Work Text:
Chapter 1
Gray let out a long breath. On the battlefield, he stood face-to-face with Briar, a mage from the Avatar guild he had infiltrated and to whom he had just revealed his role as a spy.
The white-haired, dark-skinned mage standing before him had taken the news particularly badly. He had known for a while now that she had a crush on him, and admittedly, he had used that to his advantage. But it had only ever been for the sake of his mission. He could never have feelings for someone who worshiped Zeref.
Besides, as much as it killed him to admit it, his heart already belonged to someone else. Denying it would only mean lying to himself. Ever since he had gone undercover, there had been only one thing he wanted: to finish his mission and return to his peaceful everyday life with Juvia. He had even hoped that maybe, just maybe, he would finally tell her how he felt about her.
But that was still to be determined.
In front of him, the enemy mage had multiplied herself into several clones. Gray wasn't intimidated. He knew he was far stronger than she was, especially with his Demon Slayer Magic. Still, he had to admit that taking down the clones one by one was exhausting.
Just as he finished attacking one of them, he sensed a presence behind him. He was about to spin around and launch another attack when he heard a voice he knew all too well call out:
“Water Claws!”
Gray watched as powerful streams of water sliced through one of Briar's Loving Clones, making it disappear.
A feminine silhouette emerged from the cloud of dust left behind by the force of the attack. A young woman with skin as white as snow, hair and eyes the color of the ocean.
Juvia.
The moment Gray's eyes met Juvia's, his heart skipped a beat.
Several seconds passed. Gray remained frozen, trying to decide how he was supposed to react to the water mage's sudden arrival. That was when he noticed something different about the woman standing before him.
Her complexion seemed even paler than usual. Dark circles lingered beneath her eyes, and within them was an emotion so unlike the joy that normally filled them, a kind of melancholy.
A memory suddenly flashed through Gray's mind: the first time he had met Juvia.
There had been something almost eerily similar about her then.
“Ju-Juvia?”
Gray had finally regained the ability to speak, only to stammer her name.
Instead of answering, Juvia sent an attack toward the real Briar.
Gray snapped back to reality and remembered that they were still standing in the middle of a battlefield. Once Briar had been sent flying by Juvia's attack, he seized the opportunity to call out to her.
“Listen. I'm really sorry. I promise I'll explain everything once the battle is over.”
Juvia looked at him for a moment.
Gray caught a flicker of something that looked dangerously close to anger crossing her eyes. Then she simply nodded before continuing on her way toward a group of Avatar soldiers standing not far from them.
Something inside him told him that, this time, Juvia wasn't going to be nearly as forgiving as usual.
The battle against Avatar had just come to an end and the dark guild had been defeated. Finally, after six months undercover, Gray had successfully completed his mission.
His first instinct was to search for Juvia. They had gotten separated toward the end of the fight, but he quickly spotted her standing not far from Erza.
Just as he was about to take a step toward her, a division of the Magic Council appeared in front of Gray and his friends. A division led by... Gajeel, Levy, and Panther Lily?!
Well, that was new.
Apparently quite pleased by his former guildmates' reactions to his new job, Gajeel flashed them a smug grin, his fists resting proudly on his hips. The power must have gone straight to his head, because he immediately started throwing out arrests left and right.
Natsu for his stupid face. Lucy for indecent exposure. Happy for eating too many fish. Wendy just because. Gray for infiltrating Avatar and his involvement with the dark guild. And Juvia...
Juvia for...
Gajeel seemed to shiver under Juvia's dark stare before Erza shut him up completely with a solid smack to the back of his head.
Gray tried to catch Juvia's eye, but she was staring down at her feet with a defeated expression.
That was enough.
He needed to get her away from everyone else, somewhere they could be alone. He needed to take the time to explain himself properly and tell her everything down to the smallest detail.
He didn't even need to talk to her to know that he was the reason she looked so miserable. Knowing Juvia, she must have been worried sick about him for the past six months.
He had known that would happen when he accepted the mission. But he couldn't tell her anything without putting her in danger, and he had to accept the mission. He had to carry on his father's legacy. That was why he had been given Demon Slayer Magic in the first place.
Before he could make his way toward Juvia, Levy intercepted him, asking him to follow her so she could take his statement and write up an official report right away.
Gray glanced over his shoulder at Juvia one last time before reluctantly following the Solid Script Mage toward the Magic Council's makeshift camp.
The sooner he got this over with, the sooner he could get back to her.
After Gray and Erza had given a clear and concise account of everything that had happened, the Council conducted an assessment of the battlefield. Once their investigation was complete, Lucy and Natsu announced their plans to reform Fairy Tail. Lucy had already sent letters to all their former guildmates, asking them to meet in Magnolia in one week's time.
By mutual agreement, Erza, Natsu, Lucy, Gray, Gajeel, Levy, Juvia, Happy, Lily, Wendy and Carla decided to spend the night at the camp before beginning their journey back to Magnolia the following morning.
Gray wanted to stop by the house first to gather a few essentials and say a proper goodbye to the place. Despite everything, that house held some good memories of the time he had spent there with Juvia.
He hadn't mentioned it yet, though. He still hadn't gotten the chance to talk to Juvia away from everyone else.
Later that evening, the cheerful group had built themselves a fire a little farther away from the rest of the Council—because no Fairy Tail mage ever liked staying too close to the Magic Council for too long. They shared a meal while swapping stories about what they had been up to over the past year. Since Gray and Erza had already given everyone a summary earlier, the others did most of the talking. Everyone except Juvia.
Sitting between Wendy and Lucy, she absentmindedly traced patterns in the dirt with the tip of a small twig, barely seeming to listen to the conversation around her. Gajeel, with his usual complete lack of tact—and apparently eager to hear what his best friend had been up to, though he would never admit it—raised his voice loudly enough to pull her out of her daze.
“Hey, Rain Woman! You're awfully quiet! Don't you have anything to tell us? Usually, you never shut up!” he said between bites of his meat skewer.
“I'm curious too,” Levy added, a gentle smile on her lips.
Juvia lifted her head and looked at Gajeel and Levy. She opened her mouth, but then her eyes darted briefly toward Gray. There was something painful in that glance. She immediately closed her mouth again.
Gray noticed tears slowly gathering in her eyes, but Juvia quickly turned her head away before anyone else could see them. The simple gesture physically hurt him. He was about to say something. No—he was going to get up and take her somewhere they could finally talk. To hell with everyone else and whatever they might think. She mattered more than that. More than anything.
Wendy, however, seemed to misinterpret Juvia's discomfort, suddenly becoming concerned about the water mage's condition.
“Juvia-chan? Are you okay? Are you starting to feel sick again? I noticed you haven't eaten much...”
“No, Juvia will be fine. Thank you, Wendy,” the water mage quickly cut her off.
Gray suddenly realized that, aside from casting attack spells, those were the first words he had heard Juvia speak since their reunion on the battlefield. But something else caught his attention.
Starting to feel sick again? What exactly did Wendy mean by that?
“Are you sure? You look pale, and you still seem a little tired. Are you too hot? Cold? I could cast a spell to help you sleep if you want,” Wendy continued worriedly.
“And considering the state we found you in two days ago, along with the fight earlier today, you must be exhausted. I told you that you should have taken it easy,” Carla added.
The state they had found her in?
Gray's attention sharpened immediately. Erza seemed to be wondering the exact same thing, only she reacted faster than he did, immediately asking the question burning on the tip of his tongue.
“The state you found her in? What was wrong with you, Juvia?”
Juvia shot Erza a dark glare. Even Erza seemed taken aback by it. Coming from someone as gentle as Juvia, such a look was probably the last thing she had expected. Then Juvia seemed to realize that everyone around the fire was staring at her. She abruptly stood up and turned her back to them.
“Juvia thanks Wendy and Carla for their concern, but Juvia assures you that she is fine. Juvia simply needs some sleep. Juvia wishes everyone a good night. Juvia will see you tomorrow.”
She said it all in one breath, as though she couldn't get the words out fast enough. And before anyone could stop her, she disappeared into the shadows of the forest, heading toward their tents as quickly as she could.
This time, Gray didn't waste a single second. He shot to his feet and went after Juvia. He broke into a light jog to catch up with her, hearing Gajeel call out from behind him,
“Okay, is someone finally gonna tell me what the hell is going on?!”
Once he was only a few steps behind her, Gray called out to her.
“Gray-sa— Gray... Stop it. Juvia needs a moment alone,” she said without turning around.
She had stopped herself from calling him by her usual nickname. Had he really managed to ruin the most important relationship in his life?
“No, Juvia. I need to explain—”
“Gray, I don't want your excuses!” she snapped.
“I understand, but this isn't just about apologizing. If you'd just let me explain, you'd understand that—” Gray began, reaching out and taking hold of her wrist.
Her skin felt cold beneath his palm. She pulled away from his touch almost immediately and spun around to face him. Anger burned in her eyes and now he could clearly see the tears streaming down her cheeks.
“Understand what?!” she cried. “That you abandoned Juvia for six months? That for six months, Juvia worried herself sick wondering what had happened to you, but Juvia still trusted that you would come back! Juvia waited desperately for you, and now Juvia realizes just how stupid she was because you simply didn't trust her enough to let her in on the secret!”
The words burst out of her like something she had been holding inside for far too long.
“No, Juvia. I swear I trust you. I trust you more than I trust most people. It's just that—”
“Gray, Juvia is exhausted. I just need some time. It'll pass.” Her voice had grown quieter, but the hurt remained. “Give Juvia some time, and it'll pass. Then we can go back to interacting like...”
She trailed off, seemingly searching for the right word to describe whatever they were to each other. When she couldn't find one, she simply gave up.
“...however you want us to.”
Gray, however, had always been stubborn.
“Juvia...” he tried again, stepping toward her as she began to walk away.
He reached for her wrist once more.
That was when Juvia's anger flared again, except this time, bursts of water magic erupted around her hand.
“GRAY! Juvia told you to leave her alone!”
Her eyes were blazing. Gray had never seen her this angry with him before. Not even during their first battle, back when she was was an enemy with the rest of Phantom Lord.
Realizing that pushing her any further would only make things worse, Gray finally stopped. Reluctantly, he let her go. He remained where he was, watching her walk away until she disappeared inside the tent she was sharing with Wendy and Carla.
Written by a human in Ellipsus.