TRISTFUL. GRUVIA

XIV. THUMP

g.f — 

My head spun, twisting and turning as the familiar sound rung in my ears. It was a sound that held the power to cause pain among innocent people, a sound that I was afraid of hearing. It's volume increased by the second as it was preparing to make it's hit.

I clenched my fists as the same scene I had begged to forget yet couldn't, replayed before my eyes. The moment was so dramatic, appearing to have possibly came out of a movie, except of course, it was unfortunately all a reality.

There she was. Juvia ran in front of me, as expected, her blue wavy hair shielding my eyes as the blue substance began to slowly charge towards her.

She glanced at me one last time, as if to say goodbye, and said the words that I have come to loathe, the words that I never wanted to hear again, "Juvia is sorry t-that she had failed to p-protect you, Gray-sama. I promised..but I still couldn't."

Why was this all reocuring? Why did I have to watch this happen once more?

I furrowed my eyes as the painful event flew right before my eyes, drawing to an end. I couldn't let this turn out the same way. I refused to accept the fact that she was going to get herself injured in the process of protecting me.

Not wanting to be a helpless spectator for the second time now, I mustered all of the effort, all of the energy I had left, into reaching out for Juvia. My hands were not even two feet away from her, my grasp so close to preventing the hit from taking place, the hit that she didn't deserve to feel.

I narrowed my focus on my target, lunging forward even more, determined to be successful, praying that it would work, when a force suddenly resisted me from moving any further.

The magic made contact with her, and she fell to the ground.

"Juvia no!" I cried out, my hands still attempting to touch her one last time, even if I was being held back. The strong grip became tighter as I continued to fight back, in hopes it would be released, in hopes that it would set me free.

The voice of a woman said, "Please calm yourself down.."

I opened my eyes to see Erza Scarlet in front of me with her hands firmly on my shoulders, Master Makarov and Wendy lurking behind her.

"E-Erza, how did I get here?" I asked as I began to remember how I should've been dead by now. This certainly didn't look like heaven, or hell. I was clearly alive. I was instead inside of the infirmary, the same infirmary in which I had to watch a poor water mage suffer due to my misjudgment.

"Juvia saved you," Erza told me as she let go.

I sat myself up at the sound of her name. "J-Juvia.." I repeated, my lip quivering.

"Would you ever do whatever it takes to save me, to take that extra step into protecting me? I would, because I love you."

She had lived up to her promise once again, while I had still done nothing to repay her, while I had still just stood there on the sidelines like a useless person.

I could hear my heartbeat begin to speed up as the words resounded in my head once more. They were the words that were stated by Juvia days before the accident. It was a time that felt so long ago, a time I wished to go back to, yet a time that I knew I would never be able to see again.

Thump.

I closed my eyes, an image of myself being pushed away from the light, the light fading away as I fell further down.

Thump.

Black, the only color that appeared through my eyes. Black, a color that represented my cold personality that lead to the mistakes that I committed, that I deeply regretted. Black, a color that showed the future that I would live in, a future also known as hell.

Thump.

It was as if I were falling into a trance, a trance in which I was drowning into my own tears. I wanted it to stop, but at the same time, I didn't. I had to accept my own fate.

Thump.

Breathing felt impossible now. I could sense my body becoming weaker and weaker as I swiftly drifted farther into the darkness, the symptoms of becoming dizzy and light-headed swaying my mind.

Thump.

"Gray!"

That was the only word coming out of the mouths of my three fellow comrades. The noise echoed and echoed, slowly becoming muffled to the point where I couldn't hear them at all.

Thump.

I couldn't move, I couldn't do anything. Not a single sound came out, or was heard.

I was alone, opening my arms into a world of death. A world full of darkness, a place where I truly belonged.