The Maiden & Her Guardian Dragon *Discontinued*

Chapter 13: One Night in the Forest: Gray & Juvia.

Juvia walked behind Gray as he angrily slashed away tree branches with a sword he made out of ice.

"Dammit how did we get lost?" he muttered to himself as he continued walking.

Hey, you alright?" he called to Juvia.

She blushed as her eyes grew wide. "Y...Yes. I'm fine." She answered attentively.

She clutched her chest, afraid of what could be in the forest as she walked closer to Gray. She looked around, not noticing that Gray had stopped walking ahead of her. She bumped him and fell to the ground.

"Ow." She rubbed her bottom and looked up. Her face grew red as an apple, as she saw Gray's open hand in her face.

"You alright?" he asked her, his hand still extended. Thoroughly embarrassed Juvia quickly rose on her own and nodded her head.

"Yes, I'm alright. Don't worry about it." She laughed nervously as Gray recalled his arm to his side, he then motioned his head to a small clearing, signaling to move.

"Come on, we can stop here for now. I bet you're tired of walking around."

Juvia shook her head, and looked at him with a doleful look on her face. "I'm fine, really...I don't want to be a bother."

Gray sighed, "Stop looking so sad and come on." He grabbed her hand making her blush harder as he led her to the clearing. He found a patch of grass and let go of Juvia's hand as he sat.

Seeing a rock a few feet away, Juvia anxiously sat upon it.

This is the longest time I've been alone with Gray. She looked at over at him as he lied down in the grass, staring up at the sky. He's so handsome.

She sat in silence for a few moments, but finally she thought of a talking point to start with.

"So..." she began nervously "Where did you learn Ice Make Magic?" she thought it was a dumb question but she had to start somewhere.

Gray closed his eyes and thought to himself for a bit before answering her.

"My master Ur taught it to me, before she died."

Juvia grew wide eyed as Grays words fell upon her ears. He continued to speak, revealing his past to Juvia.

"My parents were killed by a monster named Deliora when I was a kid."

"I'm sorry." Juvia replied with an empathetic look.

"Don't worry about it." Gray said.

"What happened after?"

"I had nowhere to go so I began wandering around, looking for a way to kill Deliora. That's when i heard about Ur. I heard she knew a spell that could kill Deliora so I began searching for her. I walked for what seemed like forever looking for her. Eventually I wound in a country covered in snow, that's where Ur and Lyon found me."

"Lyon? Lyon Vastia? The Ice wizard from Lamia Scale?" Juvia asked intrigued.

"Yeah, we both trained under Ur but for totally different reasons." He opened his eyes and once again looked to the sky.

"What do you mean?" Juvia asked him as she steadily moved closer to him.

"I trained so I could get revenge on the monster that took my parents, but Lyon was training so he could one day surpass Ur." He smiled weakly as he began to reminisce on his time as Ur's apprentice, then as he thought of his final days with her a glum look crossed his face.

Juvia nervously asked him her next question, "How...how did she die?"

His glum look turned to one of absolute shame. "She died because of me."