Gruvia Week

The feeling that Juvia felt when she held her baby in his little bundle that clothes his petite body was overwhelming, she had so many emotions dwelling in her heart, but all she did was look at him and be mesmerised.

It was a foreign feeling, something she never felt before, her child in her arms, his eyes still shut and squirming a little.

She felt a tear fall down.

“Hello…” She called out, lips quivering “hello my darling..” she lightly touched his cheek with her finger, poking it and feeling it’s warm chubby cheek, it made her chuckle.

Gray was beside her, leaning closer to see him better, he had a wide smile plastered on his face, she could see a glist of tears by the corner of his eyes despite him holding his emotions.

“He is beautiful,” he said with endearment.

She could tell that he was just amazed as she is, they never expected to see themselves in this place, maybe in their imagination but to actually experience it was a whole different level.

The baby’s eyes finally opened slowly. Juvia gasped.

“Look! My love he has your eyes” 

Her baby had her eye colour, midnight blue eyes but it’s shape was definitely Gray’s, they were droopy and adorable.

“Where do you see that?” he asked, squinting and looking closer at his face “Juvia he has your eyes” he opposed, glancing at her.

“No he has your eye shapes darling, Juvia can tell” 

“Are you sure?”

“It’s a mother’s detailed eye, you can not deny a mother’s eye” she countered, looking prideful at her statement, but Gray only shook his head, and patted her head.

“ whatever you say” 

The baby showed his little smile as he gazed -with his droopy midnight blue eyes- curiously at his parents, it made their heart leap.

“We are parents now, my love” Juvia said.

And Gray nodded, his eyes fixated at his son “ we are” 

He cradled her head to his chest and planted a kiss on her forehead.

“Thank you, you are amazing” he whispered affectionately , and Juvia just held her breath to not cry as she cradled her baby to her chest.

2 days later.

Juvia looked at the file of her child.

‘Graige Storm Lockser’, it was still surreal for the new parents to feel like new parents, and although her son is adorable and Juvia had a feeling of protecting him from all costs, the name just doesn’t feel right.

Don’t get her wrong, she is not shaming her son’s first name but … what were they thinking when they gave him a name after a colour?

Juvia pursed her lips in ponder, maybe she could change it but that would require a lot of paperwork.

“Gray-sama” she called for her husband, he was sitting with his son in his arms observing with his little eyes as much as he could.

Gray hummed in acknowledgement, still focusing on his son as he made funny faces and noises to make him smile.

She walked over to the chair closer to Gray and said “do you think Graige is a good name for our son?” 

Gray looked at her with a questionable look :”what do you mean?”

“Well, Juvia thinks that maybe the name is a bit….colourful?” she tried to explain, but by the look on her husband’s face she made things more complicated.

“I still don’t get it” 

“Okay, one second” she brought him their child’s file, pointing at his name hoping that maybe he would understand.

It took Gray a moment to realise what she meant, they made a mistake to name their son.

Well it’s not as bad as a mistake but he’ll grow up with it and he’ll question it’s meaning.. Which is after a beige and grey combination of colour, it was a creative moment when they decided to name him but it was also stupid.

“He’s going to hate his name when he grows up” Gray claimed, Juvia hummed in agreement, while looking at their baby’s eyes.

The Guild’s entrance doors were open with so much force that it almost came off from it’s hinges, the rowdy ambience was quiet down immediately once they saw the ice mage’s scowly face, not that he wasn’t grumpy all the time but he looked furious.

He looked at Cana who was drinking from her big barrel of wine, but stopped once she took the appearance of Gray who was marching to her.

“Hey, Gray” she said wearily, Cana never gets on Gray’s bad side but once she does, she prefers to avoid him as much as possible because he can be a bit hot headed.

“Is something wrong?” 

“What did you and Juvia drink in your mission?” he said sharply, crossing his arms as he looked down at her.

“Um..” she began to think and tried to connect the events of their journey yestereday.

Cana dragged her blue haired friend on a mission to find a burglar in a village, they accomplished it with no sweat and the villagers were more than happy to offer them a meal and some wine which Cana really had her fill.

 There was also a village woman who lived alone and offered to stay in her inn since no one really goes by their village, her hospitality was kind.

“I think wine?” she said hesitantly, her mind grew black after enjoying her party with the villagers.

“Be sure Cana! What did they give you in that village?!” Gray snapped, his tone was harsh and probably scared.

“I don’t remember! What’s wrong with you?” she replied, bothered by his sudden outburst; he breathed in, and pulled his black hair up with his hand.

“Gray, why don’t you tell us what’s happening first? Then we could try and solve the problem” Mirajane suggested gently, Cana nodded next to her, Gray can’t blame her for something she doesn’t know or wasn’t aware of.

Gray breathed in, and took a moment to answer.

“Juvia is not herself today” Cana’s heart dropped, did she miss something yesterday? But she was completely fine, they were talking and laughing with each other on their way to Magnolia.

“She seems emotionless, like nothing is making her happy or sad or mad” Gray continued as he sat down in the stool next to Cana, his fist tighten and his shoulders were tense.

“She doesn’t smile at all, it’s like when she was in Phantom Lord but worse” 

The guildmates were circling him now, Gajeel was frowning with concern, his arms crossed.

“There must be something she drank Cana, you have to remember.. Please” Gray pleaded, his eyes were frightened, of course he will be, Juvia is very dear to him and to see her emotionless suddenly will make him panic.

In fact, she currently feels scared for her friend’s wellbeing. So she sat straighter, her mind was still woozy with her endless drinking but she is confident she can track the events of their previous encounter.

“Okay i do remember a woman who owned an inn, she didn’t look suspicious or anything but her place was empty, we thought maybe because the village didn’t have travellers to walk by, it was very windy and we didn’t want to face a storm in our way so we got in” she explained.

Everyone was murmuring amongst themselves, it is very clear that the village woman had  something to do with it.

“Did she offer you something?” Lucy asked.

“Yeah, like two bowls of potato soup and wine, she gave me two of those big barrels but Juvia didn’t want to overdrink herself so she just gave her tea” Cana suddenly gasped, it finally made sense, the tea was the cause for her friend’s issue.

“ That bi-” 

“Let me go find something about this tea, she could have fused it with something” Levy suggested while she went rushing to the library.

“I’m coming too” Lucy added, she squeezed Gray’s shoulder as a reassurance before she left.

“ and we will find this witch and break her spine” Gajeel said, cracking his knuckles, Lily already on top of his shoulder ready to fight.

Noticing his friend’s silence, Cana put her hand on his shoulder.

“Hey, are you okay?” she asked. Gray sighed and closed his eyes and shook his head. 

“I can’t go with Gajeel, i have to stay with Juvia” 

“I wasn’t even asking you” Gajeel opposed him with his usual gruffness, and left without a word.

Cana rolled her eyes at his attitude.

“I have to go back home” Gray said, getting up from his seat as he sighed, he was stressed, Cana can see it in his frown, he is stressed and worried about her.

“I am coming with you” she added, abandoning her sweet alluring drink aside, which Mira’s eyes widened with surprise.

“You don’t have to” replied her friend, his gaze was understanding and tired as he looked at her. It twisted Cana’s heart, she hates seeing Gray like that, it made her guilt eat her up.

She should have known better, an old woman in an abandoned inn, what worse could happen? 

“ no i want to, it is kind of my fault anyways” she hooked her arm with his and dragged him to the doors, she didn’t want to waste her time arguing while Juvia is alone at home.

Gray smiled lightly, she can tell that he was grateful for her company, on their way out he received a couple of back pats and support, they know that Juvia will come back the way she was again.

“I’ll send you a message to your Lacirama once Levy and Lucy find something” Mira called out, and they waved back in response.

Once Cana stepped foot into their house, she felt a sense of coldness, it was an unusual feeling, Juvia and Gray’s house always had warmth even if it’s residence was an ice mage. It was unsettling.

“Juvia, I am home” Gray said their usual greetings, but it was met with silence. All Gray could do was sigh.

Once Cana was led to their living room she was shocked at the state of her friend, Juvia looked so broken, her face was blank, her mouth was hanging open slightly, and was her face paler than usual?

“ Is it just me or does her face look blue?” she asked, her eyes still locked on Juvia’s frozen posture on the coach.

“No, she does look more blue” Gray replied, her worry grew worse.

“Hey Juvia, do you remember Cana?” Gray approached her, and gently gripped her shoulder.

“She doesn’t remember us?!” she asked, and he nodded sadly, Cana was bewildered, how come a single witch affect her friend’s memory like that? 

Juvia didn’t answer.

She slowly walked over to her and bent down to her knees, she rubbed them gently, and all Juvia could do was just glance at her, emotions were long gone from her blue eyes, now she looked soulless.

Cana felt disheartened, no wonder why Gray was desperate, she felt disgusted that her friend was deprived of her own emotions..

“Don’t worry Juv, you will be alright” Cana assured, giving her a smile. There is hope for her friend, she will come back and act like she used to. 

She hopes so.

Gray wrapped his arms around her from behind the couch and put his head on top of her, caressing her arms. He didn’t care that Cana was there, nothing mattered to him anymore except for Juvia.

This all feels surreal to him, once he realised that she wasn’t moving this morning he began to panic, he thought some kind of bug crept into her head and messed with her system, she couldn’t even get up without him leading her.

Stripped from her own emotions, not even sorrow was visible in her eyes yet all Gray saw was grief.

Juvia was trapped inside a spell, and all Gray could do was wait, and he hated that he couldn’t do anything to bring his Juvia back, her enthusiasm, her smile, her love, her dramatic expressions.

It’s not fair, she worked so hard to get to where she is now, and they took that from her, they took it.

They took it.

Gray had to calm down, he could feel his anger creeping inside of him like hot boiled water, he wanted to break something, he wanted to hurt something, he wanted to kill.

Kill that witch.

But Juvia needs him the most, everything will be dealt with later, he swallowed down his feelings and breathed in the air to calm his nerves.

It took 3 hours for Lucy and Levy to dig out a clue, it turns out that the spell that made Juvia emotionless was called ‘Apathy’, once a person drinks it, he will feel like his senses are leaving him slowly.

It made Gray’s stomach churn with the idea that Juvia felt every emotion leave her mind and heart, it means that she was also scared, terrified that she could not feel anything.

It took a day to find a cure, but by the end of the day, Juvia finally had her senses back slowly, it started with fear. Juvia didn’t what’s happening to her or how it was happening, she was anxious, stressed and terrified.

It was very hard for Gray to try and comfort her every time, she always felt like something was trying to get her, his heart was broken in pieces but that didn’t stop him from being there for her.

And then sadness, and gradually she got her emotions settled and stable.

Gajeel came back after successfully ‘smashing her head with his iron fist’ which made the master question him if he really did that or if he was overreacting.

It turns out he didn’t kill her but he did knock her out.

Much to Gray’s disappointment.

“Juvia, you really don’t need to do this” 

His partner has been cooking plates of food and dishes with extra desserts, and Gray is grateful for it, he won’t deny any of her meals if only she gives herself a break from cooking everyday.

“This is the least Juvia could do because of what she did!” she refused to budge from her spot as she stirred a pot of chicken soup.

“That was not your fault” Gray sighed when she didn’t reply, hyper fixated on the pot in front of her, her ears were deaf.

He can already feel a headache coming. But he could have her screaming and yelling her love for him than having her sitting in a chair staring in the void like she was dead.

The warm hand on his arm snapped him from his circling dark thoughts, Juvia’s gaze was worried.

“Gray-sama, are you alright?” she asked.

Gray smiled warmly and brought her to his arms, she immediately reciprocated , giving him a tight hold of her own.