Silence

7

The mission we chose wasn't as bad as Gray had thought it was. It was, in fact, worse than Gray had thought. The robbers weren't even cut out to be robbers! It was just too easy. Gray said he was in the mood to fight someone, but this fight just didn't cut it. Only one of them was as strong as Lucy, and those were Erza's words. Everyone let Gray handle it while the rest of us sat on the sidelines. We ended up with a good amount of reward money that was divided equally among us—despite all the work Gray did on his own. I wouldn't even consider it work, maybe just a chore. Lucy pouted the whole train ride home. She was mad that Erza said the last guy most likely had the same amount of strength as her, maybe even a little more.

"Thanks for supporting your teammate," Lucy grumbled. Her arms were crossed and she frowned until she fell asleep half way home. I wanted to fall asleep, too, but my body hated me too much when it came to trains. What made it even worse was what Gray had told me early this morning. Thinking about it made my heart beat faster. Maybe a little too fast. I gagged. As instinct, my hand reached up to cover my mouth at all costs, but not at a good time.

At this moment, I was wishing that Lucy was sitting right in front of me, but she had to sit next to me. No, it was so scary that it made my motion sickness go away.

Erza Scarlet growled at me, waking up Lucy. Her hands were in the air. She did not want to touch the gross substance that came from my mouth—probably the eggs that I had for breakfast. Gray and Lucy stared at her in shock. Then, the ice mage decided that he was not going to see how Erza was going to kill me. He left for the bathroom.

"I-I'll go ask for a towel and some cleaning supplies," Lucy squeaked. She quickly left the booth, leaving me and the devil there. Alone.

"Erza! I'm super sorry!" I cried. All she could do was stare at me, and I felt like I was going to die. I would probably have to repay her for the rest of her life. I would save up for hundreds of different kinds of cakes and deliever them personally. Yes, that seemed like the right thing to do. But Erza just smiled. Then, she began to laugh. It got me confused. Why would she be laughing when I just puked all over her?

Lucy came back with a spray bottle in one hand and a towel in the other. She wiped the spots around Erza. Once she finished, Erza requipped out of her armor and into her normal clothes. Now I understood why she laughed. It wasn't a big deal at all.

Gray came back about five minutes later. His pants were gone, but he seemed to not care at all.

The horn on the train blew. I was relieved that we were finally back in Magnolia. The four of us walked together towards the guild hall. I could hear loud sounds coming from the inside. Like old times, I kicked the door down with the other three smiling pleasantly behind me. "We're back!" I shouted. Loud cheers came from inside. I smiled at everyone as I made my way to our regular table, followed by Lucy and Erza.

I looked around the room and watched Gray making his way to the middle of the room. I immediately noticed who was holding his hand and being pulled by him.

It was none other than Juvia Lockser herself.

"Listen up! I have an announcement to make," Gray called, making everyone in the guild hall go quiet. All you could hear was forks and spoons against plates or someone slurping out of their cups.

Gray cleared his throat. "I just wanted to tell Juvia in front of everyone how important she is to me," Gray said, turning away from the other side of the guild hall. He held both of Juvia's hands and looked her in the eyes.

"I just wanted to tell you how amazing you are to me. I know, I may have disliked you since I first met you," I snorted at that, "but you have kept trying to win my heart. And you've succeeded. I love you dearly, Juvia."

The bluenette began to cry happy tears like her dream had came true. I rolled my eyes. Gray continued on with his little romantic speech, which made me want to gag. "I want you to be in my life for as long as we live."

He got to one knee, pulling out a small box. The box I saw on the train. He made the whole guild gasp. Snickers of "You own me 1000 jewel," or, "I told you so" could be heard throughout the guild hall. However, Juvia held both hands to her mouth. She was on the verge of bawling her eyes out.

Then, she nodded. She nodded. "Yes, a thousand times yes!" she cried out. Gray's eyes widened. And, the two hugged tightly.

A small tear fell down my left cheek. I was too late because I was too scared. I was too scared on how he would react and what would've happened to our friendship; if he even liked me back.

I looked at the two, putting a sad smile on my face. Then, I noticed something. I realized that Gray's eyes were watering as well. He was looking at me. He didn't seem to notice that I was looking back since I tried to look at him through the corner of my eyes.

His eyes were filled with sadness. Not happiness. It made me wonder why. The two then broke apart and the guild cheered a few congratulations to the two.

We all had a lot of planning to do.