Regrets in the Crying Sky

Rain

As Gray entered Magnolia, the sky overhead bubbled with dark clouds, threatening quite a storm. It cast the city in shades of silver, green, and gray-blue, making the city look older ... much like Gray himself.

Or maybe he just felt old today. The S-Class mission he had recently finished took him a month to complete. After something like that, he felt his age, no longer a spry teenager, although he was not all that old yet. Still, thirty years were a long time for the body to keep up with such rigorous activities.

As he looked at the monochrome view of his hometown, Gray knew he should be feeling elation. He was home! He should probably rush to his house and kiss Juvia hello. He had told her he would arrive this weekend, still three days away. She would probably bake a cake to celebrate, just like she always did. However, thinking of his wife did not make him as happy as he knew it should. Sure, he cared deeply for Juvia, she was a sweet woman who doted on him ... a little too much, sometimes. He married her because he knew no other person would feel as deeply for him as Juvia did.

No one else...

Surely not the person who stole his heart years ago.

However, back then he lacked the courage to express himself properly. He kept quiet. He ... settled. He knew what was expected of him—become S-Class, serve the guild, marry a sweet lady, someday have children. That was what people told him he should want, what they urged him to do, so he figured he would feel happier with a charming lady like Juvia by his side, rather than that other person.

Especially when he wasn't around. He too was a S-Class mage now. He also went on long missions. He never found out that Gray had harbored an unrequited love for over twelve years.

Gray smiled gently as he thought of that huge smile, those narrow eyes, and the pink hair. He could not remember the last time he and Natsu were in Magnolia at the same time. Since the Dragon Slayer refused to ride transportation, his missions always took twice as long, and Natsu tended to clamber for the craziest missions available. When Gray arrived in town, it was usually to hear that Natsu had just left on yet another mission.

He wished he could see the crazy flame-brain, if only to see how the years had treated him.

Gray walked slowly through the streets of Magnolia, reminiscing about the times he used to spend as a child, racing from the guild to the candy store, or running away from Erza when he smashed her cake. He passed by Lucy's old house on Strawberry Street, now rented to someone else, some new guild member whose name Gray could not recall. He drifted to the river, where he and Natsu had fought every day. Memories of those arguments, so childish and inane, made Gray smile. He remembered teasing Natsu when he got pounded by Erza and arguing with him over the dumbest, most juvenile stuff.

Most of all, he remembered one mission, before Lucy arrived. He had teamed up with Loke, but they got separated in the fight. The enemy was tough, Gray had only been fifteen, and he was hit so hard, he heard his ribs crack. As blackness swallowed his vision, he heard an enraged roar and saw flames. When he came to, he was riding on Natsu's back, and they were halfway to Magnolia. The Dragon Slayer had happened upon the fight, and what Gray could not beat, Natsu did. That had shamed Gray at the time, but riding on Natsu's back also changed something within himself.

Natsu had defended him. When he fell in defeat, it was Natsu who carried him all the way back home. Natsu had always been there for him, by his side. They fought like usual, but now the fights were a cover-up for Gray, a way to stubbornly hide the way he felt, acting tough and mighty, yet hiding his blushes whenever Natsu laughed along with him.

Gray found himself stopping in front of Natsu's house. He had been so lost in thought, he did not notice that his feet dragged him all the way out here.