Complications For Me & You (Gruvia)

Ch. 15

"What brings you here?" Gray asked his lifelong rival and friend.

"Same reason you're here, Juvia."

They both paused.

"But, I have something else I wanna bring up."

The bartender brought Lyon his scotch. Lyon grabbed the glass and chugged it all down in a single gulp then slammed the glass on the bar table. 

"Why, why didn't you come get me to fight Deliora with you instead of Juvia? What in your head said that Juvia should go on this mission with you, risking her life like that?"

Lyon paused holding up his empty glass, the bartender took it to refill it for him. 

Gray didn't answer.

"Why did nobody tell me he was here again?"

The bartender returned with a full glass of scotch for Lyon.

He gulped it all down again,

"Answer me Gray."

Gray still stood silent. 

Lyon started to grow angrier,

"Answer me dammit!"

Gray took a sip of his drink. 

Lyon slammed his glass on the floor, quickly grabbing Gray's collar. 

"Because of you, Juvia is unconscious and has been for weeks! You and your selfishness, you always have been! So what? Was getting Ur killed not enough for you too?!" Lyon shouted in his face.

Gray punched him in the face, sending Lyon to the floor. Lyon picked himself up and punched Gray in the stomach. Gray pushed Lyon against the wall.

"You have no right to say that Lyon! You act like I do it on purpose like I meant for them to get hurt!" Gray yelled back.

Lyon kept quiet.

"Gramps wanted to keep you out of it! He told me that himself, and Juvia  wanted to go with me, I didn't force her. Enough with giving me shit, I tried my damnest to protect her. You really think I wanted that for her, and even for Ur?" Gray continued yelling at Lyon. 

Lyon saw Gray actually tearing up,
"I get it, I keep losing the people close to me, it's my fault. I don't need another lecture when I can't even get away from my own thoughts!"

Gray let go of his grip of Lyon, getting him up off the wall. He walked over to the bar and threw the money on the table.

"Gray!"

Gray exit the bar and slammed the door behind him. 

Lyon shouted again,
"Gray get back in here!"

"Gray!!"

Gray walked back down the road and away from the bar. He felt his eyes start to water as he tried to hold them in.  The ice mage walked around aimlessly through town, the sun starting to rise higher in the sky. The cold air still blew in Magnolia as Gray continued his misguided path. Meanwhile, Erza was cleaning up  her apartment, she grabbed her duster and started dusting around her room. She started with her lamps and continued to her bookshelf.

"I don't think I will have time to dust my armor today..." Erza said speaking to herself.

She continued to clean as she saw her duster gather up the dust between the feathers. Erza looked back at her hard work. She yawned lightly and went back into her bedroom, starting to undress. The scarlet haired mage turned the shower on and stepped in. The steam started to fog the mirror as she shampooed her long locks. She stepped out and grabbed her towel, changing back into her lounging clothes.  She wore her gym shorts and her Fairy Tail branded t-shirt. Erza grabbed a mug and placed it under the coffee machine. She clicked the button and the vanilla hazelnut blend poured into the cup. Erza stretched as she grabbed the cup of coffee in her hands and sipped out of it.

"I ruined her life. I never should have even made contact with her, invited her to Fairy Tail, saved her life before. All the pain she is going through now, would not be with her if it wasn't for me. All I ever do is hurt, all I ever do is destroy lives."

Gray walked in front of Juvia's apartment complex, he looked up at her window, where she was not there. He imagined her waving at him through the glass, how she would blow kisses at him and run downstairs to walk to the guild with him. He couldn't hold back anymore.

Erza walked to her window with her coffee and took another sip. She peered through the window to see the ice mage in the street.
"Gray?"

She saw him fall to his knees on the ground. She suddenly dropped her mug, causing it to shatter on the floor. Erza ran outside in her slippers and lounge wear. She knelt down to Gray's level.

"Gray? Gray what are you doing out in the cold, and this early in the morning?" Erza questioned. 

She propped him up on her shoulder.

"You smell of alcohol."

Gray finally let the tears falls down his face as he whispered lightly,
"I ruined her life, and Juvia's too."

Erza continued to carry him up the stairs to her apartment. She helped to sit him on the couch in her room and sat next to him. The ice mage continued to cry as he laid his head on her shoulder. Erza gently hugged him, her cheek touching his forehead.

"You're running a fever..."