Chasing Shadows

Hourglass

Just felt like doing a Gruvia fanfic, so here goes. This story is set in an alternate universe and the characters may or may not have characteristics of the original characters from Fairy Tail...I hope it doesn't disappoint. I do not own Fairy Tail only the story and concept..This is Part 1 of Chasing Shadows, Hourglass.

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-Hourglass

Darkness surrounded them. They didn't bother turning on the lights as they entered 10 minutes ago, too preoccupied at the tense situation they were in. They even forgot to shut the door. A beam of light entered through the open entrance, one long shadow casted on the floor. Thunder rumbled outside, followed by a bolt of lightning, crackling as it whipped from above. Heavy rain would soon follow.

"Do you love me?"

The question escaped from her mouth with a hazy trembling voice that betrayed her efforts to be strong. She waited for a very long time to ask him. The question burned in her mind for the past few weeks, desperate to know the answer, but couldn't find the right time or courage to ask. Now in this dark room she couldn't stop herself, not with their relationship hanging by a thread that at any minute could break.

Juvia looked up at him with big green eyes, now blurry with strained tears. She wanted to cry but held back the droplets that were threatening to escape. She willed herself not to falter, not at a time like this when her question would finally be given an answer. She didn't want him to see. See the pain that were obvious in her eyes, windows to her heart. Another bolt of lightning descended. Silence radiated in the dark room after. She clenched her fist. Please! She screamed inside her head.

"I don't"

He answered and drew a sharp breath as soon as the words were uttered. As if they just slipped out of his mouth without him having the chance to stop them, he knew he could never take them back. He was standing still, frozen, hands balled into fists. Blue eyes stared back at her trying to make sense of what he just said. Thunder persisted and the rain began to fall, he tore his eyes away from hers and stared at the darkness instead. His jaw clenched.

No, I don't. It didn't make any sense to her. After all they've been through, after all the time they spent together, was it all just waste?, just a past time? Juvia tried finding an excuse to this but found none. It was juvenile for her to think about those things because she knew him better than that and he wasn't someone who'd use her so easily, but still what other possibilities could there be? She knew her feelings for him ran deep. She could say she loved him even. No man had ever compared to him in her heart, but Juvia didn't want to say the words knowing that the feeling wasn't mutual at least that was what he'd declared. She deserved better than that.

"No, no I didn't mean it, I'm sorry, I'm sorry" she waited for him to say, but nothing came out of his mouth. He just stood there without another word, looking at anything but her, shifting his weight from leg to leg. She refused to believe, but what else could she do but step back and honor his word. She didn't want to be a nuisance, always pushing her feelings unto him and being too persistent. She wasn't like that, but she also wasn't a quitter. Giving him more time to take back his answer, she waited till she knew he wouldn't.

"Okay" She finally said weakly. Then the tears fell, burning her cheeks. The damage had been done. She wiped them off vigorously with the back of her hands, thankful for the darkness around them but still she knew that he could see her pale face, a perfect contrast to the blackness. Another lightning bolt, No, he's watching, don't look, please don't look she thought. She didn't want his pity, not even a speck of it. A second later she turned away and ran out of the room, stepping out into the dark street. Juvia ran and ran without a certain destination in mind, pumping her legs as fast as she could. She just wanted to escape, to get as far away as possible from that dark room, with the wind whipping her hair behind her, rain drenching her from head to toe and brought goose bumps to her arms. She ran till she couldn't. She ran till her legs gave out under her.