3rd Person POV
"So, what was the hugging fest about?" Gray asked the girls.
By now the team has been walking along a rode in the middle of nowhere for a while and Gray was getting a nagging feeling of curiosity in his chest.
"Oh." Lucy sighed, her voice laced with sadness.
Natsu was walking next to Lucy with his hip practically attached to hers, Happy flying above them.
"Juvia-san just decided she needed a change." Wendy said hesitantly, like she was covering a blow or something.
"What's that suppose to mean?" Gray asked, raising an eyebrow.
Erza growled, not being able to contain her anger again.
"It means that Juvia is done chasing you and that she's given up!" Erza replied bluntly, her voice loud and aggressive.
Gray stopped abruptly, almost tripping over himself. He looked up at the towering figure of Erza above him. His throat went dry and he felt like a deer in headlights at the moment.
"H-huh?" He choked out, not understanding why he couldn't speak.
Natsu and Happy looked at each other like they just watched Gray get hit by a truck, wide eyed and quiet.
"She came to the conclusion that you didn't want her around so she gave up on chasing you. And she and Lisanna are her job partners now." Lucy said, looking at Gray with sympathetic eyes.
"Wait what? What do I have to do with her getting a job partner?" Gray asked.
Lucy sighed and shook her head. "She considered you her job partner. And since you two rarely went on jobs she usually went alone." Lucy explained, putting emphasis on the word 'job partner.'
It was true, Gray and Juvia did sometimes go on jobs. But rarely. But he didn't know she considered him her official job partner.
Gray felt sick as he realized he let down a commrade, not even noticing that she waited for him to go on jobs.
Gray blinked a couple times, trying to comprehend all this new information. But he played it off cool like always, brushing off the subject like he didn't care.
He didn't know why, but he didn't want his teammates to know how upset he truly felt.
Or more likely he just didn't want to admit it to himself.
"Oh, well that's good for her." Gray said trying to keep his voice steady. "And maybe that means I'll finally have a break huh?" Gray said and smiled, but inside he felt wrong for smiling so care-free like.
"Yeah! I'm glad she went and got happier. Good for Juvia!" Natsu cheered and the others nodded in agreement.
Everyone grew silent again and Gray hung back as the others talked about Juvia, his bangs covering his eyes as he walked.
"What's up with you Gray?" Happy asked suddenly, causing Gray's teammates to all turn their heads to him.
Gray raised an eyebrow and gave them a look, shrugging his shoulders after a moment.
"Nothing, why would there be?" Gray asked in a cold voice.
•••
"ELSA GET EM'!!!" Natsu shouted at his teammate.
Right now Team Natsu was trying to fight off a giant monster, and it wasn't working out for them too well.
"I GOT IT FLAME HEAD!!" Gray shouted back and struck the creature with an ice make lance.
This only made the creature angrier and it screeched, grabbing Lucy. She screamed loudly as it crushed her.
Gray felt his head pound as he was suddenly reminded of a certain someone.....
Flashback
"AHHHHHHHHH!!" Juvia screamed as she was grabbed by the giant Vulcan that Gray and Juvia were fighting.
The two had taken a job together and that day Gray had failed to protect her.
The Vulcan grabbed her and smiled.
"Woman" it said.
"AHHHHHHHH!!" Juvia screamed as it tightened its grip around her.
"JUVIA!" Gray yelled, the desperation in his voice clear as day.
"GRA-""AHHHHHHHH"
"HELP JUVIA!! PLEASE SOMEONE HELP JUVIA!!" She cried as it crushed her ribs.
Gray immediately created an ice make lance and stabbed the Vulcan through the heart.
It coughed and blood spilled from its chest, falling over with a now silent Juvia in its clutched hand.
Gray ran to its hand, seeing Juvia almost crushed to death.
"JUVIA!" Gray yelled and desperately pried the Vulcans hand open, causing Juvia to breath heavily as she rolled out.
She threw up on the ground and her shirt was ripped around her stomach, dark red scratches around her stomach where the Vulcan dug it's nails into her.
"Juvia Juvia!" Gray exclaimed as she cried, gagging. Gray removed her hands from her face and roughly pulled her into a hug.
"I'm so sorry, I'm sorry." He breathed as she cried into his chest. Rain began to drizzle and she coughed and cried.
"I'm sorry" Gray pleaded in a whisper, holding her tightly and stroking her hair.
Gray couldn't protect her, she was almost crushed to death.
Flashback end
"GRAY MOVE!!" Erza screamed.
Gray snapped out of his trance and saw a giant hand, presumed to belong to monster, coming towards him.
Then all he saw was blackness.
•••
Juvia's POV
"MIRA!" Lisanna-san and Juvia squealed as they ran back into the guild together after a job.
"Oh, hi Lisanna! Juvia!" Mira-san smiled at us as we ran to the bar. "How did the job go?" Mira-san asked as she handed two water bottles to Lisanna-san and Juvia.
"Great! We got the full reward money and had a great time!" Lisanna-san beamed.
Mira-san looked towards Juvia and she smiled widely at the white haired mage.
"Wow Juvia! I haven't seen you this happy since the day you joined Fairy Tail!" Mira-san giggled.
Lisanna-san and Juvia giggled along and talked for a while until Lisanna had to go because she promised Bickslow-kun she would go on a job with him and the thunder leagon.
Juvia waved to Lisanna-san as she walked out of the guild but soon she started to get bored.
Then suddenly Juvia decided to ask Mira-san if there were any jobs like bar tending or something else like that that Juvia could do while Lisanna-san was out on her long mission.
"Hey Mira-san, how can Juvia help out in guild like you do?" Juvia asked, putting her chin in her hands.
Mira-san seemed surprised by the question but she tapped her chin with her index finger before jumping up in excitement.
"Wellllll~" Mira-san started with a glint of something in her eyes.
"Well?" Juvia asked, not understanding why Mira-san looked so evil all of the sudden.
"We could use an assistant in the infirmary. Someone had gotten hurt on a job today and needs an assistant until they get better." Mira-san explained.
Juvia gasped in excitement at the prospect of helping her friends get better and repaying them for their kindness to her, so she nodded frantically.
"Sign Juvia up!" Juvia beamed loudly.
This is gonna be amazing!!
YOU ARE READING
Mixed Signals (Gruvia)#WATTYS2019
FanfictionGray Fullbuster. Just the mention of that name makes Juvia want to weep. She was always so kind to him, and he was always so cold to her. Eventually she gave on Gray. It became apparent to her that he didn't want her around. She found a new partner...
