Don't Make the Same Mistake

"That woman…" Silver's voice was weak, but it still commanded Gray's attention. He glanced up, expression cautious and untrusting as his father spoke what Gray was sure would be his last words. He couldn't help the clench in his chest… no matter what had drawn them here to this point, it was still his father's body—the body that had been crushed and destroyed by Deliora— and he had defeated.

Was it possible to kill someone who was already dead?

"Don't make… my mistakes." Silver didn't look at Gray, instead focusing on the sky. "Your mother… is my biggest regret. She was too beautiful to die."

"Shut up." Gray stood beside his father. "There was no reason for either one of you to die."

Silver coughed, grinning a bit. "You are just as hardheaded as you were then. Parents die for their children, but husbands should protect their wives. And that woman… the one you protected. She's in danger… the necromancer…"

"Juvia?" Gray could feel his heart pounding, her cheerful face and loving gaze popping up in his mind, the face of the person that brought the most guilt when he'd attempted to cast iced shell. He had promised not to use the spell over body, and then he'd promised to be with her… and he had almost forgotten. "What do you mean, necromancer?"

"I'm not the one who wants you dead." Silver said. "And I'm just dying another death. Keith is a necromancer, he controls the dead. He's been watching this entire fight… he knows I've lost and you didn't break. He'll find another way."

"What the hell does that mean?!"

Silver closed his eyes. "I'm just dying another death, Gray. Don't let hers be the one that breaks you. That way." He lifted a hand slowly, pointing directly south. "Get to her before he does."

"What makes you think he's after Juvia?"

"You saved her; if I wasn't enough to break you, maybe someone living will be."

Gray glanced at the direction he pointed, torn between running after Juvia and giving his father the respect of watching his last breaths. The man on the ground shook his head, insistent.

"She's strong, Dad…"

"And death is a foe we all lose to. Go—and when you save her, make sure you make some grandkids and name 'em after me."

He moved to respond to that, stopping when his father's eyes stared unblinking toward the sky once again. Body shaking with renewed grief and confusion, Gray glanced in the direction Silver had pointed, his warning bouncing through his head; her face faded in, smiling, her voice saying his name and he closed his eyes.

I won't let you die.

Juvia took another attack from Keith's staff, wincing as she stumbled backward. It had been a few moment since he had told her anything else about the fight going on where she could not see… had Gray-sama used Iced Shell? Was the battle over? Her heart felt empty at the thought… he had promised never to use Iced Shell so he could live with his friends. The feeling of fear that had pitted itself in her stomach continued to gnaw at her insides, warning her to stay on her toes.

Was Gray-sama okay?

"I can see him falling into his calamity." Keith said. "Not from Silver. He has yet to feel that level of desperation… one can't continue mourning and fighting for the dead."

"What do you mean?" Juvia regained her balance, hands fisted as she stood prepared to counter attack. "Gray-sama…"

"I told you his story would end today." Keith remarked, stopping in his assault. "He will fall into calamity… and it will be because of you."

Her eyes widened when he disappeared into a thick black mist, flying in her direction; Juvia erupted into her water body, shooting in the opposite direction. They circled one another through the rubble, further and further from the battle her friends were having. Her heart pounded loudly in her chest as she attempted to circle him, shooting before him before recollecting into her natural body.

"Water cane!"

The whip-like pipe of water shot from her arm, pressing through the black mist Keith had disappeared into and stopping his advance as he reformed with her attack wrapped around his neck. Juvia pulled tightly, eyes narrowed. She would not die. She would not become Gray-sama's calamity.

Keith reached up, taking hold of her cane—his hand did not fall through it, and Juvia realized the qualities of their magics were too similar for her to withdraw.

"It begins now."

He tugged, sending Juvia flying toward him until she collided with his other palm as he reformed to mist and infested the water she tried to reform to; the pain was unreal.

"All of you think so simply… a demon doesn't need you to die to take your soul."

Gray could hear the sounds and feel the heat from Gajeel and Natsu's fight; he was drawing close, and the nearer he was the more his stomach dropped. He had not heard her voice or seen evidence of her magic; he couldn't feel her presence. Explosions went off in the distance as he crested the rubble to see the battle going on below.

"Ice Make: Lance!"

Spears of ice erupted from Gray's hands, taking with them the limit amount of magic power he had left; they collided between his comrades and their enemies, effectively distracting the fight.

"The boy is back…"

"Gray! About damn time!" Natsu shouted, annoying as ever. "Where the hell have you been? And where is that creepy guy that smells like you?"

"Where's Juvia?"

Natsu blinked, not used to being ignored but realizing almost instantly that he couldn't smell Juvia anymore; Gajeel seemed to be coming to same conclusion, turning his head quickly to the last direction he had seen her and the skeleton priest fighting. Neither one of them was there; just how far off had they gotten?

"Shit." Gajeel's words came out first. "She was fighting that priest…"

"Gray…" it was Lucy's voice, weak but full of concern.

He didn't bother telling any of them what he was doing; Gray took off in the direction they had all turned, leaving Lucy in their hands. How the hell they had let Juvia get so far away or not noticed her fighting beside them scared him as much as the fact she was gone. There was still a part of him that wanted to believe it was just another lie out of his father's mouth spoken by whoever had revived him. The problem was that was the only time in the entire fight the man had sounded like the person Gray remembered from his childhood.

Far enough from the fight that he could no longer hear them, Gray slowed his pursuit in favor of looking for clues. There was water; Juvia had been here. There were the signs of a struggle, but there was no blood other than what was dripping from his wounds; that gave him hope. Gravel crunched beneath his boots as he continued walking, turning through columns and broken buildings. It was the lack of sound that frightened him the most.

That meant the fight was over, and even if Juvia had won, she couldn't get herself back to safety.

"Gray-sama!"

In the silence, Juvia's voice tore through like a knife, twisting in his chest and drawing his hair on end, goosebumps most got when they were cold popping up across his skin. It was a cry of pain, a scream of fear—it wasn't once of relief. Gray could not remember Juvia ever screaming his name in that way, and he never wanted to hear it again.

"Juvia!" he spun around, watching as her body flew from behind a building, quickly followed by that of the demon she had been fighting. There was pain in her expression as she spun to attack back; the quality of her water was weak, showing the lack of her magic reserve as she landed on her feet, drawing her hands forward once more into ropes of water and swinging mercilessly.

The demon himself seemed exhausted from the fight, but he took hold of her water—how the hell did he take hold of her water? Gray stood on edge, trying to figure out the best moment to strike and pull Juvia out of the battle. When the demon pulled her forward by the water connected to her body, Gray realized he had waited too long. He shifted, hands positioned near his hip as he pooled his magic power to his hands—and as he cast his spell, Juvia twisted to tear away from the hold pulling her closer—

Keith shot forward, staff in front of him, jabbing it straight through Juvia's back and out her abdomen.

Gray's attack hit just behind him, narrowly missing it's chance to push the demon off course.

The air went silent as he stared, breath hitching as he waited for Juvia's body to turn to water. She was impervious to attacks like that; physical attacks were pointless with her, it was why he had such a hard time fighting her with ice make. They all stood as if waiting for someone to make the next move, but Juvia's body never turned to water; instead, it slumped over.

"Juvia…" Gray could hear his voice, feel the swelling in his chest.

'Gray-sama, this is the first time Juvia has eaten a Caramande Frank…

If it is a command of Gray-sama, pain is nothing!

Sorry Gray-sama, but Juvia doesn't plan on going easy on you.

Gray-sama, Juvia doesn't know what's wrong but it's unfair to be this way while everyone else is celebrating.

Juvia has a bad feeling…

Gray-sama…

Gray-sama…'

"JUVIA!" Gray could feel her name tearing out of him the way it felt his heart was tearing out of his chest, echoing the same way as her voice in his mind.

As the demon slipped her from his staff and turned to face him, Gray's vision blurred over in red and the tears froze at the corners of his eyes. His breath quickened, mouth lifted into a snarl that did not match his emotion. The anger he was displaying was nothing compared to the empty sadness that filled him as he watch her in a motionless heap at the feet of the demon his father told him controlled the dead.

He was falling away, he could feel it, but Gray didn't want to live in a world without Juvia. After all the suffering and all the healing, she was the one constant thing that never seemed to disappear and he was desperate for her companionship. Gray had known for a while how she had slipped in and created a space for herself in his heart; he had known it since Tenroujima, had acted on it after the Grand Magic Games and nearly lost his life.

Now he was shooting ice he did not focus on creating into shapes or images; they were sharp and angry, flying through the demon standing beside her until he managed to pull himself between Juvia form and Keith.

"You're angry."

"Shut up."

"How does one defeat a demon he cannot attack?"

"Shut up!"

"Are you breaking, Gray Fullbuster?" Keith asked, standing idly as he watched the rage and emotion take over the boy in front of him. "You do realize that she is not any different from you. Today you will all die."

Gray watched the priest in front of him draw his bloodless staff, pointing directly at him. At this point, planning an attack was beyond him. He had used up most of his magic reserves, and even if he wanted to cast Iced Shell, the man would disappear unless there was some way to contain the mist he shifted into. It was the same issue he had fighting Juvia, the one he was only able to overcome because of her constantly shifting emotions that changed the resolve of her water based magic. Demons lacked emotions.

Water dripped from the sky, raining in a way Gray felt was familiar and yet seemed so distant and fake. He didn't feel he was currently there, in that battle, in that moment frozen in agony. He didn't feel anything at all but the deep seated hatred and even deeper loss. The emptiness filled with rage.

"Water… Lock…"

Rain collected in a swirling ball, engulfing Keith in a lock he could not escape. Gray blinked only once before glancing behind him.

Juvia lay extended, her hand outstretched toward him as she commanded the water with the power she had remaining to her. There was no blood to be seen, though she appeared weakened by the attack and exhausted.

And just like that, Gray could feel himself returning.

"Now Gray-sama." Juvia continued to look forward with determination as she held the lock in place, waiting for Gray to make the next move.

Understanding what she we wanted him to do was not hard; Gray turned and added his magic to her own, freezing the water solid and with it the demon trapped inside. Juvia lowered her hand to the ground as Gray stepped forward, leg swooping behind him for leverage. For the second time that day, he drew his hand back and cast Ice Make Vambrance, crashing into the ice ball and shattering it. The frozen demon inside shattered along with it.

The tears that had frozen about his eyes melted, raining down his face as he shuddered and choked back a sob. Gray fell to his knees and covered his face with his hands, unable to turn toward the woman behind him. The woman he thought was dead, but was still alive. The person he had spent so much time pushing away to protect had in the end saved him from himself and now he couldn't turn to face her.

Juvia pulled herself to her knees and crawled across the short distance between them, arms dropping around him as she hugged him from behind.

"Gray-sama…"

"I'm never leaving you." Gray said, tears dripping onto her arm as he reached to squeeze her wrists. "I said I would be with you… I'm going to stay there."

Juvia held him tighter. "And Juvia is never leaving you."

Turning in her hold to embrace her back, Gray allowed his head to drop on her shoulder and he pulled her tightly to him. He was afraid she would disappear, that Juvia really was dead and he was imagining her power had helped him to come back to sense. Her hair tickled his skin a tangible reminder that drew him to believe in what he was holding. She was the same lukewarm feeling of room temperature water, her tears that fell on his skin were real and not rain.

"Juvia…." He turned his face, burying it into her hair and neck, lips pressing into her skin as he spoke. "Juvia, I have something I need to tell you. I tried before but…"

"It's okay, Gray-sama." She responded, holding him tighter. "Juvia already knows."