brightness. He flipped in the air as he was lifted up, before stumbling on his feet as he hit the ground. Fuck. Maybe this wouldn't be as easy as he was hoping. Smirking at the man across from him, his hands connected and a burst of cold danced across his skin as the ice formed between them.

"Ice-Make… Cannon!"

Juvia grinned as Natsu's hand went straight through her, although it was a little disturbing at the amount of her body that just… evaporated at the flames. At least the fire hissed slightly as it was put out. Juvia landed lightly on the floor in front of the Dragon Slayer, who smirked slightly before his fists reignited.

Juvia had never fought Natsu before, although she had seen it many times. At least once a day Natsu either initiated or joined one of the guild brawls, but Juvia never did. She took a deep breath as she wondered which would come out stronger, fire or water.

Natsu chuckled as he leapt forward again, flames licking up his elbows as he used them to propel himself faster. Juvia dodged out of the way, it was true that he would go straight through her but she would be the first to admit she wasn't quite sure what would happen if he evaporated her all away. She adjusted her balance before she spun around to the Dragon Slayer's back and trapped him in a water lock.

She smirked over at him as his flames extinguished and watched him struggle to relight them. He bared his teeth to her as she felt the water heat up, and poured all of her energy into cooling it down as much as possible but she could still see steam rising off it as the water evaporated. She gritted her teeth in concentration, sweat starting to pour from her brow as she started to lose control. She felt her body start to liquefy as she used more and more magic energy trying to keep Natsu contained. The water got hotter and hotter, steam now rolling off the sphere so thickly it was impossible to see through it to the other side. Juvia felt herself be knocked back by the force of the water exploding outward, flipping in the air before she landed heavily on her front.

Natsu was grinning, taking a few steps towards Juvia as she tried to struggle to her feet. Flames were licking around his hands as he stretched his arms before starting to take a deep breath. Juvia tried to push up with her arms, but she was almost entirely out of energy. Maybe the water lock hadn't been the best idea. Feeling her elbows give out her face smashed into the dirt again and she braced herself for some sort of impact, but it never came. Instead she felt strong arms grab a hold of her shoulders and drag her to her feet. As soon as she had purchase Gray slung her arm around his shoulders and began to walk the both of them out of the clearing. A quick glance over her shoulder showed Natsu encased in a cage of ice, starting to melt at the edges already. It wouldn't hold him for long. Slightly further away Lucy and Loke were in the same predicament, although she knew it would take them much longer to escape. She looked up at Gray, seeing his mouth set in a firm line as they left the clearing and decided to stay quiet for now.

"What happened back there, Juvia?"

Juvia had already finished her eighth pint of water as they sat in the kitchen in Gray's apartment. They hadn't spoken since they left the clearing, but now Gray was looking at her intently as he fiddled with the buttons on the front of his shirt. He had gotten dressed again as soon as they entered the dwelling but it didn't look like it was going to be staying for long.

"Natsu-san is just much stronger than…"

"No. He isn't."

Gray hadn't raised his voice, but she almost wished that he had. The soft way he spoke, layered with deep disappointment, was even worse than straight out anger.

"You were S-Class in Phantom Lord. You could have defeated him easily. And now you've had time to train with us, how are you that much weaker than him now?"

Juvia gritted her teeth, not allowing herself to cry. She had let Gray down, and not for the first time either. She placed her glass down on the table and refused to look the ice wizard in the eyes. He hadn't said anything since his question and it was obvious that he was actually looking for an answer. She thought it was obvious, but apparently not.

"Back in Phantom Lord, Juvia had the rain to help her. The rain has always made Juvia stronger. But now she is happy the rain isn't there anymore. And Juvia… Juvia doesn't miss the rain. She would rather be happy than strong anyday. Sometimes she just wishes… she just wishes that she didn't disappoint Gray-sama."

It was silent for a bit longer, both wizards refusing to look at each other. When Gray finally spoke, Juvia had to strain her ears to hear him.

"You don't disappoint me, Juvia. It's just… I think to myself sometimes. I took the rain from you, which means I took away all of your power as well. You are so powerful in the rain. Both when you fought me, and from what Erza said when you fought Mer… ed… y…"

Gray stood up without any further words, holding his hand out in order to help Juvia up off her stool. He smiled at her, a smile that never failed to light up her heart, and started to drag her towards the door.

"Come on, I got an idea."

"You do know that if you hadn't brought her you would be dead where you stand, right?"

The man glared at them through his one good eye, leaning on the door frame of the old shack they had been lead to. Juvia started to wring her hands, already thinking this was a bad idea but Gray remained standing tall as he stared at the man in front of him. After a few moments Cobra gave up, walking forward to sweep Kinana up in his arms and kiss her deeply. Juvia and Gray looked at each other awkwardly for a moment, before Gray coughed quietly.

"She's in her room. Go in, straight to the back and through the door on your left. Might wanna knock, you know, be polite."

Kinana giggled as Cobra grabbed her up in his arms and headed out of the region of the shack and into the forest around them. Juvia grasped Gray's arm as he growled at what the Dragon Slayer had said, calming him down and dragging him into the run down shack they had been hunting for all day.

Meredy was sat on her bed reading a book when the two of them walked in, and jumped to her feet squealing when she saw who had visited her. Juvia stumbled back as the younger girl wrapped her arms around her neck, and Gray just stood awkwardly to the side as he watched their reunion.

"Juvia! How have you been!?"

Gray settled down on the bed as the two girls caught up, rushing through everything that had happened over the past few months since they last saw each other. There was no point trying to speed them up or get them back on track, he had learned that a long time ago. Finally the two girls ran out of energy, and Meredy sat cross legged on her bed and stared at her visitors.

"Not that I don't love catching up, but I guess you two didn't make the trek all the way over here just to talk. How can I help you?"

Juvia toyed with the bottom of her shirt, and Gray sighed as he realised that he was going to have to explain everything to the woman on the bed.

"Well, Meredy, your magic focuses on emotions doesn't it?"

Meredy nodded slightly, but the confused look on her face simply deepened.

"We currently have a week to train for our guild's S-Class trials, and I want Juvia to be as strong as she possibly can be. But, her strength is strongly tied to her emotions, more accurately negative emotions. Ever since we met, Juvia has lost the ability to make it rain and thus lost a lot of her power. You should know, you've seen her fight in and out of the rain."

Meredy nodded, not ashamed of how she and Juvia had met. It was in her past, and there was nothing she could do to change that. Dwelling on her past misdeeds wasn't going to help anyone.

"So, we were wondering whether you could teach Juvia how to tie her power to a different emotion, so it doesn't only rain when she's upset?"

Meredy thought to herself for a moment, tapping her chin as she thought. She was silent for so long that even Gray started to fidget, and Juvia sighed when she noticed his shirt hit the floor. There was no changing the habit of a lifetime, it seemed.

"No, I can't."

Juvia felt her face fell as Meredy gave her answer, and so did Gray's. They had put a lot of faith in this idea, and it looked like it wasn't going to work.

"Juvia's power is so closely entwined with her negative emotions that it would take much more than a week to uncouple them and attach them to other emotions. It's something I can do in time, but that won't help you for the trials."

Juvia tried not to be upset, just as Gray tried not to hear the small pattering of rain that started to become audible on the roof. At least they were ruining whatever Cobra and Kinana were doing out there.

"However, there is something I can do. I can help you control your emotions more, bringing the negative emotions to the front at will to control the rain that way. It will be touch and go whether we manage it in time, but that's the best I can do for now."

Juvia and Gray looked at each other, silently asking whether it was something they wanted to do.

"Gray-sama, it would mean you won't get a lot of training…"

Gray smirked, standing to his feet and already starting to undo his trousers. Meredy looked away in embarrassment, but Juvia was already used to it.

"Meredy, can you get started on that now? I'm going to go and pick a fight with Cobra…"