This Time [Fairytail Fanfic]

3: Erza to the Rescue

As time continues to flow, Juvia hardly talked nor spend her time with him after the sudden change of hers or so they called 'the rebirth of Juvia'.

And as times goes by, Gray started to be TOO quiet, and all of his friends are quite aware of that, but they choose to not meddle cause it looks like a personal problem, and a normal friend would respect that...... well Fairy tail isn't normal...

Everyone knew that the two of them changed, but they never knew why. There were times when the Team Natsu would try to ask Gray about it, but Gray was much more stubborn than he was before, which causes Natsu to be annoyed to him, which would end up with Natsu punching him on the face.

And sometimes, Mira and Lisanna would try to ask about it from Juvia but just like Gray, she was, too, stubborn and would usually say 'it was nothing' or 'its not a big deal' and would always change the topic.

Gray would still watch Juvia from a far, she was indeed minding her own business but that never stop her from feeling the stare that she would sometimes receive from Gray. And to keep her attention away from his stare, she would be keeping herself busy, like helping the bar with Lisanna and Mira, going to a solo quest, or training herself.

But Erza had enough, she called the two to discuss about the sudden change of the two. She took the place that Gray despised the most, unknowing to Erza, the place she took the two where the same place it all started.

Gray was indeed annoyed and visible uncomfortable with it and so was Juva, but unlike Gray, she tend to keep the uncomfortable feeling to herself, she tends to look strong, calmed and had moved on, when the truth was the opposite of it.

She wanted to move on from him, she wanted to be away from him, she wanted to be an independent mage, she doesn't want to fall in love with him anymore, she refuse to make eye contact with him, for she knows the consequences for doing so, she knew very well that if she looked at him in the eyes once more, she wouldn't be able to stop herself from falling in love once more.

They were cut from their own train of thoughts as they heard Erza cleared her throat to gain their attention, in which she indeed had.

"What happened to the two of you? Why do the both of you started to avoiding each other? What causes all of this? Don't you both know that all of us, the members of Fairy tail, are all concern for the both of you?" She started bombing them with so many questions as the two was once again zoned out.

"E-Erza-san, would you mind slowing down. Juvia can't keep up with your questions" Juvia said as she tried to stop Erza from blabbering questions in which they could never answer due to the abnormal speed.

"I apologize, but what happened to the two of you?" She asked as her toned suddenly became serious, telling them that she wanted a proper reason to be answered.

Due to the question, none of the two have spoken as they both stared at the ground, clearly not planning on answering the question.

They both don't want to bring up the event that occurred back then, Juvia wanted to speak, but no words came out of her mouth, because she herself asked this.

'Does she have the right to be the one who would blab about the thing that happened back then?'

While Gray have no intention on saying anything, cause this would haunt him once more, ever single moment, his mind would randomly remind him about what happened back then, it was like his mind wouldn't let him sleep in the night without reminding him about the selfish decision that he had made.

Erza could tell the difference between the two's quietness, so she called the one who have no intention on telling anything, she called the one who started everything, she called Gray.

"Gray, would you mind staying here for a bit?" She asked as she eyed him telling him that she wouldn't take a 'no' for an answer. And with no choice, he nod, after a long sigh.

"Juvia, would you mind leaving me and Gray alone?" She asked the azure colored hair girl in which she kindly agreed.

The two of them, Gray and Erza, watch Juvia walking away but they didn't miss the sigh of relief Juvia made after a few distance of walking.

They can both clearly tell that she was indeed uncomfortable by the atmosphere earlier, while Gray can tell that she also doesn't want to be there anymore, which he can definitely relate to.

"Now that it's just the two of us, would you mind telling me everything?" She started a conversation, but alas, once more, he has no intention on speaking in which she find it annoying.

"~sigh~ You know Gray, here in Fairy tail, we tend to help each other out, whether its a small or a big problem, so please stop trying to keep all of your problems to yourself" she reminded Gray, he felt like some of the weight in his shoulder was starting to disappear as he decided to tell her the reason, but not entirely.

As he continue on telling her about what happened, she just watch him with both concern and a bit disappointment. She could clearly tell that he wasn't proud nor delighted with the choice that he had made. She can tell that he was hurt, mad at himself, and also disappointed at himself.

She could really tell that he regret everything, but alas, she couldn't do anything, for what's done is done.

When he finished explaining, telling her everything, she could see a few tears flowing out of his eyes, but choose not to mention it.

"How does it feel? To let that burden off of your heart?" She asked as she wanted to know.

"I feel a bit okay, but not entirely" he admitted.

"That's why you shouldn't keep all of your problems to yourself, cause if you do, the more your heart would ache due to regret and sorrow. That what your friends are here for, Gray. You can't just push them away and choose to be alone whenever you have a problems, we're all concern about you, you know" she said.

"It's true that what you've done was quite selfish and a bit dumb, but you already knew that you were wrong, at least this time, you've decided to talk it all out instead of hiding it from all of your friends" she continued.

"So what are you going to do now?" She asked to the black haired ice mage, cause she was indeed curious on what he would do from now on.

"To be honest, I don't know" he said in sorrow as he once again stared at the floor.

"This time, take my advice Gray" Erza suggested, "This time, since Juvia has no intention on going back the way it was, why don't you make a brand new one, become her friend once more, not just watching her from a far, you kinda became a stalker you know" she said with a small grin, causing the poor ice mage to blush madly.

'Was I really staring at her that long?! And everyone knew about it?!'

He watch as his friend, Erza started to walk away while waving, but stopped in a few distance and yelled, "Good luck, Gray!! And wear some clothes!!" which causes the ice mage to look under him, and he was indeed half naked.

"Where's my clothes?!"