AN: It was overdue for me to write a fanfic about them, right? ;)

(Dedicated to BrigitteOo, whose birthday was yesterday! Happy birthday, sweetie!)

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From Gray to Silver

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The Ice Mages were in opposite sides of the yard, both panting loudly and with the same look of determination on their eyes; and they should, after all, they were the same person – with a twenty five year difference between them, but the same nonetheless.

Juvia stared as the man – men – she loved fought against each other so fiercely that she could barely keep up with their movements. The whole yard was frozen and Juvia, who had been put aside for the fight by both men, could just wait.

But she was waiting no more. Not when the older one – who called himself Silver – told Gray (her Gray-sama) that he came to the past just to kill his younger self.

The blue haired girl couldn't stand by the side lines anymore, it didn't matter if they were having a men's fight, or any other nonsense: no one was killing Gray Fullbuster on her watch, not even himself.

It didn't matter that both of them started to mold spears to throw in their directions and were ready to throw it, she ran away to stand right in the middle of their frozen battlefield. Tears falling from her eyes and when she stopped, her eyes were closed but she could clearly hear both men.

"Juvia!"

"No!"

The weapons dissipated – from both of them – and before she could open her eyes, Silver started to yell at her: "Are you crazy? You can't…"

"Juvia, what the hell?" Gray said at the same time.

"You two need to stop this right now." She told them with a firm voice and then turned to Silver, opening her eyes to stare at the older version of the man she was madly in love with. Underneath the new scars and the armory, he was still that man. "You are not going to kill Gray-sama. That would kill you."

Silver didn't even bat an eye. "I know and that's the point." The older man stepped towards Juvia and Gray stepped closer too and Silver looked past Juvia and snarled at the other Ice Mage. "Stop it, kid; I would never hurt her."

"I don't know that." Gray narrowed his eyes.

"I am you. Would you ever hurt her?" Silver held the younger man's stare for a moment before change it back to the pretty girl, his eyes much softer. "Juvia, this is between Gray and me."

"No, it's not." Juvia said. "Something happened to make you change so much and this Gray-sama" the blunette pointed to the man behind her "has nothing to do with whatever it is that you are upset about."

Silver let out a humorless laugh. "Upset. Do you know why I am upset? Because I caused the death of my wife fifteen years ago and if I killed myself, nothing would ever change: she'd still be dead, but if I returned and killed myself before it happened, it would never happen! She would still be alive."

"Silver-sama…" Juvia stepped closer to the man and at the same time Gray grabbed her wrist and let her go when she offered a pleading look over her shoulder, letting him know that she was alright. The blunette touched his armored forearm. "The Gray-sama I know would never go to this extreme; to kill a version of yourself that hasn't done anything yet to…

"To protect you!" Silver yelled and the others' eyes widened in surprise. "I could save you once, Juvia, with the Dragons but later on…" The older man's eyes were troubled. "I couldn't reach you in time."

"Wh-what?" Juvia was so surprised that she was still trying to process what he had just said a few moments later.

Silver stepped closer to her, his eyes much softer. "Fifteen years, Juvia, I've been waiting for that crack in time to open – because it opened in many different moments – and I just waited to come back and change the past." A gloved hand touched her cheek. "When I saw you today, I almost ran to hug you; you look so young." His hand moved to a lock of her hair, lovingly. "I need to save you, I need you to live."

With unshed tears, the blunette put a hand over the older man's. "Di-Did we get married, then?" Juvia ignored Gray's sharp breath behind her. "Gray-sama and I?"

"Yes." Silver informed her with a small smile. "We got four years together before…" His hand released her hair and let it fall back to his side.

"Four years…" Juvia's gaze turned to the floor for a couple of moments before looking up to him again. "A-And you want to save me by…"

"Killing him." Silver's eyes snapped back to Gray, who looked down, not really sure what to do with his other self's words – he didn't want Juvia to die for any reason, especially not because of him. "If I do that, you live."

"No, I won't." The blunette said softly and she could feel both Grays (current and future) looking at her. "If you kill this Gray-sama, you will be killing me too." Silver opened his mouth to talk, but Juvia raised a tiny hand to stop him. "No, don't. Juvia is telling the truth and you know it. Juvia's body would be alive, but her soul would be shattered and that's worse than dying.

"She felt that when…" the Water Mage took a moment to control her emotions "when the little dragons killed you. As I saw you there – your blood wetting my knees as I stared at your opened skull – I couldn't help but notice that everything else didn't matter anymore; if those things got me, I wouldn't fight because I was already dead." Juvia stopped for a moment to dry a stray tear. "If that's the way you felt, I'm really, really sorry; it was horrible for just a few seconds and I can only imagine the pain of losing a spouse but… Don't tell me that you are doing this for future me; because you are not.

"I can guarantee you that whatever time you and I spent together, that time was worth it every breath Juvia took. Juvia knows herself and if we had four years, it was the best years of her life and I would never, ever blame you for my death and it would hurt to know that your life turned to one of revenge again, Gray-sama."

"I'm Silver." He snarled.

"You will always be Gray-sama to Juvia." The blunette put a hand on the older man's cheek and he closed his eyes, leaning towards the touch he missed so much. "No matter when, you will always be her Gray-sama; the man who showed her light and stopped the rain." She put her other hand on his other cheek and Silver opened his eyelids, locking eyes with the young woman. "Your name is Gray Fullbuster of Fairy Tail, don't you ever forget that, no matter what."

Juvia could feel Gray's eyes burning the back of her neck as Silver stared at her just for a long moment, just to laugh loud a moment later, his eyes soft and his whole focus on the blunette in front of him. "You always do that, you know? Pull me up when I'm down." He put a gloved hand over her left one. "I push you away and you always come back. I try to save you, I get overwhelmed in my own bitterness, anger and pain just so you can appear and prevent me from drowning in darkness." Juvia seemed hypnotized by his words, his eyes and even his smell (no matter how many years had passed, he still smelled like home). Realizing she was surprised by his eloquence, Silver smiled softly at her. "I learned to talk to you, Juvia. And is like you said: if I'm still your Gray, you will always be my Juvia, no matter when."

Juvia's eyes watered with emotion. "Please, don't kill yourself. Don't kill our chance to…"

"I won't." Silver assured her, wrapping his arms around her and the blunette did the same, not a single drop of fear in her body. The older Ice Mage looked from over her shoulder to his younger self. "I… My original plan wasn't to come back and kill myself." He frowned in confusion. "I wanted to... talk to myself, tell him what to do and prevent it. Kyouka put me in that machine of hers and kept poisoning my mind, but in the back, I could hear your voice telling me not to give up." He pushed Juvia away so he could look at her. "Kyouka's poison is diminishing. Maybe she's losing magic?" Silver frowned. "Maybe her hold on me…" The older man shook his head. "It doesn't matter." His stare went to Gray. "Kid, I'll tell you how to save Juvia, but much later; once I tell you, if you can do it, if you can save her, my future will never exist and I'll disappear and I still need to help you with Zeref – he's the most poisonous of every demon there is. Do you trust me enough to fight alongside with me?"

Juvia looked over her shoulder to her Gray-sama and saw him lock eyes with Silver. They kept their stare contest for a few moments before the younger Ice Mage nod. "I haven't trust myself lots of times, doubted many choices and wish I'd done many things differently and if I hadn't seen you with her right now, I would keep fighting you, because there's no worse enemy other than ourselves, but I know you won't do anything to harm me," he glanced at Juvia for a moment "not now."

Silver nodded, already expecting that answer. "I won't."

"Good. Let's go get those demons." Gray stepped closer to where Silver still held Juvia close and without realizing, pulled them away from each other. "Shall we?"

"Yes, Gray-sama. And Gray-sama." Juvia smiled happy to know that her men were safe for the moment.

The older one laughed. "Call me Silver for now, Juvia. Otherwise it will be confusing." He kissed the top of her head. He leaned and whispered to her: "Don't worry; I won't forget who I am anymore." The girl giggled and dried her face with the back of her hand.

"Yes, yes. Let's go." Gray pushed Juvia in front of them and away from Silver, giving the man the stinking eye.

Silver just chuckled and shrugged. "Hey, she was my wife. I can do things you can't just yet."

When the older man wasn't in earshot, Gray mumbled to himself: "I just can't believe that I became such a dick."

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When the battle was over, all of them were worse to wear, and most had a broken something in their bodies, but Fairy Tail won with no causalities and even new found allies. Silver and Gray had fought together with Juvia and their dynamics was almost flawless.

But now it was time for good-bye.

Juvia saw while Silver put a hand on Gray's back and led him to a secluded place where they could be seen but not heard. Silver did most of the talking, the blunette could observe, and Gray talked from time to time and nodded a few times. When both Ice Mages stared in her direction at the same time, Juvia knew it was happening: Silver started to glow and Juvia started to run towards them as fast as she could. She had to… he couldn't just…

"Gray-sama!" She called Silver, who was fading, but had a big smile on his face. Juvia stopped close to him, the current Gray by her side. "No… You…" Her eyes watered. "You were leaving without saying good-bye to me."

"No need." Silver smirked. "I won't exist and you still have the Gray from this time. Don't grieve for me, Juvia."

The tears started to fall. "But Juvia will."

Silver's eyes softened as he vanished a little bit more. "I know; you wouldn't be you if you didn't." Juvia touched his chest and the feeling was strange, of something that was and wasn't there at the same time. "Maybe I can see the older you again."

"Juvia hopes so." The blunette tried to smile through the tears. "Be happy, Gray-sama."

"Thank you for reminding me of who I am." Almost disappearing, Silver leaned in and just before all traces of his existences were gone, Juvia could feel the ghost of his lips on her cheek.

A moment later her hand fell on her side, the smell of the older Gray disappeared, just like his body and Juvia could just look at where the man had been not a few seconds before. "Gray-sama?" She whispered, as if she could bring him back.

"Juvia." The current Gray touched her elbow and she almost jumped with the contact; she stared at him through the tears for a few moments before remembering that it wasn't her Gray-sama who was gone, it was another version of him. But it still hurt to see him – any version of him – vanish.

"He's… gone." Juvia said dumbly.

"I know; which means that what he told me, changed the future." Gray said softly and the woman cried harder.

"But… he is gone." She sobbed. "He is just… gone."

"I…." Gray looked uncomfortable. "Yes, Juvia, he is." She cried harder and the Ice Mage awkwardly wrapped his arms around her, one hand on her hair, caressing it. "I'm sorry."

"It's so sad." The woman hugged Gray back. "He came back to save me and I couldn't…"

"He ended up saving you and himself." The man told her. "He saved your life and you saved his soul." The blunette cried even more. "If he is really me like you two believe, I know myself: he went happy to have saved you." Gray kissed the top of her head just like Silver had done (The other version of the Ice Mage probably did that a lot with his Juvia when she was in his arms). "He is fine, wherever he is."

Juvia nodded. "Can we stay like this for a little more time?" The woman asked shyly – she was mostly all bark and no bite anyways – as her arms tightened around him.

"Yes. Yes, we can." They needed each other at that moment.

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A few hours later when the Guild members were analyzing the damage of their Guild, Cana approached Gray.

"Hey, Gray…" She said coyly and the Ice Mage narrowed his eyes; that tone meant trouble.

"What?"

"That Silver dude… That was you, right?"

Gray shrugged. "According to him, yes."

"Man…" Cana sighed in fake solidarity. "Some things will only happen to you."

"What do you mean?" Gray frowned. "Lucy came from the future; that Saber guy: Rogue, they all…"

"Oh, I'm not talking about that." The brunette woman waved her hand in dismissal of his words. "You people just keep copying each other, really; what I meant was: I saw his departure from far away."

Gray froze. "And…?"

The woman smirked. "Only you and Juvia could kiss for the first time and you wouldn't be the Gray she was kissing."

The Ice Mage opened his mouth in protest and blushed as Cana walked away, laughing as he yelled at her: "It was on the cheek! It didn't count!"

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AN: And the end just to break the ice and give you guys a laugh. Well, I don't think (even though I certainly hope) that Silver will tell about him marrying Juvia or anything like that, but I still think that he will be a BIG Gruvia shipper, whoever he is.

Anyways, I hope you liked my version of future events! It was hard to write about Silver because we barely had him (and what we got, OMG I LOVE THAT MAN. HAHA He can be Gray's crazy uncle who lives on the swamp and has flees, the dude's still pretty hot and funny so far).

Tell me what you thought about it! Thanks for reading! Happy GruviaWeek to all of you!

04/01/2014 ~ BonneyQ