Thank you for sticking with this book, even though I don't update a lot. It makes me really happy. :)
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Juvia's POV:
I haven't heard someone call my real name in a long time. I was least expecting to confront a wizard and tell him my true identity. Didn't know if it was a smart move on me, but my mouth couldn't stop rambling and just kept spilling out truths that should've remained ancient.
"Can you let go of my hands?" I asked. "You're starting to hurt me..."
He slowly let go of my hands, and I started to massage them. I could see his nail prints that dug into my skin, which made my blood trickle. I tried to ignore the pain and focus on getting my blood circulation on my hands back to normal.
"Let's go somewhere else," he told me.
"Where?" I asked. "We're far from the cottage as it is."
"It won't be far," he answered.
Before I could say anything, Gray began walking deeper into the woods. My instinct was to follow him, so I did, but I kept looking back, wondering if maybe we shouldn't have walked farther away from the cottage.
We stopped at a river that had been untouched for a long time. Gray tore out two pieces of fabric from his sleeves and drenched it with the river water. He squeezed the excess water out from the cloths and walked over to where I was standing.
I took a step back from him. "What are you doing?"
Gray swiftly, but softly took my left hand and began wrapping it with his damp torn out sleeves. The touch of his fingers sent tingles down my body, which felt oddly pleasant. He wrapped my right hand with his other cloth, and both of my hands are now cleaned and incapable of bleeding out. I sat on the soft grass, examining my hands to see if there were any more places that were bleeding. Gray sat in front of me and, without my consent, held my right hand with his.
Gray spoke. "I apologize for hurting you. I never meant to squeeze your hands the way I did before. I should've been more wary about my strength. I'm deeply sorry."
I found it hard to speak with his hand on mine, which gave me nothing, but warmth and sympathy. "N-No, it's okay. Thank you for taking care of my hands."
Gray smiled and withdrew his hand from mine. It felt weird now that I couldn't feel his warmth anymore. It didn't feel right...
"I'm also sorry about your parents," he said. "I should've known that my dad was the one who killed them."
I nodded. "My parents thought he was a good man. They trusted him to be their advisor, the one who would provide excellent advice and share his thoughts to them when needed."
"Did my father betray their trust?"
"Yes," I answered. "I think I was about seven when this happened.
"Well, if it makes you feel better," Gray started, "my dad tried to kill me less than twenty-four hours ago."
I laughed at his obvious remark. "I know. I saw you were about to drown, remember?"
Gray got flustered. "O-Oh, yeah. I forgot you actually saw that..."
"I'm curious about one thing, though," I told him. "I saw that you were about to jump, but Erza tried to stop you. Yet, in the end it was the executioner who pushed you guys off the cliff." I could see from Gray's eyes that he knew exactly what I was going to ask him. "How come you didn't try fighting for your life?"
Gray shrugged. "Was there a way I could've lived in that situation?"
"I don't know..." I said, sounding unsure of myself.
"I know that you know that there wasn't a chance of me getting the hell out of there. There were many guards out there who would've tried to stop me if I tried to escape." Gray looked at his reflection that was shown in the water. "Plus, I didn't want to give my dad the satisfaction of seeing me suffer."
It was my turn to look at the water. "Does your life mean so little to you that you would toss it away in a heartbeat?" I asked him. "I just don't understand how a person like you could have the mind set of thinking that it's okay to give up when there's a situation that you think you can't escape. If I were you, I would've fought until I couldn't anymore because that's how much my life means to me, and I think every person's life in this world is precious."
I looked away from the river to see Gray's eyes fall upon mine. I immediately got embarrassed, knowing that he had been watching me for some time now. Hopefully, I didn't say anything stupid.
"I never really thought about it like that," he finally told me. "I didn't think that my life was worth fighting for if I'm being honest with you."
That me feel more passionate about my feelings. "No, you're wrong! You have so much to live for, and it would be a waste to throw it away for something that was so trivial."
I could see the way his lips curved when he heard me talking about my views on life. It was a real, genuine smile, and it made me feel happy for some reason. I was glad that he even though we had different opinions on this matter, he still listened to me. It made me feel like my views was just as important as anyone else's.
"We should probably go," Gray suggested. "We don't want to keep the rest of the group wondering where we were."
We both stood up together and headed back towards the cabin. The walk was silent, but it was very peaceful and calming. I didn't want to break the silence, but I felt like I needed to say something to him.
So I spoke. "Hey, Gray?"
He turned to look at me. "Yeah?"
"I'm sorry that I used my powers against you," I told him. "I shouldn't have done that, and I don't expect you to forgive me."
Gray ruffled my hair. "You don't have to apologize to me."
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Decided to write a thousand words per chapter instead of two thousand. Hope you guys are okay with that change. I thought two thousand words was too much for me.
~TheKonfusingKK
