Twisted Fate

This is all my fault, Gray thought to himself, clutching the bouquet of pastel flowers. They were mostly blue, her favorite color. Gray Fullbuster had never seen a more beautiful color in his life. She was supposed to have a happy ending, not an ending as terrible as this…

"Gray-sama!" she called out, running towards him, waving an arm over her head to catch his attention better. "Gray-sama!"

"Oh, hello, Juvia," he answered, stopping in his tracks. He was on his way home from the guild.

"Gray-sama, Laxus-san said you do not like the attention Juvia gives you. Is this true?"

"I, uh, I don't mind it."

"Would you prefered it if Juvia stopped?" she asked, clutching her purse and watching the ground.

"Juvia, I just don't think I'm a good match for you. I'm sorry."

"B-but Gray-sama got rid of Juvia's rain…"

"I'm glad I helped, Juvia… but I don't want to ruin our friendship."

Juvia hung her head in disappointment and defeat. "Y-yes, Gray-sama. Juvia will leave you alone now." Juvia turned away from him and sulked home.

"Face it, Gray. She's dead."

"No!" Gray snapped. "She can't be dead! They never found a body!"

"Because there was an explosion, you fucking idiot. There won't be a body. She was blown to bits."

"Shut up, Laxus," Gray snapped. He turned to Lucy and Natsu. "I'm going out and searching tomorrow. Do you want to come with me?"

Natsu bit his lip and Lucy gave a sad smile as a tear rolled down her cheek. "Sure, Gray. We'll look again. Right, Natsu?"

"Why do you keep insisting on looking?" Gajeel asked bitterly. Her death was hitting him hard, although he chose not to show it to anyone except for Levy. On the inside, in private, Gajeel Redfox was a disastrous mess from the loss of his best friend from Phantom Lord.

"I appreciate your help, Lucy," Gray told her, scowling at both Gajeel and Laxus as he walked out of the Guild hall.

"Why do you keep leading him on with false hopes, Lucy?" Natsu asked, looking up at her.

"It breaks my heart, Natsu… Gray obviously cares about her so much he's not going to give until we have something. Some proof that Juvia's actually gone."

"Lucy, we found her hat. Isn't that proof enough?"

"Natsu," Lucy snapped, tears forming in her eyes.

"Lucy…" he murmured, stunned. "I'm sorry… I didn't know you…"

She threw herself into his arms, sobbing. "I-I can't believe she's g-gone…"

"Maybe Gray just needs to realize that she's gone, like the rest of us here have."

"H-he feels responsible for her death."

Natsu didn't answer her. He just pulled her close to himself.

"Gray-sama?" Juvia inquired softly, clutching a teru teru boza doll in one hand. Ever since Gray had stated he just wanted to be friends, she found it more and more difficult to keep the rain at bay. Even so, she still managed to put on a smile for everyone in the guild. When the rain did become too much to keep back, however, she stood alone on the outskirts of town and cried until her tears fell dry and were no more.

"Oh, hey, Juvia. I was thinking-"

"No need, Gray-sama," she assured him. "Juvia knows. Juvia has decided to give Lyon-sama a chance. Thank you for helping Juvia with everything!"

"Oh, uh, sure, okay," Gray answered, stunned. He rubbed the back of his neck in frustration. Damn it, I waited too long.

"Are you okay, Gray-sama?" she asked, giving her head a small tilt.

"Just be careful with Lyon."

"But Juvia thought Lyon-sama and Gray-sama were friends."

"Well, we're not anymore," Gray mumbled, too quiet for her to hear.

Juvia turned with a half forced smile and went to join Lyon and a cafe.

Gray gave up searching after spending half a day in the ruins. "We don't even know why this place blew up," he growled lowly. "I'll kill the fucking bastard when we find him."

Lucy chewed her lip. "Gray?"

"I mean, they were obviously targeting her," he roared, punching a crumpled wall. "No one ever came here except for her, and even then she only came on certain days."

"G-Gray?"

He didn't hear her, punching the wall repeatedly, so much that his knuckles bled.

"Gray!" Lucy cried out, grabbing his elbow tightly. "Stop!"

Gray blinked, crumpling to the ground. "Fucking fate… This damn hurt! Lucy… i-is she really gone?" he asked, his eyes beginning to water, despite his best efforts to prevent the tears.

Lucy wrapped her arms around him, tucking his body against hers. "She may be...dead, but she's not really gone. She'll be in our hearts."

"Lucy Cliché Heartfilia…"

"Well, she's waiting for you on the other side."

Gray clenched his fists tightly. "More like waiting for Lyon…"

"What do you mean?"

Gray pulled away, slamming his fists into the ground. "Well, she was fawning all over him, and-"

"Did you really think she could ever move on from you?"

"Y-you mean she didn't? Then why was she prancing around with Lyon?"

"Gray Fullbuster, you idiot, Juvia never stopped loving you, even when she was spending time with Lyon. She would still cry herself to sleep on some creepy Gray pillow. She just figured you were happy with things how they were and wanted to keep it that way.

"Well, I wasn't happy. I was a miserable wreck!"

"So was she, you ignorant asshole!" Natsu snapped, smacking him upside his head. "Lucy wasn't the one there with her. I was."

"Juvia, open the damn door!" Natsu demanded, pounding on it. Unlike Lucy, unfortunately, she locked her doors and her windows. He had no means of sneaking in.

"No!" she yelled. He could tell she had been crying by the sound of her voice and the smell of salt. However, he also smelt something metallic.

"You'd better open up, or I'll knock this door down, do you hear me?!"

There was no verbal response, but he heard some scuffling, then the tumblers click. Slowly, she opened the door for him. Her hair was a mess, the long waves tangled upon each other. She wore a sweater and sweatpants. Her eyes were red and puffy, and he could see her house was clearly a mess of tissues.

Natsu pushed his way in and gave a quick sniff. It smelt like a mixture of blood and rain.

"Juvia, are you okay?" He sniffed closely around her. "It smells like blood in here… fresh too."

"J-Juvia is fine, Natsu-san. Juvia is just having her cycle is all."

"No, it's not that. That smell is completely different from regular blood." Natsu grabbed her left arm and shoved the sleeve of her sweater up. "Juvia!" he growled.

"Natsu-san, it's hard for Juvia to go on," she blurted, collapsing to the ground. "G-Gray-samma… it's hard to be without him…"

"Get over that ass, Juvia."

"Juvia thinks that's easier said than done…"

"Whatever. You need to stop hurting yourself like this, do you understand?"

Juvia chewed on her lip. "Juvia knows… she just…"

"Juvia," Natsu sighed, "Gray'll come around. Just promise me you won't hurt yourself further, you got that?"

Juvia seemed to be internally battling herself before giving a defeated nod. "Juvia promises not to harm herself."

Natsu grinned. "That's the spirit! Now, do you have any ice cream we can share?"

Gray sat on her bed, adorned with many objects of himself. An addition was something he brought, a blue pillow shaped like a heart she had hand made for him. On the top, it had a Chibi picture of Juvia on it and his name, all hand stitched. He recalled that she admitted she had pricked her fingers many times, trying to get it just right for him.

He bowed his head lowly. "To whatever force there is out there, please return her to this world, like you did with Lisan-" Gray's eyes suddenly widened. He, clutching his pillow, rushed to Lucy's house.

"Gray?" she inquired. She didn't even have the heart to reprimand him from being almost completely nude.

"What if Juvia is just in Edolas, like Lisanna was?"

"Gray? Um… there was blood found and...and a chunk of flesh at the ruins earlier today… Levy confirmed that it was Juvia's. She's… she's not in Edolas."

"How does Levy know it's Juvia's?"

"She found a Mage. He performs medical magic… Juvia's…"

Gray hung his head. "Y-yes. I'm sorry for disturbing you."

"Would you like to come inside and have a drink or something to eat?" Everyone avoided using the word water since the explosion.

"No," Gray answered. "I'm busy. I have stuff to do." He turned, and left.

Juvia kept her word to Natsu. She even found a new hang out to be during the day, to avoid the hustle and bustle of her fellow guild members. It was a small, abandoned building next to the river. She felt it was perfect. That is, it was perfect. Until the Visitor came. She knew him. He wasn't in Fairy Tail and he held a grudge against her.

"Gray, let us in!" Lucy exclaimed. Losing her patience, she pulled out a bobby pin from her hair and picked the lock to Juvia's house. He spent more time there than anywhere. Along with Gray decorations, there were portraits painted of her family hanging around the place.

"Gray!" Natsu bellowed. "Get your sorry ass over here!"

Lucy furrowed her brows together and searched through the house. She found Gray curled up on Juvia's bed, clutching that heart pillow.

"Gray?" she asked softly. "Gray, how are you feeling? You want to go look through the rubble again?"

"What's the point?" he asked, his voice monotone. "We're not going to find her there."

"Gray? A-are you hungry?"

"No, go away?"

"Gray, get your sorry ass out of this damn bed," Natsu reprimanded.

Gray's gaze only flickered to him momentarily. "Go away, Natsu."

"God damnit, Gray. You aren't the only one hurting, don't you understand? Lyon drinks everyday now. Lucy cries everyday. Gajeel hardly ever smiles. He can barely muster enough strength together to comfort Levy." Natsu clenched his hands into fists. "I cry too. So does Erza. Hell, even Laxus barely smiles. So if you think you're special ice princess, news flash, you're not."

Gray pulled Juvia's blanket over his head. "Go away. Let me think."

"Let Juvia go!" she cried out. Jose had her pinned to the wall of her solitary shelter.

"You still haven't learnt how to talk correctly, have you? You're such an idiot, Juvia. A delectable idiot," Jose said with a smirk, pressing his mouth against her neck and trailing it down to her collarbone. "I'm taking you and Gajeel's girl back to New Phantom Lord's secret headquarters. And there's-"

"Phantom Lord was disbanded!"

Jose growled and gave her a harsh smack across her face. "Bitch, don't you fucking interrupt me!"

Juvia cried out and felt her face start to bruise.

"The men there will have their way with you after I get my fill."

"Get away from Juvia!" she exclaimed, kicking at him. "You will stay away from Juvia and Levy-chan!"

Jose grabbed her chin roughly. "How about you come with me quietly and I'll leave Gajeel's girl alone?"

Five minutes later, the place exploded.

Gray clutched the blue hat to himself. "You're really gone, aren't you, Juvia? I fucking hate myself for not telling you how I felt. Damn it… Why'd you have to go and fucking die on me, anyhow? Why'd you have to start dating Lyon once I realized how much I fucking loved you? This cursed world, with tormenting fate…" he held the hat closer before digging a hole near the stone that bore her name. "The flesh was burnt to ashes and spread into the river… other than that, this was all we could find of you… I hope it's enough to allow you to rest in peace."

Gray felt the tears and snot begin to flow down his face again. "Wait for me Juvia? I'll join you real soon… I promise."

Gray buried the hat and headed home. He grabbed a belt he never used and put it around his neck. He climbed on a chair and closed his eyes, momentarily imagining Juvia. "I'm coming to you, Juvia. Just wait, got it?" With that, he tied the other end of the belt to his ceiling fan and kicked the chair away.

AN: I used the five stages of grief as inspiration for this. I hope you enjoyed it, and I also wanted to say that if you want a continuation of this where they live happily ever after, I am more than happy to start one. However, if you're happy with this then I'm glad you enjoyed. Thank you for taking the time to read this.