FAiRYTAiL ONESHOTS; you request

Together {{ Gray & Juvia

Couple: Gray Fullbuster and Juvia Lockser

Scenario: Gray gets seriously injured whilst out on a mission, and winds up back in Magnolia hospital. Juvia goes to visit him.

Requested by: YunizonReido

- - - - - { together } - - - - -

Juvia was the first to see him. He started off as a shape, a single blurry mass in the dusty light of twilight. As the shadowy figure approached, it became more and more distinct. It was now he.

And the he was Gray Fullbuster. Limping, clutching his side. His eyes were the eyes of a beggar; desperate, weary, melancholic.

Juvia felt as if she had transcended feeling and was merely observing her body on auto-pilot; she did not choose to scream his name and run to his aid, it just happened. She did not consciously make any decisions on what to do. Something deep in her heart was directing her body. She ran to his side, let him collapse in her arms and quickly escorted him to the hospital.

"...Juvia." He coughed out before his eyes closed, curling into himself like a frightened child, allowing himself to be carried away from harm. Juvia filled with conflicting emotion; worry that this was perhaps his last word, and happiness that if it was, it was her name, and that love would be on his lips.

H er thoughts were not centered on her own emotion, but on his. Something haunting hung in his words, something that she would never forget. "Juvia" was all he said, but he spoke volumes in that one word. He said it so surely, with not one ounce of doubt. It was not posed as a question; there was no uncertainty and no hesitation. It was an answer, in such a tone as to prove the truly axiomatic nature of their response. It was a conclusion, long awaited, and bringing peace.

- - - at the hospital, several days later - - -

Gray's eyes opened so suddenly it startled his patient admirer. Juvia couldn't form a coherent sentence, just made a variety of squeaks interspersed with "Gray-sama!" and other exclamations of surprise and relief.

"Hey," he forced out in a raspy voice. A flash of pain flitted across his body as he became more and more aware of his surroundings. Only his basic sensations were returning, and slowly - he was entirely lacking in memory. How had he gotten here? "Juvia," Gray tried to start the sentence. He had to close his eyes to deal with the stab of pain he felt in his side.

"Gray-sama, please, don't speak!" The bluenette's voice was trembling with sadness. Through tired eyes he saw her, biting her lip in a failing effort to stop the formation of tears in her eyes. Juvia took a breath and gave him a small, bittersweet smile. "It is alright, Gray-sama. You were on a mission and got hurt, but you are okay now, thank goodness. Take it slow," she encouraged, placing a small and pale hand on his arm. Gray nodded, nearly imperceptible, enjoying the cool feeling of her hand on his skin. "Okay," he said to no one in particular.

Juvia and Gray sat in quiet for a few minutes. He was trying to adjust to the waves of pain flowing through his body. She was caught between trying to adjust to watching him adjust to pain and admiring his strength in her usual way.

"Juvia is overjoyed that you're okay, Gray-sama."

He fell asleep to the soft murmur of her melodic voice and the humming of machines.

- - - later - - -

He faded in and out of sleep. He woke up for a few seconds at a time. Every time he saw Juvia, watching him intently, sometimes singing softly, sometimes dabbing at his forehead with a cooling wet cloth. A few times she was using a communication lacrima to contact the others.