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Periwinkle Year

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Epilogue

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The seasonal snowflakes scattered in the sky, falling like feathers until reaching the white ground with ease, as if they had finally found a place to call home. Gray inhaled and exhaled the cold air with a contented breath, smiling when the hand he was holding within his own began to pull.

"Gray, look. There's a lake over there." She turned and looked at him, mouth hidden behind the collar of her coat. She smiled. "Do you feel like going for a swim?"

Gray blinked, glancing at the lake Juvia had mentioned. "Hm, Juvia, the whole thing is covered in what's probably a ten-inch thick layer of ice."

She shrugged, tugging at his hand a all the same. "So? That's not a problem."

Letting her drag him near the edge of the lake, Gray scoffed. "You're such a weirdo. Swimming in -30 degree weather?"

Juvia laughed a little, the sound warm to his ears. "Yeah. It's not like it'd be a problem for us, now would it?"

As Juvia let go of his hands to place her palms on the surface of the ice, Gray gave in with a laugh. "Guess not."

He watched as Juvia worked her magic with her hands; the ice starting to thin under her touch, spreading in a circle until clear winter water came into view.

"See?" She asked with a side grin as she turned around to face him, then begin unclothing herself, unbuttoning her coat one button at a time. "I told you I could melt the ice."

Gray shook his head as his smile widened. "Yeah," he murmured. "I guess you can."

After undressing himself all the way down to only his shorts and Juvia to her under-dress, they both stepped into the polar water, hand in hand and laughing as they did so. The cold was something that couldn't bother them, quite the opposite, actually.

Gray stood in the water, deep to the waist, facing Juvia. He took hold of her hand and studied her skin, so slender, pale and flawless. Moving his gaze to her face and looking in her eyes, he was reminded of everything they had went through together. All the laughs, the tears, the aches, and the pleasures. The snowflakes continued peacefully falling around them, barely making a sound. It was like a fairy tale.

"I love you," he heard himself whispering.

Juvia didn't move, not at first. For a while, nothing broke their eye contact, and time seemed to flow differently, creating moments just for them. Surrounded by water and ice, it was like a fairy tale. She squeezed his hand, feeling the roughness of his skin between her fingers, and she looked deep, deep into his eyes.

"I love you, too."

A/N: Aaand there you go folks! The official end to Periwinkle Year! Can't believe it's taken me 6 years to finish writing it, but I'm still glad I saw it through the end! Thanks for all of you dear little readers who stuck with me until the final chapter.

[Something I wanted to mention regarding the way I wrote this story, I don't know if everyone noticed it and I thought it was relevant to point it out. At the beginning Juvia refers to herself in the third person almost every time she speaks, and obviously calls Gray 'Gray-sama'. As the story goes on and she gains confidence in being herself, she begins referring to herself as 'I' much more often. In the end, she stops referring to herself in the third person. In the end she also learns to call Gray by his first name only.]

Please let me know all your thoughts!

I was thinking of starting another Gruvia story, given that this one was my only multi-chap one. I had the idea for a VERY different take on Gruvia, an AU with more mature and dark themes, so let me know if any of you would be interested.

Love,

|Death and Berry|