An Uninvited Guest

After the battle against Tartaros ended, all of us in Fairy Tail had a lot on our minds. Many of us lost people who were precious to us, others were badly wounded, and virtually all of us were exhausted by the hard fighting. Apparently the old man in charge of us all was also deeply affected, as he disbanded Fairy Tail with barely any explanation to the rest of us.

The news came as a shock for us, and considering what it meant, that reaction was for good reason. As a result of Fairy Tail shutting down, all of us were forced to look for new places to live and work. Unfortunately, we generally could not find those in the same places, so we ended up saying goodbye to each other, save for some groups of close friends or family that stuck together, and struck out all across Fiore.

My path, like that of many others, took me out of the city of Magnolia. After traveling a little while, I found a village that didn't have any official guilds nearby, so there was a good amount of contract work for independent mages. There was also a house available for renting that fit my budget. I didn't know how long I would be staying there, but it seemed like a good place to settle down.

The house was decently furnished and relatively comfortable, but it wasn't quite home the same way my childhood home, Ur's house or the Fairy Tail guild hall had been. All the places I'd stayed in between my mentor's death and coming to Fairy Tail were only intermediate points, even though I did not know what my final destination would be.

The first evening after I moved in, I heard a knock on the door. I quickly threw on an unbuttoned button-down shirt and a pair of pants that I had left lying around, and cautiously approached the door to identify my uninvited guest. Even though Fairy Tail had been disbanded, our old guild had many enemies, who might be trying to hunt its former members, just like Tartaros tracked down and murdered some of the former council members.

But as I approached the door, I heard a familiar voice.

"Gray-sama? Juvia is here."

I took a quick glance outside to make sure Juvia hadn't been followed and opened the door. She was dressed in her standard overcoat and hat, even though it was a somewhat warm day, and carried a small bag.

"Oh, it's just you, Juvia," I said, annoyed with her and myself. While I had to wonder why she was not looking for work elsewhere, I should have expected that she would track me down.

"You don't seem that surprised to see Juvia," Juvia said.

"Of course not," I said. "After Phantom Lord was disbanded, it didn't take you all that long to sidle up to me and request admittance into Fairy Tail."

After the conclusion of the battle against Phantom Lord, the first time I met Juvia face to face was shortly before the Tower of Heaven incident, although I could have sworn I'd seen her here and there while we were rebuilding the guild, and I was all but certain she was the one who gave me a boxed lunch while we were rebuilding Fairy Tail's guild hall. Surprisingly enough, I was more or less fine with her joining us, and although some, such as Laxus and his followers distrusted her, she proved her loyalty, and got on good terms with most of the guild relatively quickly.

"Yes, Juvia needed a new guild back then," Juvia said, "and so did Gajeel-kun, even if he was hesitant to admit it. But it isn't just the two of us this time. Quite a few other people took Fairy Tail's disbanding quite hard; Lucy was heartbroken when Natsu-san disappeared while only leaving a note."

I couldn't help but chuckle softly even though I felt bad for Lucy. Natsu had always been close with Gildarts- or as close as they could be considering that Gildarts usually only showed up at the guild for a couple of days every few years- so it's possible the man's leaving with barely any notice rubbed off on him.

"Yeah, the guy has a tendency to disappear when he feels like it," I said. "But in his defense, he didn't know that the old man had any plans to shut down the guild, did he?"

"None of us did," Juvia said. "Juvia imagines that it's hard on some of those who have been in the guild for a long time."

I nodded. Excluding the seven years we spent in suspended animation on Tenrou Island, Juvia had only been in the guild for a couple of months. Natsu and I, along with Erza and the Strauss siblings, had been in the guild for several years (although Lisanna was stuck in Edolas for two years), and there were those like Cana who had been in the guild for much longer.

"I suppose that's true," I said. "But in the end, I had to get used to it, and know that people who've been here longer than I did had to as well."

Juvia furrowed her brow and skeptically looked me straight in the eyes.

"Are you sure?" Juvia said. "Juvia can't help but wonder if it's hard on Gray-sama as well."

"Me?" I said incredulously. Perhaps the news had come as a shock to me, but I knew what I had to do; put my feelings aside and move on. I knew well enough that letting my emotions get the better of me had consequences for people close to me, but somehow, Juvia seemed unconvinced.

"Most of the people Juvia knows well have a plan of some sort," Juvia said. "Lucy said she intends to become a reporter and keep track of everyone else. Wendy is planning on joining Lamia Scale. Cana-san is going in search of her father. Erza-san is going to look into Zeref and his self-proclaimed followers. Lisanna-san and her siblings are sticking together. Gajeel-kun said he was going to work for the Council, although Juvia could not tell whether he was joking." Juvia paused. "But what about Gray-sama?"

"Well, I said it already, didn't I?" I said. "I'm going to take down E.N.D. no matter what."

"Juvia knows," Juvia said. "But Juvia also knows what sort of cost the battle with Tartaros had on you. Because of Juvia... your father..."

Juvia began to tear up, and I sighed. The entire reason why she had to send my dad back to the afterlife by destroying Keyes was because I couldn't do it myself. As such, I was grateful to her, and guilty that she had to bear that burden on her conscience.

"Again, I said it already," I said. "I don't hold that against you at all. I'm actually thankful to you for throwing a stumbling block in their plans to activate Face, and doing what I could not."

Juvia fell silent. At this point, two responses seemed reasonable to her- either to accept what I was saying, or continue to insist her point. Instead, she chose to do neither.

"Juvia also knows that," Juvia said. "But Gray-sama, you have suffered so much, and stand ready to face an even more difficult battle. Do you truly intend to do so alone? Do you believe that Juvia would let you?"

I shook my head. In retrospect, this statement would come into my head when circumstances forced me to separate from Juvia, but for now, I was deeply touched by it. When Juvia wasn't stalking my every footstep, fawning over my less than fully clothed physique, or counting the days since we'd met, it was obvious that she cared about me. Erza spelled her feelings out to me quite clearly, and while I couldn't give her what she wanted, I could do what I could to care for her, starting with accepting her request.

"Fine," I said. "You can stay here if you want, but let's establish some ground rules."

"Juvia's listening," Juvia said eagerly.

"First, you'll need to contribute toward paying living expenses," I said. "It seems only fair to have you pay half of the rent and food expenses, and for any purchases you make individually. It's probably cheaper than Fairy Hills was, though; I got the place for only 80,000 jewels a month."

"Agreed," Juvia said.

"That said, we will probably be doing a fair amount of our missions together," I said, "so we'll put the reward money toward those expenses, and split the rest."

"Sounds good!" Juvia said pleasantly.

Juvia always enjoyed doing missions with me, and while I couldn't say that I enjoyed them quite as much, I had to admit that it wasn't bad. Perhaps I might have chosen her as a partner for the S-Class exam if I hadn't made a deal with Loke (before finding out he was a Celestial Spirit, that is), and if Juvia had not also been a candidate (I'm not sure what the reason for the rule was, but it might have been to ensure that our partners weren't necessarily S-Class material, and thus no team was too strong).

"The last thing I can think of for now..." I said, "is that we'll sleep in separate beds."

Juvia's face fell at that and I sighed in exasperation. Of all the conditions, this was the one she found most difficult? But in the end, she nodded reluctantly.

"Juvia can live wth that," Juvia said reluctantly. The good thing about Juvia is that she was generally willing to do what I told her to, something that was useful at times, but which I was careful not to exploit.

"Good," I said. "Since I'm making the request, I'll sleep in a sleeping bag on the floor, and you can take the bed."

Juvia nodded in agreement. I'm not all that much for chivalry, but even though Juvia was imposing on me, since I was insisting on this arrangement, it was only fair that I take the less pleasant half of the arrangements until we worked something out.

As I pondered the conversation, I realized I could probably have said no. Perhaps that would be a futile gesture, just like telling Juvia I didn't feel the same way about her during the grand ball after the Grand Magic Games and Dragon King Banquet. But futile or not, it was not a gesture I had much desire to make.

I'm certainly familiar enough with unrequited love. Levy, an old friend of mine, has had to deal with two of her oldest friends- Jet and Droy- competing for her love, even though neither of them has much of a chance with her than the other- or much of a chance at all.

But just as Levy values Jet and Droy's friendship, I feel something for Juvia. On Tenrou Island, when Juvia chased after Meredy, who was carrying Zeref, I worried about her when she was late returning. When I was tempted to use Iced Shell to defeat my reanimated father, I images of many of my friends went through my mind, and I imagined Juvia affectionately calling my name. And now that Fairy Tail was disbanding, Juvia was one of the many comrades I feared I might never see again, so I was grateful for this chance to see and talk with her while we lived gtogether.

"Juvia?" I said as I settled into my sleeping bag and she settled into her bed.

"Yes, Gray-sama?" Juvia said.

After a brief pause, I said what was on my mind.

"I'm glad you're here," I said.

As I drifted off to sleep on the floor that night, I pondered the turn of events. I'm still not sure I feel the same way for Juvia that she wants me to- not that it's ever stopped her advances before. But at the same time, I do care for her. A part of me is happy that she tracked me down, and thankful that she hasn't changed in that regard. Our lives may have changed a great deal recently and friends may have parted ways, so I treasure the small things that remain constant, and those close to me who are still nearby.

Author's Notes

Thank you for reading this fic.

I decided to write it to show how Juvia came to live with Gray. He says in Chapter 438 that she came and refused to move out, so I decided to show what exactly transpired.

You may notice that Gray seems dismissive of Juvia in comedic scenes, but in serious ones, he's more considerate of her feelings, to the point of even possibly returning them. I suspect the latter is closer to his true feelings, and since this fic is more serious, they come out more here.