Tomb Of Time And Destiny: A Fairy Tail Fanfic

Part Twenty-three

But then Gray entered the courtyard on his steed. He rode over to Ava, and she rose and prettily handed him her hand, which he took and kissed. Gray never so much as glanced in my direction, which was a good thing because if he had he would have seen me hunched over, breathing heavily, and with my shoulders shaking slightly.

"I'm sorry, Juvia," Lucy whispered urgently, laying her hand gently on my arm. "But you need to pull yourself toge-" Lucy frowned when she was that Erza was also hunched over with her shoulders shaking. She shot a questioning glance to Levy, who looked as confused as she was.

"Are...are you laughing?!" They whisper-screech after they lean closer to us.

I fight back more giggles as I weakly shake my head in denial while wiping the tears from my face. "N-no," I clear my throat along with Erza.

"Of course not." Erza said after a moment when we finally regained control of ourselves. For about five seconds that is. All it took was my snort to send us into another fit of giggles.

"Okay, so Juvia and Erza are officially broken..." Lucy muttered while sweat dropping.

"I knew we shouldn't have stayed here so long." Levy muttered.

"N-no," I said, waving my hands as if to calm them down. "It's just that they always have these little corny chivalry moments that remind us of those ridiculous shows and movies you make us watch."

"We honestly didn't think they actually did things like that." Erza finished for me, still catching her breath. I had to bite my lip to prevent myself from laughing again. Levy sighed and excused herself to go to the bathroom and Erza accompanied her. Ever since the Bora incident she didn't want neither Levy or Lucy alone at any time while he was near.

Coughing, I adjust myself on my seat, wincing a bit from my wound, just as Gray was lowering his helmet. Was it my imagination or did I just see his eyes slide over to me for but a half second? No, impossible. I really need to stop imagining these things. We're about to leave after all.

His eyes were set dead ahead then, studying no one else but his opponent.

"Tell me when it is over," I whispered to Lucy, feeling another wave of nausea. The flag came down, the riders urged their horses into a gallop, and I closed my eyes.

I heard the pounding of hooves and then, impact. The crowd cheered. I peeked up and took half a breath when I saw Gray still on his horse. He was looking at Ava, and I looked there too. But she was staring at me, eyes wide and then narrowing in suspicion. Wah! Oh, nonono now she suspects! I looked over to Lucy.

"A cup of water," I whispered, lifting a hand to my head as another wave of dizziness passed through me.

She rose and then hesitated.

I blinked and dragged my eyes to look where she was looking. To my great surprise, Gray was there in front of me, still on his horse, helmet off, hair blowing about in the breeze.

"Juvia, are your alright?" he asked, his brows furrowed in concern.

Fighting back a blush, I smile weakly and say, " Fine, I'm fine."

He frowned and opened his mouth, but luckily the archery round was announced at that moment.

"Raise the handkerchief if you need to leave," Gray said, repeating our earlier agreement, then trotted off to the end of the courtyard.

Lucy was there then with my wate and I drank, glad to have something to do. I felt the heavy gaze of the crowd on me, assessing, wondering. Gray had paid homage to his bride-to-be, but in the end, as victor, it was me he had gone to. I silently cursed Gray for doing this to me. For confusing me. I cursed my sick stomach. If only I'd kept calm, had not shifted, I might not have caught his eye....