//Warmest Place On Earth//
Requested by @yukifeari . I’m not sorry, to be honest XD. I really love all this Gruvia angst.
The frigid winds of the blizzard lacked any physical effect on Gray whatsoever, but he felt as though they pierced right past his skin, reaching his heart as icy tendrils of the vilest of poisons. His shuddering chest heaved twice and thrice, yet he felt as though he couldn’t breathe.
His fingers trembled as he lifted them before his face. His eyes wide and raw in denial. The crimson liquid tainting the pale of his skin was unmistakable; he’d seen it countless time, on the body of those he wished it less on.
Struggling to crane his neck to the side, Gray watched with building anxiety as the body of Juvia lay before him, a pool of her own blood gathering beneath her. He couldn’t quite believe what he saw as he rose from his spot, limping towards the mess of disheveled, azure hair on the ground.
Gray slowly crouched beside her, and his hand recoiled instantly as it made contact with her skin. There was no response, and Gray feared the worst. Incapable of holding his weight on the end of his foot, Gray let himself sit beside her. He winced at the pain that came momentarily before pushing it away.
Carefully grasping Juvia’s arms, Gray pulled, turning her body. His heart dropped at the sight of her face—blood oozed from not only her chest but her mouth, painting her lips a despised scarlet.
“J-Juvia,” Gray stuttered, swallowing the thick bile that rose in his throat. He gently nudged her, waiting for a response–any sign that life still burned in her. He received none, and panic began gripping his heart.
“Juvia, juvia,” He repeated, his voice desperate. “Please, please, wake up!”
Relief flooded Gray as Juvia’s eyes met his, frozen tears on his cheeks melted with his warm new ones.
“Thank god,” Gray cradled her body to his, breaking into a sob. “I thought I’d lost you, Juvia.”
The silence and sorrow he received from Juvia seized Gray’s felicity at once, and he brought a hand to her cheek.
“Juvia?” He asked, noting her behavior. “Is something the matter?”
Then, right before Gray’s eyes, Juvia’s lips curved into a smile that could rival the sun itself, yet felt as cold as a wasteland of ice.
“Juvia is so, so, happy,” She told him, her body rocking with her sobs. “Juvia will always remember you, Gray.”
“…Juvia?” Gray blinked, apprehensive. “What… what are you talking about?”
Juvia’s frail hand came to rest upon Gray’s chest, where his heart still beat. Serenity crossed Juvia’s features, her head coming to his shoulder. Instinctively, Gray placed a hand behind Juvia’s head to support her.
“Juvia should be sad,” She said, fingers rubbing a circle on Gray’s skin. “She should despise herself for being the reason of Gray’s near death. Yet…”
Gray watched, wide-eyed, as Juvia lifted her face to his, a teary smile parting her face.
“Yet Juvia feels so happy Gray would go this far for her. Juvia feels… Juvia feels loved.”
The words that left Juvia’s mouth were caring and tender. But why did Gray feel as if they were parting words—a definite goodbye. He didn’t like the feeling in the pit of his stomach.
Then, Juvia’s lips wavered for a second. It was so fast Gray thought he imagined it. But he didn’t. And he knew it. He simply didn’t want to believe it.
“And this,” Juvia said, her voice barely above a whisper as she pressed her hand to Gray’s heart. “Is everything Juvia could have asked for. This—the warmest place on earth is the best place juvia could have ever wished to die.”
The implication of Juvia’s words slammed into Gray as a hammer forging the blade of the gods, and he froze. It all registered. The wound on Juvia’s body, the blood still flowing unbound and the weakness of her body.
And Gray could do nothing.
All the times he’d pushed her away came back to mind. All the times he’d been grieving the death of a loved one and her warmth beside him, giving him the strength to move on. It had been what made him want to live.
The memories dizzied him, and he shook his head to focus once more.
“Juvia, no! Don’t talk like you’re going to d-die!” He brought her body to he again, embracing her with his heart bare. He felt Juvia’s arm tightening around his neck as they both hiccuped, crying in the embrace.
And like this he realized—this was his warmest place on earth for him, too.
“Gray,” Juvia’s failing voice spoke. “Juvia…” She broke into a pant. “Juvia loves…” With a steadying breath that had gray insides twisting, she murmured in his ear the words he never knew he yearned for until now. “I love you…”
Incapable of speaking, Gray could only close and open his mouth as it registered. By the moment he could move again, he was no longer in the warmest place on earth.
He was in the coldest place on earth, left to freeze in the merciless, claiming hands of longing and grief.
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