He stood, unable to comprehend how beaten and bruised Juvia looked.

She lay sleeping on the infirmary bed as he looked at her from the door. There were many casualties in the battle with Alvarez, but Juvia was one of the worst they'd brought in so far. She had taken a hit for him. Why? He'd never really understand.

The pair had been standing in the midst of the battlefield, just managing to take out one of the Spirrigan 12 with a last resort unison raid and they were almost out of magic. Using the ice devil slayer magic was definitely more effective but it did take up far more magic.

One of Zerefs lackeys, he had no idea who, had fired a magic laser pistol at them and it had a blast slightly weaker than that of the jupiter cannon. He never even saw it coming. Not until Juvia used the remainder of her magic to pull up a water shield. He had immediately froze it over for extra defense. It wasn't enough though, and they both knew it.

Before he could pull them both out the way the ice had cracked and Juvia had already jumped in front of him to take the main force of the attack. He was still quite damaged, but nowhere near how much Juvia was.

Her hair still had blood in it - he wasn't sure if it was hers or his but he hoped it was the latter. Her stomach had a massive scar near the left side in a crescent moon shape. It was covered in bandage but the bloodstains told him all he needed to know. Her legs were covered in scratches and bruises aswell has her arms, some worse than others.

His hair covered his eyes. He usually blamed himself for things like this and he still was. He knew Juvia would scold him for doing so because it was her choice, but it was because of him that she made it.

The infirmary was empty as most of the guild were out celebrating or looking out for civilians that needed to help. He slowly walked over to her beside, pulling a stool along with him. He sat on it and watched her breathe in and out. He would've held her hand but was scared incase it hurt her.

It'd been three days since then and Gray wasn't doing much. He went on one short job within Magnolia to repair a broken roof which only took him a few hours. He wanted to be there when she woke up. He promised an answer and she was going to get one. At the moment he was sitting at the bar drinking a cold glass of water. It was just after 11 o'clock in the morning and Cana had already drank 4 barrels worth of alcohol, not that he was surprised.

He had checked in the infirmary an hour ago to see how everyone was doing. Natsu had gotten out the day before since his magic took a while to return. Freed, Bickslow and Evergreen left a few minutes prior but they still had a few battle scars. Bickslows mask had broken, Freeds arm was in a cast, and Evergreens neck had a small scar across it similar to Natsus.

Juvia still hadn't woken up. Her injuries had mostly healed, minus a few scratches and the scar on her stomach. At least it wasn't bleeding anymore. Wendy and Chelia - who was still there unlike Lyon - had been by her side most of the time making sure she got enough fluids and good care.

He was worried. And he wasn't going to deny it. After living with her for half a year he did learn a lot about her. Her lonely childhood in the orphanage, Her making hundreds of teru teru bosu dolls to keep the rain away, He knew all her little quirks, The way she'd put on her sock and shoe on her right foot then the sock and shoe on the left, the way she'd apologise to the floor when she fell over, everything, and it just made her who she was, even when she caught his stripping habit, Juvia would always be Juvia.

Erza Scarlet elegantly made her way downstairs with Crime Sorciere in tow - they had eventually joined in the battle against Alvarez. Meredy passed her on the stairs and bounded over to Gray.

"Juvia is awake!" She exclaimed happily. "She's asking to she you"

He breathed a sigh of relief. Juvia was okay.

"I'll head up then. Have you already seen her?" Gray asked.

"Yeah, she woke up as I was about to leave so I spoke to her until these guys-" She siad, pointing to the former Oracion Seis members behind her "- came and told me we had to go."

"Okay. Bye Meredy, and you guys" Gray replied getting up from the bar stool.

"Bye Gray!" Meredy smiled and the rest of their rag-tag group waved.

The raven haired mage headed up the stairs and down the corridor to the infirmary.

He stopped just before the door and took a deep breath before heading inside. When he did the first thing he noticed was Juvias hair. All the blood had been washed away and it was blue once again. Hearing my footsteps, she turned her head. Her eyes lit up when she saw him.

"Gray-sama!" She smiled.

Gray headed over to the bed with a small smile on his face.

"I'm glad you're awake. But you shouldn't have done that for me, I didn't deserve it."

"It doesn't matter whether you think you don't deserve it, I think you do." Juvia protested, wincing slightly as she put pressure on one of her wounds.

"Fine. But please tell me before you do something like that. When you weren't waking up it scared me a bit. I didn't want anyone else to die."

"I promise I will Gray-sama."

"Thank you Juvia. For everything."

Juvia wiped a small tear from her eye.

"Yes." He suddenly said

"Yes what?" Juvia was visibly confused.

"I said I'd give you an answer. It's yes."

And that's my Gruvia one-shot. I've been so determined to write one since he said he'd give her an answer and they sorta became my going obsession. I might continue this at a later date exploring their relationship but I'm not sure that. Please do leave feedback, I'd really appreciate it!