Warning: these characters may be a little bit OOC. If you can't stand it, don't read this, please.

Once again, there she was. Alone.

Drip, drip, drop.

Her shoes echoed in the lonely street. The downpour she was walking across shielded her in a safe bubble. Juvia felt at peace out there, alone, in the rain. She wondered if that was what she had been feeling everyday as the Rainwoman. She wondered if it was the sun what gave her feelings and dried her tears. The water mage went on walking, her eyes half closed and cast down.

"Juvia wonders..." she whispered, searching for the sun through the dark sky of another rainy day. "if this was a mistake."

Her umbrella shook slightly under her unstable grip due to its owner trembling with inner depression. "It's been so long... Juvia thought it had gone away..."

She stopped in her tracks and looked across the road. A couple with umbrellas looked at the rain, probably saying how gloomy it was. "But... Juvia was wrong. She has always been."

And she continued through her pointless stride. She was walking away from everything, from her life, from love, from friends, from her most treasured moments during her life. A part of her pulled her back, but her brain and heart worked in unison to guide her forward. Juvia simply knew she had to walk away. She was doing it for them. For him, for herself. A decision with consequences that she never saw coming.

Juvia had been contemplating the thought for at least a week. She knew she was starting to distance herself a little too much from the missions, from her friends, from Fairy Tail, because she needed time. It could seem very selfish, but it was completely selfless actually.

Nothing had gone wrong. Gray and her were just fine – she was starting to walk away from her obsession. Little by little, she was growing up. Busy with missions, with her friends' problems, with her own plans. Juvia would usually have a special spot for the ice mage, but it was something that she wasn't willing to do. She couldn't do so anymore.

Rain couldn't keep her there.

"JUVIA!"

Blink. She knew that voice too well. The girl continued her now not-so-lonely walk, ignoring that voice.

"JUVIA!"

He called again. And once again, Juvia didn't pay any attention to him.

"For God's sake, WAIT UP!"

This time, sensing him frantic and tired, Juvia stood still. The water mage heard his footsteps nearing her. She could even hear his scolding for leaving so early, for being so off and for behaving this weird. But she didn't think much about that and waited for him to regain his breath.

"Juvia,"

"Gray...?" the honorific was long forgotten in her voice, replaced by new soft voice that sounded understanding.

The boy looked up with straight eyes, full of hardness he usually possesed and... concern? No, that couldn't be. Gray Fullbuster wasn't caring with her. He didn't love Juvia. But why had he chased after her in the first place?

"What's gotten into you?" Gray spit out, more hashly than he had intended. "You've been down the weather lately, and now..." he paused, maybe to search for specific words. "now you leave so suddenly? The girls have told me you've been quite thoughtful this week."

Juvia, who was facing him with a little sparkle of fear, looked away, half ashamed half secure about her final resolution. Her gaze lifted to the sky with a sad smile.

"It's raining." she stated out of the blue. It was starting to rain much harder, and despite both Gray and Juvia's desires to leave the street, they remained there, tasting the meaningless sentence. But it did keep a big importance in her heart. Rain, her eternal companion, her fellow guardian and half.

"Really?" Gray chuckled, sarcasm framing his eyes. "As if nobody has noticed..."

She nodded. "It's raining."

"Juvia?"

"It's raining." she deadpanned, again, as if she was trying to make a statement.

"So what?" he asked. The sentence was starting to annoy him. The way she repeated it, as if she wanted to make him understand something when there was nothing left to understand. Unless...

"It's raining."

He took a dangerous step towards her, at the verge of shaking her nonsense to make her snap out of her cycle. "Dammit! So what?! What's wrong?!"

But when she looked at him, he saw trails of tears falling downwards. Despite her tears, her face wore a smile. Juvia's eyes spoke otherwise, though, and they weren't happy. They seemed to accept a defeat, a long war that had been lost.

"Doesn't Gray-sama get it?" she was now facing him, eyes closed in what seemed like a cheerful stand. But it wasn't. "It's raining, it's been raining for ages. Rain goes wherever Juvia goes. Rain comes when Juvia wants to cry. When Juvia cries, the sky cries, too."

"Juvia, what the hell are you talking about?" Gray grasped her shoulders, but she stepped back with ease and put her right hand on her heart.

"Juvia has to let go, Gray-sama."

His heart twisted. Because he knew what that meant and why she said that.

"Juvia has to move on." she looked at him, waiting for an answer. Screaming, scolding, a little bit of weakness, maybe? But all she encountered was a wall of silence. "Juvia is sad because she has to let go."

A shadow crossed his eyes, and he let go of her shoulders to look at her, dead in the eye, touching her hands to then leave his at his sides.

"Why, Juvia..."

"Gray..." he noted the lack of honoratives.

"Why, Juvia?"

Her gaze went down, closing her eyes a little bit. "Because Juvia is getting tired..." his eyes widened kilometres. "and Juvia has decided that it's best for both Gray-sama and Juvia to move on... and leave."

He took a small step and his hands searched for her arms. He took them and looked deep into her eyes, searching for a trace of a lie... but none of it was a lie. She was leaving because of him. Because he hadn't got clear with himself quick enough. Because he hadn't given her an answer on time. "You don't need to leave! You..." Gray took a deep breath. His white shirt was transparent now. "you have to stay! For the team!" he insisted.

"For me..." he mouthed.

"Not anymore." the bluehead stated grimly. "Look at this. This gloomy weather hasn't been here since I met Gray-sama." explained the sad girl. "Juvia is getting weak when she realizes Gray-sama doesn't love her the way she does!"

"Don't bring that up, Juvia..." he muttered, irritated.

"But it's-"

"Don't bring that up." he repeated, emotionless.

She struggled to get free, but her efforts were in vain. Gray had a strong grip on her. She looked through his hardened orbs, which she hadn't seen so dull for years now. Gray seemed to be processing the information and struggling with his own thoughts. He wanted to hug her, to tell her not to move on, to make her stay.

"Juvia knows Gray-sama was going to give her an answer." said the water mage, answering a hidden question. "But Juvia has waited a long time for that. She has realized that she's making Gray-sama uncomfortable, so she's accepted defeat. Juvia knows she can't allow herself to love Gray-sama anymore, so she's sad. And now the rain has come back..." she bowed slightly. "Juv-"

"Don't leave!"

"What?"

"You can't leave!" Gray was at the verge of losing it and kneel to make her see that she was much more important than she seemed to reckon. "You know how hard it is for me to talk about things like this! Why are you doing this? What do you want from me?!"

A little charade of tears started to fall once again. She took a step back and turned around. "This isn't about you, Gray." her tone had gone cold as his frozen heart. But now, it was starting to melt within the realization that he didn't want her to leave. But not now, not ever. The simple thought of her leaving was pushing him across his edge.

"It's about Juvia." she emphasized. "Juvia needs to breath, to move on so this rain stops. It will take a lot of time, that's why Juvia's leaving."

"Please, no..."

"Juvia doesn't want to soak all of you." she muttered, sheepish. "Juvia can't let you all drown in my sorrow."

Gray looked at the ground, heartbroken and defeated. His hands shook slightly and his breaths weren't even. His heart was bumping loudly in his lungs, that's all he could hear that wasn't the rain falling on him. He was now soaking wet, processing her words as they broke his blood. He heard Juvia sigh.

"Gomenasai, Gray-sama." apologized Juvia. "Goodbye."

And by the time she was walking again with an aching heart, the tears were alredady wetting her cheeks. Juvia wondered if they were damp because of the rain, or if those were genuine tears of hers. But, not much later, she realized it didn't matter. Those tears were hers one way or another.

Each step she took hurt a little bit more than the precious one. Her sight was blurry with tears, her hands shaky and her determination messed up. Juvia was now a wreck because of that boy she would always love, no matter what she believed. Ache conquered each inch of her soul, shattering her resolve. The tears streaming down her face proved her how wrong she was acting.

Her life had always been a lonely ballad. But he had brought the sun upon her. Yes, he could be cold as ice most of times, but... he told her to wait for him. To hold onto him and never let go. But she had let him fall. Juvia had hurt him and was hurting herself in the process. Her knees were weakening, scattering her resolution to leave fast.

With a last thought of regret within her deepest thoughts, her legs gave in and she buckled against the wet concrete of the street. However, when Juvia touched the ground, something warm embraced her tightly, burying her in his arms. She could smell a faint scent of mint and coldness, something she knew too well. The man that hugged heer with such possession shook faintly, and Juvia made out a pair of tears in his eyes before snuggling on his chest.

Before she knew it, she was crying once more. He tightened his grip even more, not wanting to let go ever again. She sobbed uncontrollably, panting even of mental exhaustion. Why was he there? Why did he go after her? Was she worth the effort? Sometimes, he made her think otherwise — that she was worthless.

"Y-You are important to me, Juvia." he whispered to her now wet hair. Her umbrella had been discarded and now rolled around a few metres away. The rain was hitting Magnolia very hard. It was a heavy downpour that was suffocating even. It was a shower. And Gray was starting to understand why she wanted to leave. She wanted to prevent this situation from happening. "I'm sorry I hurt you so much in the past... It will never happen again, you hear me?" Gray took her cheeks and caressed her temples with caring. "I need you, Juvia. It doesn't matter where I go, how many times I hurt you..."

His head fell to the crook of her neck, place where he had found comfort so many times. His body shook with each word he spoke. "Damn, you were always around for me so I had someone to lean on. I never gave you a shoulder to cry on. And sometimes I was the cause of your tears." she remained silent, because that was true, but him being her despair wasn't usual, though. "And I'm sorry for taking you for granted, for making you wait too long. I'm sorry for rejecting you so many times, for being so cold to you when I should thank you for everything you have done for me."

Gray embraced her even tighter than before, his arms wrapped around her as if it was a lifeline. "I'm a horrible person, Juvia... but you made it all look brighter. I never welcomed that warmth, but threw it away like the monster I am..." she gasped. "I don't deserve you, Juvia. I know I'm being selfish but..."

"Gray-s-sama?" her voice was a mere stutter, a whisper of a shocked girl who saw the man of her dreams break down in front of her.

He snuggled on her neck, feeling it cold because of its wetness. But he didn't mind the chilly temperature as long as she was there with him. "Please, just..." he sobbed once, but Juvia knew that he wasn't crying, but choking with his emotions. "just don't leave me, Juvia. Don't you dare to walk away from me... don't stop loving me, Juvia... please..."

Juvia's eyes softened the slightest bit and grasped to his naked skin a little bit more. His heart was at the verge of colapse, beating out of its own capacity of speed. His shoulders were shaking a little bit, but he wasn't crying. Gray was coming face to face with his emotions, with his hidden face. And was squishing her as his only support. She accepted his hug more than kindly and returned the gesture. It wasn't now a matter of chasing each other's feelings: it was about now sharing those feelings and embrace them the best way possible.

"I'm so sorry Juvia..."

"Juvia is sorry, too..."

His head lifted a little bit. "There's nothing you have to be sorry about... not a single one."

"Gra-"

"I'm sorry, Juvia. For everything I've put you through, for making you-"

"Gray-sama?"

He pulled away with his hands on her shoulders and looked down, seeing the very same girl who was crying over him a few seconds ago looking at him with the smallest smile.

"Stop apologizing. Juvia forgives you, and always will because she loves Gray-sama."

"Juvia..."

She then leant against his chest again, feeling him wrap his arms around her. "It doesn't matter how many times Gray-sama breaks Juvia's heart, because he has the power to make it heal. And I'll wait for Gray-same as long as you need me to."

His lips found a way to her forehead, kissing her soft and wet skin there. "I don't know what I ever did yo deserve you, Juvia..." he muttered. "but I don't think I'll ever be able to thank you enough."

And with a smile on both faces, Juvia and Gray walked away, hands locked for a while until they reached the guild. The sun shone now and reflected itself in the little raindrops that remained on her umbrella. It was now forgotten on the concrete ground, starting to fly away from Magnolia. As if... Juvia's eternal rain was flying away along with her umbrella.

And their interwined hands wouldn't be so easy to separate now.

My little piece of crap I wrote in a few hours. If you liked it, leave a review!

Sorry if any of the characters was OOC, I don't know them that well to dig very deep into their feelings.

- holyfandom