The promise made but never kept

Chapter Thirty Seven

I dashed to both of them and gave them a tight bear hug.

"I missed you both!" I tightened my grip and they both laughed.

Someone fake coughed and I realized that Natsu was feeling out of place.

"Sorry Natsu, these are Juvia and Jellal. They are my childhood friends. Juvia and Jellal, this is Natsu. My best friend." Giving them my most brilliant smile.

"I know him. You were such a snot, when we were kids Natsu!" Jellal chuckled as he greeted him with a bro-fist.

He was?

"Yeah. I was... Until I met Lucy, around that time." He admitted while blushing.

"Juvia's happy to meet you, Natsu-san." Juvia greeted and they bowed at each other.

"It seems you guys met!" mom cheered and hugged all of us then went off to who-knows-where.

I walked over to Jellal.

"Does this mean, he's here?" I asked him cautiously.

"Not today. You don't have to be afraid, he changed." Jellal reassured.

"I see..." I responded nervously.

"How about I call Erza over?" I exclaimed happily, trying to lift the heavy boulder off my chest and Jellal blushed.

"W-Whatever y-you s-say..."he stuttered, obviously hiding the excitement of wanting to see her.

I decided to call the entire gang.

I called over Levy-chan, Gajeel, Erza and Gray.

Not over 30 minutes the bell rang, revealing my four closest friends.

"YOU!" Gray and Juvia shouted at unison with their eyes widening.

"I remember you!" They continued.

Juvia started to cry and runs toward Gray.

"Gray-sama!" Juvia cried being accepted by Gray with open arms.

Gray hid on Juvia's shoulder, sobbing.

"How long has it been?" he questioned while sobbing.

"It has been 12 years, Gray-sama." Juvia says as she clung on Gray's neck.

"I thought that I've lost you, since you never contacted me back!" He cried.

"Juvia is sorry. Juvia doesn't mean to make you sad!" she cried and they continued to hold each other.

"Good to see you, Gray!" Jellal greeted and they bro-fists.

Gray wiped his tears away and smiled kindly.

I introduced them to each other.

We chatted like we never chat before.

Gray told us his story.

Juvia and Gray met when Gray was 6 and Juvia was 5, just like Natsu and I. Gray was the one that Juvia was playing with when she had seizures. Gray tried to bring her to one of the hospital he owns, but they didn't have the rightful equipment yet to remove the brain tumor.

Just like Erza, Gray never received his final farewell from her- as Juvia and Jellal's parents were panicking and they needed urgent care for their daughter. It took a huge blow on Gray's part, since Juvia never left him alone since he was a kid.

Juvia would stalk him everywhere he goes, and at first he hated it. But when she disappeared like a bubble, Gray suffered the whole years they were apart and admitted that he loved her ever since.