Always and Forever (Sequel to 'If Only You Knew')

Chapter One - I Loved You Then And I Love You Now

Erza could feel it as she looked at him. She could feel the way he completed her--the way he was her missing half. The half she had lost as a child, when everything had been taken from her, snatched away, her parents' lives snuffed out like candles. She remembered the pain. How she had cried for days and refused to eat, drink, and sleep. She had lost her will to live. It was Jellal who had encouraged her to keep fighting. To fight for life, and to fight for love. But then he had hurt her, like everyone else she had ever let in. They all left her, her heart broken and bleeding out, without a second glance.

After that she had sealed away her heart, and she had hidden behind her armor. Her armor had become a part of her, for she could only rely on herself. But then Fairy Tail took her in. They dried her tears, and pieced together her shattered heart. And Gray...Gray had fixed her most of all. He had swooped in like an angel when she had needed him most, and had been her friend when she thought she had none. Twelve years...twelve years he's loved me, and I never knew...how could I be so blind? Erza silently cursed herself. But here he was...still here after everything...loving her as he always had. Erza knew it was time to let her armor fall away.

"Gray," Erza whispered.

"Yes?," he smiled at her.

Erza spoke in his ear, her words full of love and devotion. She said tender things, sweet things, broken things she knew he would understand. She said things she never thought she would say to anyone--her darkest secrets, her biggest fears. She told him everything, everything she wanted, everything she had. Things only the two of them would ever know. And when she was done, she had nothing left to hide, and she looked at him, and in his eyes she saw nothing but pure love, despite all her flaws, and every last wrong thing she had ever thought or done. And she knew, with her heart and her soul, that this was the man that she loved, and would love, forever.