Say Those 3 Words (A GruVia Fanfic)

Chapter 18

This is it.

This is the deciding chapter.

Are you guys excited?

I sure am. :3

Enjoy~

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~Gray's P.O.V.~

I raced down the ICU hallway, rushing past equipment, doctors, patients, nurses, and rooms as I did so. This time round, I didn't even have time to shove them out of the way. I just need to get to where Juvia is.

After a couple seconds, I abruptly stopped running. I realized I didn't know where I was going, or how I was going to get Juvia in time at this rate. I frantically examined my surroundings, looking for something, anything that showed where Juvia was. My patience at its limit, I grab the nearest doctor by their collar and yell, "Where's Juvia Lockser's room?!"

"U-u-um.." the doctor meekly stuttered. Frustrated, I ripped the clipboard he was holding from his hands and stared at it. Thankfully, it was a list of patients, so I scanned down the list, looking for anything that said Juvia Lockser. After a few seconds, my eyes finally found the words Lockser, Juvia right next to a number: 143.

My eyes scanning over the number one more time for confirmation, I harshly shove the clipboard back to the doctor and rush down the hall. "143, 143.." I repeat under my breath over and over.

For yet another set of seconds, I try to look around for any indication of where Room 143 could be, but every second I waste was another second where Juvia could disappear from me.

"Where's Room 143?" Not wanting to waste even more time, I quickly ask a passing nurse this question. She was obviously quite taken off guard by my sudden appearance, but unlike that dumb doctor, she manages to shakily point to her right.

"D-down the hall," she stammers. I glance towards where she was pointing, and sure enough there was a hallway with doors on both sides of the wall.

"Thank you," I say quickly before dashing down it. Small plates with numbers on them blurred past my vision, but I managed to read them as they passed by.

Soon, I screech to a halt using the soles of my shoes, making me stop right in the middle of a door. Before walking in, I make sure that the room in front of me was the one where Juvia was in. Sure enough, the gold plate right next to it had the numbers 143 etched in black. "JUVIA!" Without wasting another moment, I basically kick the door down and bolt inside.

However, as soon as I see what was waiting for me inside the room, my legs instinctively come to a halt, refusing to take a step further. "J-Juvia.." I whisper her name, the name I've been neglecting for so long, the name that, a couple days ago, I would cringe hearing and saying it.

But now, now that I see the carrier of the name lying in a hospital bed with multiple tubes being stuck in her pale, porcelain-like skin with a heart-rate monitor right beside her bed, making a menacing "beep" the same time her huge heart does...

I feel like such an idiot. A huge, ice-cold douchey idiot.

My whole body trembling with the immense guilt I felt, but even then, I forced myself to move forward towards her. When I was right beside her, I just kneel onto the floor and take a good look at the bluenette's face. She looked so pale, but yet so..peaceful.

"Juvia..." I whisper, my fingers running through her soft, blue locks. Somewhere in my head, I hoped to see her "ghost" that had appeared since she was in a coma. I didn't want to see her lying unconscious, her pretty features inexpressive. I could feel heat in the back of my eyes, but, being me, I hold them back for just a second more and, without even thinking, I lean towards the bluenette. "Juvia," I say again, this time my voice cracking. Her face and mine were merely an inch apart. "I..I..." I bite my lip. It was hard to say this, but if not now, when can I ever say it?