A Lapse of Memory
Chapter 6
by Contrail

Disclaimer: Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima, and is being used without permission. No profit is being made from this story.

Juvia was surprised when Levy and a fidgety Gray approached her with news of a possible cure for her blocked memory. She'd been trying to follow Erza's advice to give Gray space, so she hadn't seen much of him lately. She listened seriously as the procedure was explained to her, and gave Gray a considering look after she understood what his role was to be. Sharing memories and emotions like that sounded… kind of intimate, to be honest. Erza had told her that they were close before, but was this something he'd really be comfortable doing?

He still looked uncomfortable, but met her gaze with a steady one of his own. "I want to help you with this," he told her seriously. Looking into his eyes, she could tell how sincerely he meant what he said. It surprised her how reassuring she found that, helping her to make up her mind about going through with this possible cure.

"I'll do it." She reached forward and took Gray's hand in both of hers, giving him an appreciative smile. "Thank you for agreeing to do this. I know it can't be that easy, sharing such personal things with someone else."

He looked away, his cheeks a bit pink, but didn't pull his hand away. "You don't have to thank me," he muttered. "What kind of friend would I be if I didn't help you when you needed it?"

She didn't think he would've agreed to this for just any friend of his, though. That thought made her her cheeks feel a little hot and left an odd warmth in her chest that she didn't remember feeling before, but somehow felt familiar all the same. Juvia squeezed Gray's hand before letting go of it and turning towards Levy to start figuring out the details of the cure attempt.

It took a little while to get in touch with Meredy and get everything worked out, but eventually a time and place for the experiment was agreed on. Gray still avoided her for the most part, but the knowledge that she would, with any luck, soon have her memories back helped her accept his behavior with good grace. The agreed on location for them to meet with Meredy was a small wooden cabin belonging to Master Makarov, located a few hours walk outside of Magnolia. Juvia and Gray left the guild early in the morning on the scheduled day, walking quietly together towards their destination, each one lost in their own thoughts.

When they reached the cabin, they discovered that Meredy was already there. "Juvia! It's good to see you again, although I wish the circumstances were a bit better," she greeted them with a warm smile.

"I'm glad to see you, too," Juvia responded. "Have you and Jellal-san been well since we saw you last?"

"We've been as well as could be hoped for, given our circumstances." She then turned her attention away from Juvia to address the other person present. "Gray, about Ultear…"

"I know," he replied shortly, cutting Meredy off before she could continue.

"I see."

A tense silence reigned over the small group until Meredy turned and opened the door to the cabin. "Why don't we get started?"

As they entered, Juvia looked around at the interior. There was only a single room, furnished in a simple but comfortable fashion. Gesturing to a pair of wooden chairs, Meredy said, "Please sit down. This may take a while, after all."

Gray took one of the seats while Juvia sat down facing him, close enough that their knees almost touched. Now that it was almost time, she could feel anxiety creeping back up on her, unsettling her stomach. Apparently her bout of nerves was apparent in her expression, because Gray reached out and took one of her hands in his. "Don't worry, we've gone through something like this before. Even if it doesn't work, it won't do anything bad to us."

She nodded and gave him a small smile. If it weren't for his efforts to reassure her, Juvia might have changed her mind about going through with this. Taking a deep breath, she looked at Meredy and said, "We're ready when you are."

"Okay. Sensory Link!" Meredy gestured and in an instant markings appeared on her right wrist, forming chain links with a heart in the center of one of them. Glancing over at Gray, she saw that a matching set of markings had appeared on him as well. At the same time, she started to feel like her left hand was holding on to someone else's hand, even though it was resting in her lap. The extra sensations were weird, but something about the experienced seemed oddly familiar, even though she couldn't remember having felt something like that before.

"It worked, I can feel what you're feeling. So, what next?" Juvia asked, a mixture of excitement and nervousness in her tone.

"We try to strengthen the connection, I guess. It's not like anyone's really tried to do this before, so…" Gray answered her, shrugging uncertainly.

"Maybe touching more would help?" she suggested shyly, offering her other hand to him.

"It's worth a shot." He grasped her hand and pulled her towards him a bit, leaning forward so their foreheads would touch. Feeling her cheeks warm a bit, but uncertain of which of them was responsible for the sensation, she closed her eyes and tried to concentrate on what was being transferred across the link to her from Gray.

Gradually, she started to feel emotions get passed through the link between them along with the physical sensations. There was uncertainty that echoed her own, but with it came a strong determination as well and an underlying current of care for her. Perceiving these eased her own anxiety about whether this would work or not. They'd managed to get this far, at least, so if they were able to continue to deepen the link… In response to her lessening uncertainty, she could feel his determination strengthen, and then she was looking through his eyes at a vision of their shared past.

He'd found her on the giant robot that Phantom Lord's headquarters had turned into. Juvia could feel his determination as he faced her down, and then his surprise when she turned to leave without fighting him. Her past self trapped him in her Water Lock, and she could feel the pain he'd felt when a partially healed wound reopened. As the memory of their first meeting progressed and Gray keep switching between determination to beat her and bafflement at her behavior, what was happening in the memory became increasingly familiar to her as the fog around her memory of it slowly cleared away as the spell cast upon her gradually lost its hold on it.

When Gray accidentally groped her, she was able to faintly recall her own feelings of embarrassment over what had happened alongside Gray's. And when the skies cleared above her for the first time, the last of the haziness was swept away from that memory and she felt the rush of wonder that had accompanied that sight again. Then he'd looked at her with a smile, looking just so… Oh, her hearted had melted at the sight of it.

They moved on to his next memory, of their second significant encounter. He'd been really surprised to see Juvia again. She guessed he must not have expected to see her again. But he soon calmed down, at least until Simon attacked them. She was touched by the concern he'd felt for her safety, even though he'd barely known her back then. And then he'd gotten so worried and angry when Erza was taken, he really cared about her. Because of that and everything else that was going on, he was preoccupied during most of the memory, but she could feel that he'd truly appreciated her help then nonetheless. It also seemed to her that her memory of these events came out of the fog a little more easily than for the previous one.

The memories continued on. Juvia joining the guild (and his genuine happiness that she'd done so), their first mission together and Gray scolding her for trying to do it all herself, participating in the Fantasia parade together, him seeing her around the guild as she continued to settle in as a member of Fairy Tail, going on the occasional mission together and becoming friends… It was becoming easier for her to remember - with each bit of memory she recovered, the spell's hold on the rest weakened.

They moved on through the S-Class exam and all the chaos that ensued during it, waking up to discover seven years had passed, trying to readjust to their new situation, training for and participating in the Grand Magic Games, the Eclipse gate and the dragons… And that was when she felt the last vestiges of the spell cast upon her memories fade away, like fog evaporating under morning sunlight. A surge of happiness shot through her, and Gray pulled back enough to get a good look at her in response. "Juvia…?" he asked, a hint of a hopeful smile on his lips.

She nodded, tears starting to gather in her eyes. "My memories… They're all back."

Meredy grinned at the two of them from where she had been sitting on a bed watching them. "That's great! I'll end the link, then." The markings quickly faded from their wrists as she walked over to Juvia and gave her a brief hug. "I'm really glad this worked. I'll wait outside while you two recover." She was out the door of the cabin soon after that, leaving them alone.

Gray stood up from his chair and started to offer Juvia a hand up but frowned a little when he noticed she'd started to cry. "…You okay there?" he asked cautiously.

"Yes, it's just…" She tried to blink the tears away, but they wouldn't stop. Between having experienced all the emotions from Gray's memories and the feelings stirred up by her own memories returning, it was all too much for her. Leaving her chair, she wrapped her arms around a startled Gray and buried her face in one of his shoulders. At first, he stood there stiffly, not sure how to respond, but she felt him slowly relax and then his arms wrapped around her gently.

Juvia wasn't sure how long they stood together like that, but her tears had stopped and she'd calmed down a bit by the time Gray quietly said to her, "I'm glad you can remember me now." Tilting her head back so she could look at him, she couldn't help smiling a little when she saw the blush on his cheeks.

Starting to feel a bit self-conscious about how she'd impulsively hugged him, she released her hold from around his waist and moved backwards a little, prompting him to let go of her as well. She immediately missed the comforting feeling of having Gray's arms around her, but she squashed her desire to hug him again. Doing that really wouldn't fit with what she wanted to say to him, after all. Eyes downcast, she took in a deep breath before speaking. "While I couldn't remember you, what I learned about my behavior around you was rather embarrassing. And when you shared your memories with me, I could feel how much I embarrassed you sometimes. So I will try to do a better job of containing my affection for you in the future, even though it will be difficult."

"Hey." Juvia looked up at the sound of his voice, and saw him giving her a small, reassuring smile. "You're right, I do find some of the things you do embarrassing. But… it'd be weird if you just stopped trying to do things like that. The way you're so open about how you feel, that's part of you, isn't it? So, don't try too hard, and I'll try to tell you when you do something I dislike, okay?"

She nodded, a smile forming on her face. "Okay, Gray-sama." She took a moment to stretch - sitting there for so long had left her feeling a little stiff. "Juvia thinks she's recovered enough, and Meredy is waiting, so…" Turning to leave, she took a couple of steps towards the cabin door, only to halt in her tracks when she felt Gray's hand clasp her wrist. Looking back towards him, she questioned, "Gray-sama?"

Gray had a serious and somewhat uncomfortable expression on his face. He was a little flushed, and wouldn't meet her eyes. "Juvia. I… That is, you're-" His eyes widened in surprise when she reached out and pressed a finger to his lips, halting his failing attempts to put his thoughts into words and causing them both to blush a little.

Quickly retracting her hand, she said, "Gray-sama doesn't have to tell Juvia what he thinks of her. Not until he's certain about what he wants to say, anyway. The way things are now is fine until then, isn't?" Maybe if the situation had been different, she'd have been dying to hear what he had to say, to get some idea of whether he loved her or not. But she'd just felt what he felt about her while he was sharing his memories with her. She'd felt how he'd come to care for her more and more over time. How confused his feelings about her were a lot of the time. It explained a lot about how he behaved, really. So she'd remain by his side, waiting with hope for the day he'd return her love with his own.

He looked startled by her response, as if he hadn't expected her to say something like that at all, then gave her a smile that looked relieved, and yet… maybe a little disappointed? "Yeah, you're right, they're fine."

Smiling, she waved a finger at him. "But don't think this means Juvia has given up on trying to make you love her."

Gray snorted at that, rolling his eyes with a smirk. "Of course not. Now, let's go." Resting a hand on her back, he guided her towards the door.

I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed, followed, or even just read this story to the end. :^) And yes, this is the end of this particular story. I do have ideas in mind for possible sequels, though, and other ideas for Gruvia stories in general, so I hope you all will look forward to them.