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gralunaisland · 2 years

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A Veritable Essay in Response to a Pro Gr///uvian Argument

Because I hate myself and love bashing gr///via, I forced myself to look up “why gruvia is a good ship” (heretical, I know) to find some points made by pro-gr//vians on why they think it’s a good ship, because I sure can’t think of any on my own. This is a post I’ve happened upon, posted below for your viewing displeasure. I shall attempt to dissect each point in this person’s post below the picture.

Here goes nothing.

However, fair warning, this is a doozy. You might need a break during this read because of its length. I'd hope people could finish though so I can see what y'all think!

The "forced anime relationship/ not real life” point

- So this point.

Does Anon (anonymous poster) not realize that a “forced relationship” doesn’t mean that Mashima had a gun put up to his head to force him to write gr//uviugly as canon, it means that the relationship is a product of poor writing?

I don’t know how many times I can rehash just how poor this ship has been written, but I shall do it as many times as I need to I suppose.

Here we go, a lightning round:

Obsession and idolatry are not healthy to either partner. juvia is selfish and insane. Stalking and gaslighting should NOT be fetishized. Gray’s wishes are ignored. What they have is not true love since it's the product of gaslighting, manipulation, abuse, and ego.

Those are only a fraction of the reasons why it’s a disgusting ship, but I shall leave it as that for now because we have lots to talk about. All these reasons (and more) are why this ship is the product of poor writing and therefore is a forced relationship.

All throughout the anime (which I shall use for reference because I never read the manga) Gray shows disgust for juvia, at the very least for her actions. Any hint of affection he displays for her is merely because she’s a fellow member of Fairy Tail, and therefore he treats her accordingly. However, he displays the discomfort he feels from her actions clearly, freaking out every time she gets in his personal space and even going so far as to call her “CREEPY” during the Grand Magic Games. I don’t have the brain capacity to provide all the times he rejects her right now, but if you don’t believe there are many, I believe you and I watched different shows because 80% of their interactions from the beginning were with her lusting over him and him cringing.

All this to say, this is the norm for almost the entirety of the show.

(It should be noted that I have only watched up to after the disbandment of the guild and a few episodes of the last season, the Avatar arc, anyway, and that was enough to see the part about the juvia and Gray sharing a house. I do know, however, about the gr///uviugh garbage that takes place in the 100 Years Quest, and I remember hearing some about Gray and juvia being in a situation where they have to kill the other that results in juvia having a scar.)

Anyway, all the affection that Gray gets for juvia is super rushed and out of the blue after the Tartarous arc. she had done nothing out of the ordinary for Gray.

Risked her life to save his? As if Erza and Natsu and many other people haven’t done that already.

Always been there for him? Well, that is literally the creed of the Fairy Tail family, although unlike them, she has dirty motives for doing so.

All this to say again, the huge switch from being grossed out by her to becoming affectionate is insanely sudden and jarring. Any relationship written like that is poor writing, to have it one way the whole time and then to flip it on its head out of the blue.

And of course the apparent reason for this polarized shift is because juvia sacrificed her life for Gray, as I’ve said. But what’s the difference between her and any of his other friends being prepared to die for him?

It’s that from the beginning, juvia has been declaring her absolute love for him.

That is the only difference.

He proclaims that he will take her affections seriously for once not because he suddenly likes her, but because he feels obligated, indebted, bound to return her affections because otherwise he feels like he’s disregarded her emotions, like he owes her since he “hasn’t given her anything in return even though she’s signed her life away to him”.

Let me tell you this. That’s a big no-no. Just because your stalker and abuser throws their life away for you does NOT mean you have to suddenly return their feelings. They never cared about your feelings—otherwise they wouldn’t be stalking or emotionally and physically abusing you in the first place!

Otherwise, in Gray's manipulated, traumatized mind, she threw her life away “for nothing in return”. Think about it. Gray never said "I'll take your feelings seriously" to anyoneeee else who had sacrificed or was about to sacrifice their lives for him. The only reason he told juvia that was because she had basically bargained her life away for his devotion. she already had her cards on the table- she already let Gray know what she wanted- with her open declarations of love, and all she needed was for Gray to feel compelled to throw his hat in the ring.

In other words, the reason why Gray wouldn't promise to take the feelings of someone like Ur or Ultear seriously, both ladies who also sacrificed themselves for Gray, is simply because they had never told him that they loved him and wanted him romantically.

Yes, that is very obvious, but again, think about it. Gray would never have told juvia that he would try to love her if she had never pounded it into his brain that she loved him. It is that very fact that shows how Gray doesn't love juvia because of how special she is and how much better she is than the other women who've done the same thing, it is literally only because she already let him know that she lusted after him, and that is the only reason that makes her different.

You might say, “well it’s not like that was her reasoning for killing herself! she was just being selfless!”

To that I say well obviously she was being selfless because she has no sense of self outside of Gray in the first place. her life doesn’t matter to her so it’s no big deal, all that matters is Gray. she doesn’t exist without Gray.

And secondly, that may have not been her conscious goal, but if she had really wanted Gray to fall in love with her organically, naturally, for her as a person and not because of the one thing she did for him, then she would A, not stalk and harass him and would listen to him when he says NO (consent, people! It’s important!), and B, she wouldn’t feel good about Gray returning her love just because he feels indebted to her.

But nope.

she’s just happy Gray-sama is finally not rejecting her disgusting advances anymore.

In any case, that’s never a good start/factor of a relationship anyway, with one side madly and blindly obsessed with the other and with the other side being in the relationship ONLY because of an overwhelming sense of guilt and debt and duty to the other.

- I know this was supposed to be tacked on with the first question, but like what even is this, “it’s anime, not real life”.

Well... obviously???

Who said just because it’s anime and therefore not real life (again, isn’t that obvious?) it gets a pass at being poorly written and just plain terrible? (That doesn't even make sense- there's no script for real life anyway!) Those of us who actually appreciate character depth and chemistry would certainly not give it a pass.

Now, whether you support NaLu or not, I shall use an aspect of it as an example. Their ship has at least some character depth because Natsu has saved Lucy many times, especially that first time when she was almost kidnapped in the first episode, and he introduced her to the guild of her dreams and, most importantly, to the family she loves today. Of course he would be important to her. From the beginning, Natsu was special to Lucy, but the most important thing to note is that it wasn't romantic from the get-go. He annoys and exasperates her all the time, and she initially just viewed him as a weirdo. As for Natsu’s feelings for Lucy, he instantly clicks with her like any other person in FT, but it’s only after Natsu witnesses more of Lucy’s love for FT and its members does he start to treat her a little bit differently. Love for friends is of utmost importance to him, so it makes sense that he’d notice her in his dense way because she loves FT more than many. With him, it’s hard to tell when he’s acting differently because he’s so friendly with everyone, but an example is him acting bummed during that Rainbow Cherry Blossom festival. If he thought of everyone as equal in importance, he wouldn’t really mind one person not being there and would soon forget himself in the merriment. Obviously, we know that’s not what happens.

With all this, we see at least some development and depth. The chemistry is easy to see as well because they’re always bickering good-naturally or palling around with Happy tagging along. Honestly, Natsu's side could definitely use some more growth in terms of the ship because Natsu still doesn't treat her all that much different from other people from what I've seen, but my point is that there's a least some development in leading up to the ship. ALL THIS TO SAY (sorry for saying that so often), NaLu is an example of, while far from perfect, at least a start to a non-forced relationship.

In anime, no less. -__-

See, no excuses for poor writing. It doesn’t have to be a true story to be a good one. Before anything, they’re best buds, and I think that is the key point to this.

They did not start off as romantically inclined.

Aside from like all of 10 minutes after juvia initially met Gray, she has obsessed romantically over him for the whole time she's known Gray. juvia literally cannot be more obsessed with him, and that means there was no room for romantic development except from one side, i.e. Gray's. He could do no wrong in her eyes, and she needed to have him all to herself. Just because he was kind to her once, she believed she owned him.

Those are all major red flags.

Some might protest that it was simply love at first sight, even though none of that sounds like love, and is in fact not love, but even if it was love at first sight, in terms of a relationship, it's still not a good beginning. she "loved" him for having basic human decency and even swooned for him just from looking at him, so it was all surface level attraction anyway. We don't get to see any natural development of feelings and loyalty between the two because one is already there and has always been there, and the other has to be pressured there because, again, the other one is already there. There isn't any organic falling in love from either side.

The “blame it on the storyline etc.” point

- I don’t think Anon realizes that that’s what anti-gruvians are doing essentially. It’s really what any person who has a problem with any piece of fiction that someone makes is doing…

Yes, we hate the character juvia and her interactions with Gray, but it’s not like she’s a real person.

We realize this because we’re not insane.

Mashima is obviously the true culprit regarding her bad character, but I mean... We can claim that in one sentence with no real meaning.

“I blame Mashima for writing juvia as a bad character."

Okaaay, then how is she portrayed as a bad character?

“Well, she’s a stalker and an abuser etc. etc.”

Even though it was the author’s will that made a character the way they are, which is how it works, by the way, we still have to scrutinize that character’s actions as if they had their own agency in order to properly judge a character’s goodness/quality.

Okay, anon, we blame it on the storyline, on the author. Does that mean she’s free of critiques, that we cannot dislike her as a character?

Nope, because if you believe that, no one can have opinions on anything people write, because just as there are reasons why we dislike characters, there are also reasons why we like characters. No one asks “does the fact that Mashima is the one making juvia act the way she does mean we cannot like her?”, and you certainly wouldn’t say “I blame Mashima for making juvia likeable”. It adds nothing to the conversation to shift the blame to the author. It doesn’t make juvia any more likeable because guess what, she’s still the same character no matter if we blame her or Mashima, and therefore she’s still unlikeable. I feel like I could've articulated this better but it's 2 AM, so if anyone is confused, just send an ask or comment.

The "juvia is a perfect character” point

- I kinda hate that these words have to be uttered on my page. It is no exaggeration that she is the single most hated anime character I’ve ever watched in my life. ANYWAY. Saying that juvia has had the most character development out of any of the FT characters is such an astonishing thing to say. Sure, she goes from doom and gloom to cheery and obsessing over Gray, but rather than that being character development, it was really just a plain 180. Nothing developed, it was just poof, juvia's crazy about Gray.

Gray did nothing and said nothing to her in their first fight than what a decent person would do, though to be fair, her whole life hadn’t been filled with decent people. Even if he was the first one to be kind to her, the fact that she threw everything away to turn into one giggly stalking obsessive fan-girl for Gray is insanely creepy and concerning and cannot be described as good character development.

It took the span of, what, 2 episodes, for her to change?

she has had some nice moments, like where she opens her heart to Lucy in the Tower of Heaven, or when she saves Cana by sacrificing herself in the Battle for FT (both of which I have problems with anyway), but she is the opposite of consistent with those instances. Instances of her being a good, kind member of FT to people other than Gray are few and far, far between. A few instances of her being ridiculous and unkind just off the top of my head are her trying to drown Lucy by making her air bubble smaller, her wishing harm on her fellow Grand Magic Games FT people so she could fight alongside Gray, her lying to her guildmates that she’s worried and wants to go find Wendy on Tenrou Island when she really just wants to find Gray, her throwing the Grand Magic Games (even though it’s extremely important to all the other members to make amends for all the humiliation and grief the FT members who didn’t get the 7 year skip had to go through with losing all their best members) because she’s too obsessed w Gray, and how about her deliberately ignoring Gray’s rejection at the Ball in the palace.

she looks like a pretty stuck, one-track-minded character to me. she only joined FT because of Gray after all, and although she’s sometimes nice, she would obviously follow Gray wherever he went, even if that meant leaving FT. Unlike Lucy, who searched endlessly for her former guildmates after the guild disbanded, juvia merely followed Gray off and had the time of her life barging into his house and living with him. she didn’t care at all that the guild had disbanded, so long as she had Gray.

That brings me to next part about how she’s apparently “had the most character growth”. My next point is a great point made in an @absolutezerotolerance post, but basically they posted a picture of juvia when we are first introduced to the she-devil, as the Rain-Woman (who was so much better than the fan-girl juvia we unfortunately are stuck with) and a picture of juvia in the rain after being abandoned by Gray after the disbanding of the guild. Same girl, surrounded by rain and gloom, practically dead to the world, and being in a self-induced sickness no less. she remains near dead until being reunited w Gray.

Now tell me.

If a character only experiences character growth after attaching themselves to another character, and more than that, if you take that attached character away, they revert to their old self (and an even worse form of their old self on top of that), would ANYONE call that character development???

NO!

Development is when the character develops for themselves. That is not to say another person cannot help you grow, but to be so dependent on them to maintain your development means you have not developed and are just leeching off that person. This type of person changes only for that person, not because it’s good for you or that person or anyone else, and they have therefore not grown at all.

What's more, her so-called “growth” isn’t growth at all, it’s just different because she’s not a better person after turning into Gray’s groupie. she’s just now suddenly intrusive and insane and manipulative when before she'd just been depressed and depressing.

The "Natsu's had the same personality throughout the anime" point

- If you’re trying to prove juvia’s growth just by putting other characters down, that’s not much of an argument. This, however, might be indirectly Anon's best point. I will admit, like they said, Natsu’s character development isn’t that great. I think that's a product of the nature of his role in the story though. He’s kind of already your standard perfect MC. His ideals are steadfast, he’s fiercely loyal, and he will do anything to protect his friends.

I will agree with Anon that his “personality” stayed the same, though I think when they said that, they revealed that by character growth, they just meant personality change, which juvia did most definitely. Personality does not equal character growth however, especially when your personality takes a turn for the worse. To do such a 180 as she did so easily and quickly just shows she had no solid character to begin with.

Anyway, in regards to Natsu’s development, I’ll say a big thing he has over juvia is that he’s already a good person, someone who will beat sense into you if you’re wrong like with Jellal, and someone who will not kill an innocent man just because of what he might do in the future like with Rogue. juvia is just generally not a “good person” nor “selfless” unless it has to do with Gray (and even then, her “goodness” and “selflessness” is EXTREMELY debatable). That is not consistent character, nor is it commendable.

For Lucy, I think she discovered what it meant to love others, considering that fact that after her mom died, she didn’t have much love given to her. While mostly silly at first, she became to realize the true bond of friendship, well-displayed in the Phantom Lord arc. She learned she was not alone and could rely on others. She sacrifices her body and pride to save Bisca’s little daughter, a girl that Lucy isn’t super familiar with like she is with her team, in the GMG against Flair.

juvia would definitely do that kind of thing... if it were for Gray. juvia did do it once for Cana, but after Tenrou, she became one-track minded again. Also, I have problems with that Cana sacrifice thing for several reasons, but this is long enough as it is. (If you want to learn why, I made a post about it here.)

As a general note, I will say I don’t think Mashima does well with character development. I think Erza’s had some great strides at least once with the whole armor thing. After that, the "no armor" thing has just basically been her go-to OP mode which doesn't make much sense. Gajeel is definitely fighting for good now, as well as many enemies in Fairy Tail's world. But a lot of the characters seem a bit stagnant to some degree. With juvia however, I will say that I just don’t think she’s really changed, and her personality change isn’t even a good thing.

- Continuing on, about the "comparing to juvia" section of the point, I feel like Anon accidentally proved us right about gr///via.

Yes, you're right, Anon, juvia had been in Phantom Lord for a while, and then she went on to try to join Fairy Tail for the sole reason of her "sense of attraction" to Gray.

I really don't see your point.

Is that supposed to show any kind of character development on her part? Anon does realize that this switching of guilds is actually on par with her almost nonexistent character, right? she joined Phantom Lord ONLY because they were the first to act like they wanted her, so she would do anything for them blindly, disregarding the fact that her guild was hurting another guild for no reason besides jealousy, rivalry, and greed, not to mention almost killing all of them with the Jupiter cannon (and especially Makarov with the magic-sucky-suck move), and trying to kidnap a girl.

Just goes to show how blindly she'll follow anyone who shows her an inkling of kindness back in her early days (because subsequently, people are kind to her like Lucy, and yet she treats them like dirt because of her delusion that she owns Gray).

Then Gray was nice to her, and she imprinted on him harder than a baby chicken. That being her sole reason to join Fairy Tail shows that she didn't suddenly get a change of heart to try to make amends and become a good person, like a good plot development of her character would be, she actually just joined, disregarding the bad things she did to Fairy Tail, dumping her old guild mates except Gajeel as an after thought, because of her addiction to all things "Gray-sama".

Are we supposed to pretend like that's a good thing? A good thing for Fairy Tail? Or a good thing in terms of character growth? It really was neither. Something I hadn't thought of before is that although juvia was the reason Lucy got kidnapped, literally drowned her until she passed out, instead of trying to make amends with Lucy, even do so little as to apologize, she harasses her whenever she's in Gray's presence. The mean-spiritedness of that just shocks me.

How awful of a person do you have to be to be an absolute a-hole over a delusional romantic interest to someone you hurt so badly?

[This reminds me of Kazutora in Tokyo Revengers. (Spoiler warning!) He killed Shinichiro, Mikey's brother, while trying to steal a bike for him, and in order to make it make sense, he lost his mind and blamed Mikey for his own actions, when he was the one who was wronged by Kazutora and lost his fricking brother. Yes, Kazutora tries to redeem himself, and I can sort of understand it since it was clear that he was mentally unstable and unwell, but even so, during that period, I hated Kazutora. He did the same exact disgustingly toxic thing juvia does: create a victim and then blame and harass that victim.

And yet unlike Kazutora, juvia never completely comes out of her stupor. she never begs Lucy or Fairy Tail, or most importantly of all, Gray for forgiveness. she never acknowledges that what she does is utterly immoral and wrong. And that makes her infinitely worse.]

And yet Anon has the gall to use the only defense pro-gr///vians have addressing her terrible treatment of other women in Fairy Tail, that "it's only comedy".

Of course, thanks to the nature of comedy, this seems like an impenetrable defense since comedy is subjective. All they have to do is claim they find it funny, and therefore they are justified in liking the way she treats women whom she views as romantic rivals. While the subjectivity of comedy may be true, I believe there exists humor that just shouldn't be found funny on a moral standpoint. I'd rather not give examples because then it can get very dark, but if you imagine the worst things that happen on this Earth, there are plenty of things that no one should make light of.

Continuing to elaborate on why I personally don't think her actions are joke-material, I firstly want to say I have never found her fits of fury and passion funny. Even before I shipped Gray with someone else, even when I was a 12-year-old watching this show for the first time almost a decade ago, juvia's disgusting behavior perturbed me to no end. I hated seeing her on-screen at all. Seeing her hate Lucy rubbed me the wrong way- Lucy, who is just genuinely trying to be everyone's friend in the guild, considering how she considers them her family, maybe more than most of them do. Fairy Tail is her life, and for juvia to join it just for Gray and to hate Lucy just because Gray had the audacity to say he'd die to save Lucy from her clutches, when he owed nothing to juvia because they had literally just met, the attraction was one-sided, and they were MOST CERTAINLY not dating.

I mean, look at juvia's level of maturity when Gray said that in the Phantom Lord arc. she was allll prepared to step aside, abandon her guild's goals just because "ice boy hawt" and decidedly not because she was trying to do the right thing, but as soon as Gray shows his passion for protecting his guild mates, she freaks, yelling that Lucy, whom she's never really met before besides the time she KIDNAPPED HER, "cannot be allowed to live", and then proceeds to try to boil Gray alive.

I am struggling to see how that's funny.

That's just immaturity and insanity, and I would say downright evil. Lucy had done nothing to juvia, yet she was prepared to kill both Gray and Lucy even though her guild was the one that was in the wrong in the first place.

It is insulting to say that juvia is still a good person even after doing those kinds of things "for comedy's sake". Regardless if it is over-the-top to make it funny to some people, they are still actions she took very seriously. I find no fault in judging her on those actions as if she meant them, because she does. Never once does she laugh it off whenever she called Lucy a blonde bimbo or said she'd kill her, or when she suspected Lisanna for going after Gray when she offered to help her in the S Class Trials etc. etc., nor does anyone else laugh it off. The receiving end or the onlookers of the harassment are always uncomfortable and put off by her behavior. (Yet of course they somehow still all support juvia in her manic quest for "Gray-sama's" affection. I don't know, man, what can I say? Terrible writing and absolutely despicable behavior by Gray’s guild mates.)

- However, I shall say this on the "it's just comedy" front that so many pro-gr///viughs protest about juvia's overexaggerated obsession with Gray. Just like how I don't find Mest/Doranbolt's pedophilic tendencies/implications towards Wendy funny or cute in the slightest, so also do I not find someone who stalks, who creeps, who lashes out at innocent people, who creates out-of-character delusions of you, who creates a loofa made of your face and uses that same loofa to wash her privates and finds pleasure in it, who forcefully intrudes and lives with you while also trying to sleep with you in your own bed even though you say no, who gaslights, who manipulates, who doesn't take no for an answer, who doesn't ask for consent to touch you and say sexual or romantic things you don't want to hear, who assumes she owns you when nothing you've done suggested that you wanted that and in fact told her the opposite, to be funny in the slightest.

The fact that she's a woman makes many people find it harmless and comical, but as many before me have said, switch the genders and people would label a male juvia as a filthy pervert who doesn't respect a woman's consent. Why is she not viewed as a filthy pervert who doesn't respect a man's consent? That is literally what she is, and I am still to this day unsure how people find that perverse and r*pey behavior humorful... But I suppose there's no helping that if you truly do find it that way I suppose.

The "hating juvia bc she's obsessed with Gray and give me input on Lucy" point

- With this point, I was almost at a loss for words. Not because Anon had stumped me, but because of the ridiculousness of the argument.

Why can't pro-gr//vians just give a darn argument for their ship without putting other characters WHO ARE NOT RELATED TO THE SHIP down?? That doesn't make your argument stronger, it makes it more easily destroyed. Instead of providing a rebuttal for why juvia's obsession with Gray is a bad thing, Anon proceeded to COMPLETELY DUCK AROUND THE POINT and attack Lucy?? Even if you don't like Lucy, that leap in logic makes no sense.

You can just ask yourself:

"Okay, so I don't like Lucy, but what does that have to do with gr///via??"

(Personally I like Lucy, but it changes nothing whether you do or not because she is just not related to the argument for gr///uviugh at all.)

The answer to that question is it has nothing to do with that ship whatsoever. Anon just started hating on Lucy for crying a lot over the course of the show for no good reason. Not only that, Anon exaggerated their hyperbole to "she cries every episode" and "ngl 99% of the show was her crying".

I'm sorry, I think you are completely out of line with that comment, not because I'm a fan of Lucy, but because that statement is ONE, verifiably untrue (do I even need to prove that? Like seriously, she was not crying every single episode and no, Fairy Tail wasn't 99% Lucy crying and 1% gr///uviugh. Who would watch that?), and TWO, does nothing to prove why juvia's obsession is a "good thing."

Plus, crying harms no one. Even if you find it kind of annoying to see a lot, are you going to fault someone who cries at truly sad moments? She's never crying for no reason. Plus, almost every main character has cried at least several times in the manga. It just gives the situations our heroes find themselves in depth and meaning.

Anyway, crying shows Lucy cares that much about her guildmates, who were her family when her own family crumbled; crying shows how deep and expansive her heart is for others. She empathizes and loves deeply, and to say that's a bad thing is quite heartless. But see, where her crying harms no one, (crying is not abuse, and I have no idea how Anon is claiming someone's crying to be on par with someone's stalking), juvia's obsession harms Gray quite deeply. Again, no consent and no regard for his feelings, plus all the manipulation she enacts on him to make him think he loves her.

juvia's distrust of all women also harms her relationship with them, and the fact that her bullying did nothing to harm her relations w the guild is another example of Mashima's poor writing. her obsession harms herself, as she brings herself to the point of death from sickness when Gray disappears. So much harm. Again, this particular "point" made by anon just might be the worst one they have made here.

The "I'm in the mood to drop this" statement

- I am not surprised at all that you are, because you have made no good argument for the ship. I applaud the effort, however.

The "I hated the anime but watched it bc of juvia's personality and therefore I am biased" point

- I have no qualms w you wanting to watch an anime for just one character. I am glad you acknowledge that you are biased. MY PROBLEM IS is that while you say this, you still have said nothing to back up why her personality is good in the first place. You can't just say "sometimes people just favor one character over the other and that's normal" in the context of an argument, as that is not an argument for why she is likable.

Yes, in the end, I am not trying to convince this person to hate juvia. We all have opinions that are very hard to change. However, I am picking apart her character bit by bit to show why I do not think she is likable, and Anon is there trying to defend why she's likable and the best character by putting down other characters, by saying "I like her personality" when Anon would have to further clarify what about her personality is likeable, by saying she has more character growth than others when that is objectively false whether you like her or not, and by saying "I just like her more and that's normal".

The entire post made by Anon is a non-argument.

The "I don't see why you have to make a thread bashing a character" point

- Just like how you are able to make a whole post defending a character, so can people make posts bashing a character. It goes both ways, Anon. Since we are all entitled to our opinions, it's just something we can do. If we are frustrated with a character, why not rant about it on the internet? You say "you could make a thread bashing Lucy, but you don't because you're not childish", but seriously, Anon. Half your argument in response to why juvia's obsession is a bad thing is that Lucy sucks, so I have no idea why you think bashing a character is childish.

You are literally as childish if you really think ranting on a character is childish, according to your own definition of childish, Anon.

Just like how you love juvia so much and are allowed to expound on her good attributes (*cough cough* there are none) on the internet, so too can someone hate on her just as much. The internet is and has never been a place where you can only say positive things about people or things. If it were, it would be a place even more filled with lies because not everything has good sides to it.

Other people on the internet owe you nothing. They don't have to hide their opinions just because you love a character. Don't believe the world revolves around your opinions, and especially don't think you're somehow above it all when you literally kept bashing a character yourself. (By the way, I do not find bashing a character to be childish, nor do I find praising a character to be childish.)

Have some self-awareness.

Disclaimer

Yes, in the end, who really cares whom you like? It's all fictional characters, (although I believe popular media affects real life) and this argument was more for fun than any real attempt at changing people's minds. No essay on Tumblr will probably ever change a pro-gr//uviuggo's mind, and that's okay. We'll all live. Won't stop me from bashing her though >:3

Closing Notes:

Well, I think I have covered every base. I hope this all made sense. To be honest, I was planning on cutting this up into several posts considering how behemoth this post is, but then I thought people might not see my response to every point given so I just left it as one mega-post. I am sorry for the length; I hope some of y'all survived.

If any of you think I made a bad point, have any questions, or if you would like me to go more in depth on anything, please feel free to comment or send me an ask. I have my asks on so I hope that is working; like I said before on my blog, I am very new to Tumblr. Thank you for your time! Have a wonderful day.

#anti gruvia #natsu dragneel #lucy heartfilia #gray fullbuster #gray deserves better #pro-gray fullbuster #ft #defend gray fullbuster #defend Lucy heartfilia #fairy tail discourse #anti juvia #anti juvia loxar #anti juvia lockser #fairy tail #anti gray x juvia #gralunaessay #gruviugh #gruvia can burn #gruvia sucks

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bbygirljuvi · 3 years

Text

Gruvia Week Day 6 - Agony

Author’s note: l know it’s very late but hope you enjoy ^^ /// hurt-comfort

Summary: This takes place in a “possible” or more likely “alternative” future where Juvia and some of the other members joined Team Natsu in Elentir, and White Priestess needs a stone formed by Selen’s magic’s remnants in order to stop Elentir from exploading.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

“YOU ARE NOT GOING.”

Whole guild stopped and turned their head to the entrance, where annoyed Juvia stormed in followed by raging Gray.

“DO YOU HEAR ME. JUVIA. YOU ARE NOT GOING.”

Water mage suddenly came closer to him and speaked in a composed voice:

“Do you have a better idea then, Gray-sama?” This shut his mouth for a second.

“No” he said, greeting his teeth. “But sacrificing yourself is not an option too”

“IT IS AN ACCEPTABLE RISK” she brust out with frustration. Guild shooked by another shock wave. Had Juvia Lockser yelled at her beloved Gray-sama??

Gray could have been shocked too if he wasn’t in total rage. How could she even thought about doing this to herself! What’s worse was that he knew Juvia enough to know there was no turning back when those determination sparkes settled in her eyes.

Erza was the first one pulled herself together. She separated water and ice mages whos was looking at each other in a silent war. It was so weird seeing them like that..

“What’s going on?” Erza asked in a commending way.

“Juvia found a way in,” she started excitedly but continued more irritated “and made the mistake sharing her plan with Gray-sama first, thinking he would be supportive-“

“It’s a suicIDE MISSION” Erza warned him with a look but she had a bad feeling about this. There were a few things that could piss Gray off this much.

“Juvia realised there is an underground riverhead near here which rises to the surface around Black Moon Mountain and goes beyond it’s foot!! Juvia can sneak in using her water body, get stone samples and sneak out just as she get in!” She dropped the bomb which caused different reactions from her friends.

Natsu cheered happily “That’s perfect Juvia!” while Levy whined “Juvia!!?” in terror. Erza was rubbing her forehead, evaluating the idea. Lucy and Wendy were looking hesitant while Gajeel was shaking his had in approvement. Erza started:

“ I don’t know Juvia...There is so many things could go wrong? Sending you there alone is just...” Her words calmed the ice mage who was about to rail Natsu. His lips curled up a bit. He turned to Juvia, opened his mouth to say ‘see?’ when Erza continued:

“But I can’t think of any other way.”

“WHAT? YOU’RE APPROVING THIS?”

“Gray-sama Selene don’t know what stones can do. There won’t be any protection around the area. Riverside is maximum one minute away from magic remanence. And this is a take and run mission, Juvia can always run back if somethings go wrong-“

“You. Can’t. Know. That! We have absolutely no idea what Selene knows nor don’t. You can’t know if there is an extra protection. You can’t know her or her minions suddenly won’t feel like using the area. What if they catch you? You’ll be alone in there Juvia! We won’t be there in time if something goes wrong-“

“Gray you’re speculating-“ Erza started but he cut her short angrily

“These are not speculation, possibilities!”

“Gray she is very well capable of doing this. None of us wants to send her alone but this is our best shot.” Lucy explained in a considerate voice.

“And Juvia always had been good at sneaking. Phantom used her as a spy a lot of time.” Gajeel commented in a similar voice. Which somehow drove ice mage even more crazy.

“ I know she’s strong and capable but I also know she’s not immortal like she likes to think!”

This caused an awkward silence because everyone was aware he wasn’t entirely wrong. It was a dangerous mission with a high potential of disaster.

“What are you suggesting than Gray-sama. Should we let a dimension of people die just because it was a little dangerous for Juvia?”

“No.. but we can find another way-“

“But we couldn’t and time is ticking.” He kept his silent while examining everyone.

Lucy, Wendy and Levy were still hesitant yet accepted the situation. Natsu was confused. Gajeel was giving approval. Erza had warmed up to the idea. And lastly, Juvia was heartbroken yet determined.

His heart tightened. He knew she would do it anyway, even the whole guild would be against it. Anger he’s been desperately holding on since she told him about her plan was fading. Giving it’s crown to the actual emotion, fear. His eyes started to burn.

“Are you going to go?” He asked,

trying to keep his voice calm and straight.

“Yes”

“Fine.” he said taking a few steps back. “If you want to kill yourself, do it. But I won’t stay here and watch it.” Then he left as fast as he came.

With his exit everybody took a deep breath. Juvia felt her eyes getting filled with tears. It was their first fight. She knew his actions were fueled by worry yet this knowledge didn’t ease the pain in her heart. Erza pulled her into a hug, mumbled:

“ You know he acted like this because he cares about you a lot, right?” while caressing her hair.

“Juvia knows but it doesn’t make it any easier..” She left Erza’s arm with a last squeeze and dried corner of her eyes. She didn’t want to cry this time.

Natsu was still looking where Gray left. He was very confused. “What’s wrong with ice princess? It wasn’t like him at all.” he verbalised his confusion.

Lucy felt her eyes twitched in annoyance. “Of course It’s too much for you to understand” she grumbled as she walked to Erza and Juvia. Left even more confused Natsu behind her.

“He is not entirely wrong tho Juvia.” she sat down in front of her. “You have no obligation to put yourself in such danger.”

Juvia shook her head. “I’m doing it of my free will. Let’s stop talking about weather should i do it or not and start talking about how to do it.”

After that they made backup plans for every bad scenario they could think of. Which was a lot since Levy was a doomsayer. They thought about what tools she should took along, when she should leave, how long she should stay inside and other details until dinner time.

As they went onto the details it got more believable that this misson was doable. So at dinner everybody was in better mood, they were still worried, of course, but relaxed enough to laugh a bit.

As time went on and her leaving time, which was a little after it got dark,came closer; Erza hesitantly asked:

“Ehem Juvia.. are you sure you’re okey leaving without saying goodbye to Gray? We can found him if you want-“ She shook her head rapidly.

“If his stubbornness is more important than farewelling Juvia, there’s nothing to say.” She said determinedly. But couldn’t hide the pain crossed her heart. She hoped he would come. She thought he would come.

“And it’s almost time to go too, Juvia should get ready.” She got up with a determined smile. Looked around the trusting faces she called family and continued with a even brighter smile. “See you later, everyone.”

This time, it was Lucy who pulled her into a hug. Followed by Erza whom followed by Gajeel whom followed by Levy and a moment later whole guild was touching their one and only water mage, cheering and exchanging assuring words.

She exited from the hall followed by echoes of her friends voices. Her smile faded as she got closer to the bigger building they used as an inn. Fully aware that she would spend her remaining time suppressing her disappointment. Thinking about how stupid her ice mage is on a dangerous mission wasn’t a good idea.

That’s why she felt suprised, angry and euphoric at the same time when she saw him sitting on the floor, in front of her door. His eyes were covered by his hair. He was playing with his finger like he always did when he’s nervous. She slowly took last two ledder while her lip curled up.

When she stood in front of him, for a second he ignored her. Continued playing with his fingers as he looked down. Then slowly hugged her legs. Hid his head from her sight and mumbled:

“I’m sorry, I overreacted.” His voice was hoarse like he’d been cried a lot. “ It’s just.. I-I might not..” he squeezed her legs harder, instead of finishing his sentence. Juvia lifted his chin despite his resistance and looked into his eyes. They were red and swelled, confirming her suspicion. He’d been cried. A wave of affection passed through her veins.

He saved himself from her grip with a blush and burried his face to her legs once again. Her hands went straight to his hair, carresed it with compassion.

“You might not what?” her voice came out more eager than she intended.

“I might not be over the Invel incident...”

No shit, she thought as she kept her silence for him to say more. But mentally she was literally jumping. They were finally having this much needed conversation.

“It’s just.. I hold you in my arms as your heart slowed with every beat Juvia... There were blood everywhere a..and I was leaning on you, to feel your breaths but I...I couldn’t-“ he stoped once again when his voice broke. They stayed in that position one or two minute. He slowly continued. whispering this time:

“I saw the world without you, Juvia. And I can’t afford living in it. I can’t”

She slied into his arms and sat down on his lap, pulled his head to her breast as he wrapped his arms around her.

“Gray-sama do you remember, while we were fighting against eclipse dragons, we had a vision that Gray-sama was...gone.”

He lifted his head just for a second. “I do..”

“Well, Juvia does too. She had many sleepless night over that. Waiting him return from missions were literally torture. She even pucked out of anxiety once when he was late. She wanted him to choose safer jobs, no, she wanted to lock him in case.

“She blamed herself a lot too. For being so weak, so careless..” Gray lifted his head again, to object this time but she stopped him.

“Then one day, you stepped on Natsu-san’s scarf while he was hiding under the table to prank Lucy and didn’t get up for a while.” She chuckled to annoyed growlings he made. His nose had broken that night.

“And at that moment she realised she couldn’t destroy every hidden scarfs standing his way. So instead of waiting some bad thing to happen her beloved Gray-sama and missing her chance at the process; she decided to enjoy every moment they had together until separation was inevitable. And hope that day won’t come for a long long time.”

He was looking her with a complex expression. A small smiled formed on his lips a moment later. Now it was his turn to pull her into his chest. “ I can try that” he said softly. Then his expression hardened a bit.

“But you still have to promise me you will drop the mission if some out of plan situation occurs.”

“She promise she will be reasonable.” He sighed and said

“Fair enough. And I will break into if you won’t return till sunrise.”

“Juvia will definitely return then.” She looked outside “To be able to keep her promise she needs to get ready now” His lips curled down immediately. Like a kid whose candy has taken away from him.

She pinched his cheeks near his pouty lips with a reassuring smile before going into her room.

Approximately 10 minutes later she came out wearing tights, small backpack and one of his shirt she owned while they were living together. That cheered him up a bit. She offered her hand to him:

“Let’s go down to others.” He hold her hand but stayed still instead of gettting up.

“I don’t want them to see me like this,” showed his eyes “Would it be okey if we say goodbye here?”

She kneeled in front of him and hugged him tightly, whispered:

“See you later, Gray-sama.” And pulled back quickly, feeling his intention of keeping her in there another half an hour.

She was just about to get up when she felt his grip on her armed, followed by a sudden kiss on her cheek.

“Good luck kiss,” He said while his grin got bigger as her flushing got deeper. “Now go!”

He ambivalently watched his girl left for an extremly dangerous mission; stumbling and smiling like a silly.

#gruvia #gruvia week #gruvia fanfiction #gruvia drabble #bbygirljuvi writing

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fairy-serigala · 3 years

Note

Are you forgetting that gray stalked lucy, by trying to follow her home?. Then getting caught by natsu. Then he broke into her apartment and stripped nude. It really shows that men can't be seen as stalkers while women characters like juvia are easy targets because she is an important side character. I literally don't understand the logic?, they did the same thing but nobody cares because gray is the tall dark and handsome guy everybody gloats over.

Look, there are other blogs for this kind of discussion, and this isn't one of them. This is the only butt-hurt gr///uvian I'm responding to, because it's the first, but from here on out I'm going to be deleting any and all messages like this.

(This ended up being much longer than I was anticipating so here's a cut so you don't have to see it all. TW: Mentions and discussion of abuse, stalking, gaslighting, sexual harassment & assault, double standards & misogyny, abuse apologism, and a single mention of rape culture.)

Let's get this over with quickly-

Gray stalked Lucy by trying to follow her home - Gray followed Lucy home because she said she thought she was being followed. He followed her to make sure she got home safely. He said this, even when he was caught by Natsu and Happy.

He broke into her apartment - So did Natsu and Happy and Erza and many, many other characters. No, it's not right when Gray does it. But it's also not right when anyone else does it. Either punish all off them or none of them, you can't cherry pick Gray because you don't like him.

He stripped nude - Yep. You're right. Go get yourself a cookie.

My friend runs the blog @absolutezerotolerance and I've heard all about you, Anon. I get it, you don't like Gray, you think he's an awful person who deserves all the abuse he endured, but here's the thing because you refuse to listen.

Just because Gray has done some shitty things, does not mean he deserves to be stalked and abused.

If you think he does then I hope to GOD that we never meet because you are an abuse apologist and I do not need to know someone like you.

Men who stalk women should be held accountable for their actions, it is not acceptable. Women who stalk men should be held accountable for their actions, it is not acceptable. There should not be a double standard, but unfortunately there is, and it doesn't go the way you think it does.

We hear all too often about men and masc. folk who get abused and stalked and hurt and no one believes them, because men are meant to be strong and tough and hide their emotions. I've seen on this very website people who believe that men are incapable of being abused because of some made up genetic component.

Men and masc. folk need to be listened to. This is not something that can be brushed aside, it is key and it is crucial. The wellbeing of men and masc. folk cannot be ignored.

And this is what's happening here, with Gray and Juvia and Lucy. No, it's not okay when Gray does it to Lucy. But Gray has suffered more at the hands of Juvia. That's all.

Gray should be held accountable for his actions, but Juvia's actions are simply further reaching and far more detrimental. They are indicative of a problem that makes me so, so sad to see.

Juvia isn't an easy target because we're looking for someone to hate. That isn't how this works, Anon. We hate Juvia because she gave us a reason to. Because she stalked Gray multiple times, including across several countries to Isvan. Because she has emotionally manipulated and gaslit him multiple times both after Ultear sacrificed herself and saved Gray, and on top of Gray's parents' grave after his father died a second time. Because she has a history of sexually harassing him - including touching him without permission and refusing to let go, and asking him to spank her when they a) aren't a couple and b) he makes it clear that he isn't comfortable with that. Because she objectifies him to such an extent that everything in her room is Gray-themed in some way - from multiple stuffed plushes, to a bar of soap that she uses to wash herself with. Because she admitted to sexually assaulting him during the one year time skip. Because he does not consent to what she does to him and she doesn't listen. Because she drugged him in an attempt to make her love him - removing consent from the equation all together.

What Gray does to Lucy isn't okay. But Juvia has a much, much longer list of crimes. This isn't okay to ignore. Especially when it's romanticised to this degree.

Your reasoning for ignoring everything Gray has gone through is the exact same reasoning that abuse apologisers and devil's advocates use to ignore women when they report abuse against them. "They're too pretty" or "this person did [x] to [third party] so they deserved it". It's a couple steps to the left of rape culture. Going to absurd lengths to ignore and dismiss Juvia of all wrongdoing and instead putting all the blame on Gray.

When I, or my friends, talk about GrUvia, we don't have to talk about Lucy. If she isn't relevant to the discussion, we don't have to bring her up and say "oh but don't think Gray's perfect because xyz". It doesn't cripple our arguments and it doesn't suddenly make everything we say redundant.

There are parts of Juvia that need to be discussed critically because they're a microcosm of a much bigger issue with today's society and the way it responds to abuse, abuse victims and abuse survivors.

We need to be able to look at situations like GrUvia and recognise that they're dangerous. Otherwise, how are we meant to do that when it comes to the real world? How am I meant to trust that if someone comes to you, Anon, saying they've been abused that you'll believe and help them?

This isn't about who's done worse, this is about the victims of stalking and abuse.

Laser focusing on the perpetrators only makes it more likely for victims to fall through the cracks without justice. And some, like Gray, may end up giving into their abusers and that isn't okay on any level.

Suffering isn't a competition, Anon. Gray is able to do shitty things and still be a victim, his right to health and safety can't be taken away because he isn't flawless. No one is flawless, but everyone deserves to be safe. This is all about empathy and listening to victims and having the ability to realise when a piece of media is perpetuating an idea that hurts and kills real people.

#anonymous #fairy tail #fairy tail discourse #anti gruvia #anti juvia lockser #i will not be anti-gr///ay no matter how much anon wants me to be #you can hate him all you want #but you can't change my mind #and I will delete any and all future responses from you anon #you are not welcome here

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redsbrainrot · 3 years

Text

Gruvia Week - Discovery

This is my first time positing on here lol - go easy on me please

Warning: minor smutty themes

_ _ _

"Juvia, you feeling alright?"

Juvia, sat on a bench in the guildhall next to Levy and Gajeel, continued to rock back and forth in her seat with her arms clenched around her stomach. In Levy's lap was placed one of the twins in her hold, giddy and babbling while the one Gajeel was cradled into his shoulder and fast asleep. Therefore their conversation had to remain quiet or the six month old baby would awake screaming.

"Juvia's okay," She mumbles, "I think I just ate something weird."

Levy and Gajeel glance at each other, "Do you feel sick?" Levy asks.

She nods, "A little."

"Weren't you feeling crappy yesterday?" Gajeel adds.

"A bit." Juvia would bend her truths to save her friends from worrying too much.

For the past four days, Juvia had been experiencing mild nausea. Every day it appeared to be more frequent, this day being the worse.

"Come on," Levy stands up and carefully hands over the twin she had to Gajeel, "I'll take you home."

Levy walks Juvia down the sunsetting street to the apartment Juvia shared with her boyfriend, who was currently out on a long lasting job, leaving Juvia with a feeling of absence in her apartment, and peacefully waiting for him to return in a months time.

Juvia frantically gets out her keys to unlock the door, a sensation of rush bursting through her veins. As soon as she enters, her direction is in a locked path directly towards the sink as it was the closest thing for her to unleash half digested food from her stomach.

Levy quickly grabs a chunk of Juvia's wavy blue locks to save them from being stuck together by portions of puke while her hand eases her by rubbing circular patterns on Juvia's back. After Juvia retracts her position from over the sink, she sinks to the ground, exhausted and somewhat hungry again.

"Juvia, how long have you been feeling like this?" Levy questions, dropping next to her.

"A few days."

"Are you sure it's something you ate?"

Juvia's eyes widen a little, peering up towards Levy's face. She hadn't exactly thought what it could be. Truthfully, she was denying what it most definitely was. Juvia's an intelligent woman, and can tell the difference between an illness and... the other topic.

Juvia begins to twiddle her thumbs in nervousness as her nose buries into the skirt of her dress on top of her knees, "Juvia's not exactly sure..." She confesses.

Levy's next query would for sure strike something, "Is your period late?"

That one didn't actually enter Juvia's mind. She mutters a sequence of dates and numbers to herself, counting on her fingers in concentration. "Shit!" Juvia cursed on rare occasions.

"Is that a yes?"

Eyes wider than ever, she nods. "Two weeks late!"

Levy knew all these symptoms. Juvia had been oversleeping and coming to the guild at later times in the day, the nausea, the missed periods... It wasn't hard to calculate. She pushes herself from the floor and taking Juvia's hand with her, taking her towards the bedroom and implying her to sit on the bed, as this will be pretty heart stopping.

She takes her hands into hold, and kneeling in front of the puzzled blunette, her voice gentle and calm, in attempt to keep things light hearted, "Juvia, I think you're pregnant."

Her eyes slant to the side, taking in the life changing information that may be a high possibility. "No..." She says under her breath, "Gray-sama and Juvia aren't even married yet... not even engaged." Juvia likes to keep traditions in mind.

"Doesn't mean it's not a possibility. All the evidence is right in front of you, you can't possibly deny it. Plus you've always dreamed of having kids with Gray. This can be a good thing if you want it to be. If not, that's totally fine too."

Juvia and Gray hadn't discussed kids more than once. At least alone together and not in a teasing situation surrounded by their guild-mates.

"Have you got any pregnancy tests here?"

Juvia shakes her head in reply.

"I'll go out and get you one." She breaks the contact, exchanging a smile with her as she heads out the door.

Juvia falls into her bed, glaring at the ceiling as she processes the situation. The chances of it being true were actually quite high. The two of them were very sexually active, yet also taking precautions. Most of the time. Once or twice, Gray may have relied on the withdrawal method. A few weeks before Gray left for his job along with Natsu, Lucy and Erza, the two of them went out to stargaze. Mere touches were grazed on each others skin. Those touches becoming more lewd, lewd gestures forming into kisses, and eventually, the kisses leading to sex under the midnight sky.

Juvia's hands slap to her face in utter embarrassment, and stupidity flowing through her mind. No contraception which was one hundred percent effective existed, and they increased the chances of conceiving by using the worst method possible.

Juvia unconditionally loves her Gray-sama, and even though it took some time, the feeling was completely mutual. However, Juvia had planned out her life with Gray. First moving in together, which had already been achieved. Second, waiting for the day he proposes (she doesn't have the guts to do it herself). Third, the day the two lovebirds finally get married. Last but not least, babies.

Juvia had strong mother instincts, she was born to be a mother. What made her dream bigger about it was the fact Gray would one day be a father to them.

Ten to fifteen minutes later, Levy returns with a plastic bag. Containing some comfort food and of course a pregnancy test.

Juvia hesitantly takes the test, and heads inside the bathroom.

She follows the instructions while her heart beats worryingly fast. In fear of the answer, she slaps the test into Levy's hand while they wait a few minutes for the result, not wanting to see for herself.

"Juv..." Levy calls after a few minutes.

Juvia peaks up from her slouch as she sat on the end of the bed, her teeth grinding with anticipation.

"It's positive."

Juvia had trouble believing it. She was actually pregnant? Even though she was going to beat herself up for not being more careful, a hint of joy sprung out of nowhere. Hormones, perhaps?

A brief smile emerges on Juvia's round, porcelain face, while her eyes are screaming. She's actually, after all these years, going to have a baby with the man she's wanted to the most. Just a little bit earlier than she had originally planned.

Gray doesn't return for another month. After this, she wouldn't be able to bare another moment with him not knowing.

"When does Gray get back?"

"Just over a month... I don't know what I want to do..."

_ _ _

On the couch, dressed in her boyfriend's shirt and a pair of shorts, Juvia sat in peace and comfort while skimming the pages of one of her favourite books to pass time. Gray's arrival was due that day. Juvia had a burst of anticipation to see her boyfriend after so long, but coated with fear in addition.

Juvia slams her book as she catches the sound of keys turning the locks. After discovering she's pregnant with her Gray-sama's baby, she'd spent the previous month reading pregnancy books, making space for the baby in the spare bedroom, which was previously used as a storage room which would grow like mould. For the majority, she'd be sleeping and having naps three times a day, and throwing up anything that'd enter her body. Her cravings were wild, her tongue rejected almost all of her favourite foods, including her most adored Gray buns.

Juvia'a smile lightens Gray's life up as he opens the door. His jacket is immediately stripped without a thought and his arms around her body, first pulling her closer to him and their lips briefly locking for a sweet moment. Juvia's hands crawl up to his neck, she retracts her lips for a second and tugs him back for an even deeper, more tender one.

"Fuck," Gray curses in a breath, "I've missed these lips," He kisses her once more, "I've missed you."

He makes her squeak as he grabs her thighs. Juvia loops her legs around his waist as an immediate reaction, giggling and melting into the strong, hungry kisses. Gray's tongue surprises her as he licks her bottom lip, needing to meet with hers. By how he was moving towards the bedroom, tugging his teeth at her lip and occasionally licking, his crotch pressed right against hers, she knew what he wanted and was aware he wanted it now.

"Gray..." She pants, breaking the kiss.

Gray ignores her, assuming her words are more of a moan and slips his tongue inside her mouth. She allows his tongue to take control of her mouth, being distracted by his taste and moving into a moment of bliss. Then reality slaps her in the face as her back hits a door.

"Gray, I need to talk to you." Worried and out of breath, her usual third person switches to first.

Gray's lips halt their work, his eyes opening and hands becoming looser, dropping her to the ground delicately.

"Are you okay?" His fingers brush through her bangs, tracing to the side of her porcelain face.

She nods, retaining a smile and she takes his hand, turning around and opening the door to their bedroom. She takes them to a bed, this time for conversational purposes, not making hot, sweet love.

Holding his hand, her eyes flutter close, mouth intaking a deep breath, releasing a sigh a second after. "Remember that time, you and Juvia were out in the fields outside of town, stargazing?"

Gray's smirk startles her, "Oh yeah, I remember that night." He recalls the sex immediately.

"You also remember making love then?" She urges the memory, and a possible yearning sensation in Gray's boxers.

"Yes?" He took note something was wrong rather quickly.

"And how you had to pull out since Juvia wasn't on the pill that week, and we didn't have a condom?"

He nods, eyes narrowing.

"Well," She chokes on her words, unable to confess immediately, "you may have pulled out a moment too late..."

She pressures herself inside her own head "Spit it out, Juvia!". She'd had the perfect pep talk from Levy, and was convinced she'd have no trouble revealing her pregnancy.

Luckily, words didn't have to be used. A more convenient way was also possible for her.

Juvia lifts up her sweater, having a tighter t-shirt underneath. She holds the top of Gray's hand, and guides it to her stomach, having him feel her bump, confessing her pregnancy in a nonverbal way.

Gray's eyes break from hers, darting to her stomach and widening, his reaction unreadable from Juvia's perspective.

Juvia's concern over his reaction rises, as he wasn't uttering a sound. About to panic, scream of how she had the worst feeling in the world she knew he'd be against it, Gray's free hand holds the other side of her small bump. The anxiety in his eyes had faded, and gazing with awe in replacement.

"Gray-sama?" Juvia says, after many silent moments of listening to each others breaths.

"There's actually... a baby us in there?"

Having him say "a baby us" melted Juvia's heart. Out of all the possible ways Gray could've responded it, that she was not expecting. "Yes. What do you think?"

He doesn't respond straight away, continuing to gaze at her bump, his hands trailing over it and lightly caressing. He catches Juvia off guard when his lips swiftly kiss hers. He places excited, soft, joyful kisses from her lips, to the corner of her mouth, cheeks and forehead. Juvia's unable to contain a smile, giggling into the final heartfelt, impassioned kiss. Her arm loops around his neck, deepening their kiss, while his hand is at the back of her neck and one staying on her bump.

"Gray-sama is happy?" Her eyes widen with joy.

"Yes!" He exclaims while kissing her once more.

She pulls away, out of breath with a hyper voice, "Gray-sama wants to have a baby with Juvia?"

He pushes himself further back, regaining some control, taking her hands into his, "Well... Yeah. We've been together for two years. I know we both thought marriage would come first - I'll be honest, having a baby right now will be scary as we weren't trying for one and it's just happened. I know I don't bring up the thought of us having a child together often, as it's more of a you thing..." He pauses, nervously taking a bite at his lip, "But I knew we'd end up having one eventually. If you're happy with one now, so am I."

Juvia's face had blushed immensely red throughout his words. There's no way in hell Gray would confess that in front of the entire guild. Having him say it to her face, while holding her hands, was just enough for her.

_ _ _

Two days had passed. Gray and Juvia spent the weekend together, discussing their excitement over the baby, and mainly catching up on the past two months apart.

First night back, Gray's sleep was muddled and would wake up at least three times during the night. His emotions were complicated to explain, but he could sum them up and admit his happiness. The news may have not fully kicked in, and he was shocked of how Juvia seemed to be able to relax, sit peacefully on a couch and read books. Yet again, she had just spent a month by herself well aware of what was growing inside her.

The two agreed they'd wait a few weeks before fully announcing it to the guild, plus Gray's shyness. However, an infamous dragon slayer had other plans.

Juvia was clothed in baggier clothes than normal, concealing her bump as her tighter dresses were incapable of that. Gray, Natsu and Lucy were sat at a table in the centre of the guild. Natsu throwing unintentional flirtatious comments at Lucy, and would receive relatively harsh slaps in the bicep in return.

"Hi everyone." Juvia sweetly announces herself as she slides beside Gray, discretely grasping his fingers as she's sat down.

"Hey, Juvia." Natsu grins, which soon disappears as his nose begins to twitch.

"Something wrong?" Gray questions.

He nods, his sniffing becoming more obvious, "Can you smell that?"

"I can't." Gray shrugged, raising an eyebrow at Juvia.

"We don't have the nose of a beast like you," Lucy giggles, "What is it?"

Natsu leans forward, following his scent with his sight in attempt to locate it, which his glare ends on Juvia. "It's you!"

She jumps at his forwardness, gripping Gray's hand firmer. "Huh?"

"There's something different about you... new perfume?" She shakes her head in response, "It may be the dress, never seen you in something so loose."

"Watch your mouth, pervert." Gray growls as he takes Natsu's innocent comment more crudely.

"You're calling me a pervert!?" Natsu immediately bites back.

Lucy slaps her hand to Natsu's shoulder, pushing him back into the seat, "It doesn't take much for you to get riled up, does it?"

"Seriously though," He flounces out his hands towards Juvia, "Something is different! I can smell it!" Lucy sighs and hushes him as his bellowing was grabbing the rest of the guilds attention.

Juvia and Gray eye each other in fear. Natsu may not have the IQ of a genius, however his nose is powerful enough to sense any form of change. Lucy quickly takes note of the glance they exchange, figuring out by the scent and the stares, something is certainly up.

"Wait..." Her eyes narrow in query, "Is something actually different, Juvia?" Her choice of tone more calm than Natsu's, easing the two of them.

Juvia's eyes slant as her leg bounces in anxiety. Announcing her pregnancy five days earlier than planned would certainly drive Gray crazy. He hasn't mentally prepared himself for the attention and congrats as he's soon to be a father.

"Well..."

"Juvia!" Gray objects.

Juvia releases a frustrated breath, "Gray-sama, there's no harm-"

"I'm not ready to tell yet!"

"You're pregnant."

Juvia and Gray's heated stare breaks as Natsu points a finger at them, shockingly figuring out their secret much quicker than expected.

Lost for words, the two gape like blank minded sheep.

"I'm right, right?"

Gray's opinion on Natsu is still pretty low, even though over the past years it had risen. How on earth did he figure it out in the snap of his fingers!?

In Juvia's head, it made sense. He wouldn't ask if they were engaged as her scent would remained the same. With the evidence of looser clothes, the scent, secrecy, there's no hiding her pregnancy from him!

"Yes... Juvia is pregnant." Getting it off her chest to her closest friends, minus Gajeel who already knew, was a relief. Her confession initiated a smile to tug at her delicate lips, watching the two with stars in their eyes as they take in the information, while Gray slams his face into the palms of his hands.

"You sneaky little fucker!" Natsu's method of congratulations are somewhat unique, "Nice!"

"Oh my god!" Lucy squeals in delight as her hands hyperly applaud, "I'm so happy for you!"

"Thank you," Juvia caresses her bump under the table, "We weren't planning on one of course. But Juvia thinks she's ready for a baby, and so does Gray-sama."

Gray pulls himself up from the grave of his hands, admitting a smile to Juvia, taking her hand and placing his lips on her knuckles. He may not express his love for her much in public, but that tiny gesture said it all.

"Yeah... I am."

_ _ _

#gruvia week #fairy tail #gray fullbuster #juvia lockser #writing #gruvia #gruvia+fanfiction

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bigteefsmallbrain · 3 years

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MORE SOULMATE AU HEADCANONS

Someone called the first set cute and I am unbelievably determined to make their goddamn day/night now, also, just realized you could get around the talking barrier with your soulmate if you direct your speaking at yourself, though I imagine that would be quite hard without a lot of focus or practice, so I’m implementing that in this set, hope you enjoy!!

WARNING: For Midoriya Izuku - Mentions of past fish death; For Umino Iruka - Mentions of his parents passing; and For Erza Scarlet - Death, the Tenrou island incident, signs of depression and loss of a loved one [It turns happy though]

SOULMATE AU HEADCANONS FOR: Izuku Midoriya, Iruka Umino, Erza Scarlet

Izuku Midoriya

Welcome to your own personal hero encyclopedia

Literally your best friend when it comes to quizzes and homework

If you so much as mutter to yourself a question

He is mumbling to himself the answer and all the steps to solve it

Brain = Autopilot

He doesn’t even consider that you might have been rhetorical

Or that you might be taking a quiz

Soulmate asked a question and he’d rather die than not mutter the answer to himself under his breath so his soulmate can hear

He’s your worst enemy sometimes too though

Trying to sleep? Nah, listen to him fanboy over a hero documentary instead

Trying to have a little you time? Funny joke, you’re learning about All Might now

You now know the weirdest facts about heroes

And events that most teachers don’t know about

May I suggest a heroics history teaching job?

Unfortunately, you also have to listen to his crying

I don’t mean it in a bad way

But you have no way to comfort him

Literally all you want to do is give him a hug and comfort him

But all you can do is say comforting words to yourself

Hoping he’ll hear them over his broken, heart wrenching sobs

But don’t worry, he does, he hears everything you say to yourself

He has a notebook dedicated to you and o n l y you

He nearly ripped Bakugo’s head off when the blonde accidentally burnt it’s pages when they were younger

Yeah, fun times [Bakugo double checked that it was the h e r o notebook and not the s o u l m a t e notebook when he burnt it in middle school, never again would he risk hearing his last name be spit venomously from the green haired males mouth]

He writes down anything he deems memorable [AKA nearly everything] that you say

He notes things you have difficulty towards academically and makes sure to break it down and read the now less complex version aloud in hopes he’s helped you

He has, he’s probably the main reason you’re in the top 5 academically

But also he loves hearing your meaningless rambles

You have scared him a few times

“Wait, is he dead? Oh no! Please don’t tell me he’s dead!”

w h a t

“I don’t think I can handle mom crying over another fish.”

Oh, just a fish, thank All Might, he nearly went into cardiac arrest

They brighten his day, and he can’t wait to meet you and tell you just how thankful he is that you’re his soulmate

Just like you can’t wait to hit him upside the head for all the sleepless nights he’s caused with his fanboy behavior

Okay, but when you do meet, you immediately ask for Bakugo

You give zero fucks about possibly being expelled/sent to prison

Hell hath no fury like you who had to listen to their soulmates broken cries over the blondes treatment for years

And Izuku can only hold you back for so long

He definitely wants to see your quirk in action when you meet

And when demonstrating he’s mumbling all the uses and possible ideas

While also complimenting you and how amazing you are

He doesn’t even notice he’s doing it

If you do it back, he WILL blue screen

Midoriya Izuku.exe has stopped working

He literally freezes on the spot

Iruka Umino

Oh do we love our dear teacher

Maybe a little too much

But we don’t talk about that

IRUKA IS THE TYPE TO MUTTER A SWEET SOFT “Good morning my soulmate” TO HIMSELF EVERY DAY AS HE WAKES UP SO YOU CAN HEAR IT AND YOU CAN’T CONVINCE ME OTHERWISE

He will also say other things, like “I made pancakes for breakfast, I wish you were here to enjoy them”

And call you sweet pet names like “Dear” “Darling” “Honey” etc. and when he’s feeling especially corny “Snookums” or something really out there when he feels like you need a good laugh like “Cookie Cutter”

No, I'm serious, if he thinks you’re sad, he w i l l say “Hey there, how’s my little cookie cutter?” to himself in a half joking tone in hopes of brightening your day

You can pry this headcanon from my cold, dead hands

He loves it if you mutter responses to yourself for him to hear in return

His heart will melt the moment he hears you say “Good morning” back, or if you mention wanting to cook for him

He also loves it if you give lesson plan advice to him

Like, he’ll be muttering about the best way to teach his class how to throw shuriken and your voice will pop up in his head with friendly advice

Makes him wonder if you’re a teacher too, or if you’re planning to become one

Secretly hopes you’re planning to become a teaching aid, because A) Work and soulmate at the same time? Yes please, and B) Kami knows he needs help with his rowdy class

If you are, he’s sure to be over the moon when he finds out

In his younger days, before teaching, he definitely went on missions and looked for you when he could

Like, yes, the mission is important, but finding the owner to the beautiful voice in his head is ALSO important

He’d usually finish the mission and stay an extra one or two days looking for you

It didn’t really cross his mind till later that you could be in the Leaf Village, since he figured he would have already found you if he did

Till he saw people older than him who grew up in the village only just finding out they were soulmates

He went on less out of village missions after that

Till eventually he decided to become a teacher

When I tell you this man melts when you talk

I mean he MELTS

He loves your voice so much

It helped him through his parents deaths

Helped him when he felt at his lowest points

You’ve done so much for him, and he’s so thankful, he’s fallen so deeply in love with you and you haven’t properly met yet!

He still wants to marry you on the spot though

It’s not a strange sight to see him browsing rings

Or thinking of how he’d propose

You’ll never let him know that he’s unconsciously spoken out loud about it a few times

Not until you meet, then you’ll mention it

And never let him live it down

“You know, I’ve heard you say you wanted to marry me on the spot, is that still on the menu or…?”

Yeah, when you first meet each other, that’s the first thing that pops out of your mouth

And it has his face burning red

He’s stumbling through his words, trying to convey that yes, he would like to marry you, but he needs your ring size first to go buy the ring

Trust me, this man has made enough trips to know what ring, he just needs the size

Then he’ll be down on one knee quicker that Shisui’s Shunshin no Jutsu

The fact that you seem okay with it also seals the deal for him

He’s so ecstatic when you meet each other

He feels like he could take on Madara one v one and win

He’s so unbelievably happy

Like he’s convincing you to take a photo so he can frame it on his desk and always remember happy

He’s so cute and blushy about it too

Rambles about never wanting to forget the best day of his life so far

“So far?” “Well, yeah, I imagine marrying you will take the spot soon”

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH THIS BOY WILL MAKE YOUR HEART SWOON!!!

He’s so giddy about introducing you to his class too

Especially Naruto

[Mostly Naruto]

He’s showing you off and preening at the congratulations his class gives

And later on introducing you to Naruto personally

As much as he loves his class, he adores Naruto, and really hopes you both get along well

And you do

And it was the worst mistake of Iruka's life

[or best as both you and Naruto often correct him]

Honestly you probably convinced him to at least bring up the possibility of Adoption to Naruto

Which has Naruto howling in excitement and agreeableness

The boy looks up to him and they both have such a father/son dynamic, let me have this dammit

[Also, being able to get Naruto to be the ring bearer/flower boy? P r i c e l e s s]

He loves his family, so very much

And is so thankful that you convinced him to adopt Naruto

The man has been debating on if Naruto would want to be his son or not for ages, you can NOT tell me otherwise

You also can’t tell me Naruto wouldn’t jump at the chance to have Iruka as his father

Erza Scarlet

She’s so eager to find you

She’s spent so long perfecting the art of speaking to you despite the barrier

And she’s always so responsive to you

Always talking about the adventures she's had

What she wants to do with you when you find each other

And she’s always so happy when you do the same

She’s always been responsive with you, even though the beginning was a bit rough with communication

So when she suddenly goes radio silent, it scares you, it hurts when you come to the realization that she’s dead

She can hear you, even in her deep sleep on Tenrou Island

And it’s heartbreaking

Your cries

The endless broken sobs

“I’m so sorry I never got to meet you” No, I’m still here!

“Hey soulmate wha- oh, right, you’re..” I’m not dead! I promise I’ll be there soon!

To say the least, it’s a long 7 years

And you never did get over your soulmates tragic death

Though you did find out who she might have been

Hurts more knowing how she passed on though

She always spoke of her guild, Fairy Tail, and you had been saving up enough jewels to go there, in hopes of finding her

You know she must have been on Tenrou when it fell

And by deductive evidence, it must have been the S class wizard

Erza Scarlet, you’re soulmate

Dead, soulmate

You joined not long after the news had spread

Figured it might help with the ache

It didn’t

But you grew to love the guild anyways

They welcomed you as family

Because to them, you already were

Erza spoke so highly of you

Always talking about how amazing her soulmate was, and everything she wanted to do with them when they met

And it was because of that you were able to deduce that she is your soulmate

Was, your soulmate

It wasn’t an odd sight to see you crying when the Tenrou group was brought up

Or after a particular rough beating from the Twilight Ogre guild

They watched you slowly fall apart when you tried speaking to her

Helped put you back together when you remembered she wasn’t on the other side

And eventually you began healing

Never getting over her or forgetting her

You could never forget her

And broke down just thinking about trying to find another

You took to talking to her in hopes she could still hear you in the afterlife

Talk about your day

How the guild is doing

If there was a particularly rough beating from the other guild

It hurt, much worse than when you forgot that she wasn’t there

But you carried on, believing that if she could hear you, she’d want to know

She adores that about you, your will to carry on, even though it hurts

And she’s sure to leave nothing but corpses in Twilight Ogre for all the years of torment

When Blue Pegasus found remains of the Island, no one stopped you from boarding the ship

They knew you needed this, more than the rest of them

You needed to know if she was really gone or not

And when you caught sight of scarlet red hair

You wept

She’s here

She’s alive

She turned the moment she heard your voice weekly call for her

To say your first meeting was filled with tears would be an understatement

You were attached by the hip from that point on

Not that either of you were complaining

Erza was especially ecstatic to have you by her side finally

After all, she had 7 years to make up for

And you can show her where Twilight Ogre is

The Master and Mira didn’t question why she was especially rough with a select few members

I Hope you enjoyed reading this set of Soulmate AU HC’s! If you would like to see any specific characters, don’t be afraid to leave a comment or submit an ask! If it’s a character I’m not familiar with, I’ll do my best to learn about them!!

P.S. I nearly killed Reader-chan off in Erza’s (:

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animezing-fandoms · 4 years

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Feminism in Fairy Tail with Lucy Heartfilia

Okay so @gaysquaredwrites made this fantastic post today about how people say Lucy is useless because she’s not as great a fighter as the other characters, but that doesn’t mean she’s useless because she brings light and happiness into the characters lives and that’s just as important as fighting! And I originally wrote this rant as a reblog to their original post but it ended up being LONG AF and I didn’t want to hijack their post like that so I decided to just post this feminism and Lucy rant as my own post.

So something that I see a lot in most fiction and not just shounen manga but also in Western sci-fi/action fiction as well, is that the female characters in those stories who aren’t primarily fighters, or do fight but not as well as other characters are often criticized for being useless because they “always need to be saved” or “can’t win a fight on their own” and while this does happen to a lot of female characters in these genres, it doesn’t make them “useless” characters to the story. These people just don’t seem to realize that there are other important roles for characters in these genres aside from fighting and beating bad guys, and that’s emotional support.

You don’t have to fight in order to change/save someone’s life. Emotional support is just as essential as physical in both fictional stories and in real life and I feel like people seem to forget that a lot.

Especially since that emotional support often comes from female characters which people are already frothing at the mouth to discredit and undermine so it’s no surprise that people complain that they’re useless because they can’t fight as well as the male mc (which is stupid especially in shounen manga because in those stories no one fights as well as the main male mc, that’s kind of a trademark of the genre tbh) and claim that that take is “feminist” while completely ignoring the important role that those female characters play in uniting the other characters for a certain cause and giving them the courage to keep fighting and fighting with them even if they aren’t the strongest fighter in the story.

But those parts of their stories are usually downplayed or ignored in favor of the “she’s just a love interest” argument, which is actually a more complex and important role to a story than people seem to realize. But I won’t get into that here because that’s a different argument and that would involve getting into her relationship with Natsu and I want to keep this meta purely about Lucy and how people try to paint her as a “useless character” because of sexism. If you want to read about how nalu is actually more feminist/progressive than people think, click here.

Now if you’re judging characters importance to the story of Fairy Tail based on how many fights they’ve won/lost, then you’re only focusing on one aspect of the story which is the action, and completely ignoring the emotional/narrative parts of the story that make us fall in love with these characters and root for them during the action.

For example, the guild wouldn’t even exist if not for Lucy! After Makarov disbanded it after Tartaros, Lucy was the only one who kept tabs on the guild members in order to reach out to all of them to get the guild back together once Natsu and Happy came back to her. And they even said it multiple times in the manga that they wouldn’t have come back together without her. So yeah the guild would not have come back together to defeat Alvarez without Lucy.

And, everyone seems to forget that during the Tartaros arc, she literally saved everyone’s freaking lives by sacrificing Aquarius’s key to summon the Celestial Spirit King and free everyone from the fortress they were trapped in. Everyone would still be trapped in that thing and Tartaros would not have been defeated if she didn’t make that sacrifice. And it was a huge sacrifice! Lucy’s spirits mean everything to her! Sacrificing Aquarius to save everyone in Fairy Tail left her freaking heartbroken!

And that wasn’t the only sacrifice that she’s made in the series either! Her freaking future self sacrificed her life when Rogue tried to kill Lucy in order to save her life.

Now you could argue that other major characters in the series have made large sacrifices too, such as Juvia saving Gray, and Makarov using Fairy Law at the cost of his life and maybe others too that I’m forgetting. But those sacrifices while important to the story and the importance of those characters, are made up for by both Makarov and Juvia being brought back to life later with Juvia sustaining a scar, and Makarov being in a wheelchair which yes, is a big deal and should not be overlooked. But the point I’m making is that both he, and Juvia intended to sacrifice their lives, but ended up living anyway. Like Gray and the multiple times he’s attempted to use iced shell but always ends up getting interrupted or talked out of it.

So Lucy is the only main character who has intended to sacrifice something important, and followed through with it without getting revived later (although it was only her future self that died, but the point is she still died without getting revived later on in the story) and without getting the sacrificed item back. Yeah, people seem to forget that Lucy sacrificed Aquarius’s key, and Lucy still does not have that key back. So even if you think that future Lucy dying isn’t a heavy sacrifice because that was just a version of Lucy, the Aquarius sacrifice is definitely a heavy one because that one didn’t get resolved later. Lucy sacrificed that key, and did not get it back immediately after or at the end of the arc, or even at the end of the story! Yes the key is out there in the world somewhere but she still has to find it and that’s probably not gonna happen for awhile and it’s gonna be really difficult to get it back! Lucy sacrificed something precious to her for the sake of her guild that she loves so much and she never got it back at the end of the main story. And that’s why I think that sacrifice in particular is probably the biggest one in the story.

But that sacrifice is often overlooked by fans who claim she has no purpose in the story, because that wasn’t a “fighting” sacrifice like giving their life for another character. That was an emotional sacrifice because she sacrificed her ability to not only use Aquarius’s key, but have her in her life as a close friend by sacrificing her key. No life was lost by Aquarius’s key being shattered, but it shattered Lucy’s hearts and ours in turn.

It was a big emotional sacrifice, and that’s why it’s downplayed because emotional components of a story like Fairy Tail which are what Lucy plays a big role in, are often played by female characters, because being “emotional” is a traditionally feminine role in most stories.

In fact, putting a higher importance on traditionally masculine roles for characters like fighting, and downplaying the more feminine roles like emotional support, makes it pretty obvious what those so-called “fans” are really saying when they say Lucy is “useless”.

More often than not, people who claim Lucy is useless do so because they compare her fighting ability to Erza, who is a very skilled warrior and has many important achievements in the battles she’s been in. And because of this, they claim that Erza is a stronger female character than Lucy in the story.

But just because Erza is a female character that is a good fighter, doesn’t mean she’s a stronger female character than Lucy. Both Lucy and Erza are equally strong female characters in their respective roles in the story. But people, mainly misogynists, don’t look at it that way and just lump them into the category of “female character” which guess what, is sexist because you’re only categorizing those characters by their genders and not the distinct and equally important roles they play in the story.

Having Erza be one of the most powerful wizards in the guild as a great fighter is a huge win for female representation in shounen manga because she plays a role that is typically reserved for male characters. But that doesn’t mean that Lucy, who plays the role of emotional support which is typically reserved for female characters any less important. The idea that all female characters need to be less “emotional” or “feminine” and need to play more traditionally masculine roles like Erza does in order to be considered good female representation, completely misses the point.

So while I do want to see more female characters in roles typically reserved for male characters like Erza. I also want to see the female characters who are in traditionally feminine roles for the genre like Lucy get treated with more respect and be recognized for their importance to the story and not get labeled as “useless” because they didn’t win a boss fight.

Because if you think that characters, both male and female who serve the more traditionally masculine roles like fighting are more important to the story than the characters, both male and female who serve the traditionally feminine role of emotional support, then guess what! That’s misogyny too!

If Fairy Tail was purely just a story about people punching each other, then we would not be as invested in the story or these characters as we are. Lucy is the one who makes important emotional sacrifices, and is the one who reminds the guild what they’re fighting for, and gives them hope and happiness when they need it most.

So if you think Lucy’s useless because she doesn’t fight as much or as well as the other characters in the story, then just admit you’re a misogynist because if you have that opinion then you clearly didn’t take the time to pay attention to the story as a whole, and were too blinded by your sexist views to see how important to the story Lucy’s role as the heart, aka the emotional support of Fairy Tail actually is. In fact, the story wouldn’t have even started without her since she’s the first character we meet.

Emotional support in a story like Fairy Tail is just as important as the fighting. The story would have ended after Tartoros without Lucy. Lucy is the one who not only saved all of their lives but brought their guild back together. Fairy Tail would not exist without Lucy. That’s how Lucy primarily saves the day in this story, not by punching people with magic, but with her heart that is filled with love for her friends that fuels her actions, just like Natsu, Gray, Erza and literally everyone else in the guild. She’s no different from them in terms of her importance to the story, her role is just a little different from theirs.

#fairy tail #feminism #feminism in anime #feminism in manga #lucy heartfilia #erza scarlet #feminist fairy tail

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nagirambles · 2 years

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Rambling about Fairies - Manga Chapter 95

One of the most likeable, dearest things about Natsu Dragneel is that, in times of struggle and hardship, he doesn’t go straight to rage mode and ‘how dare you hurt my nakama’ mode. Here, and when it was Gray, and when it’s Lucy, what he does first is act like himself.

If this scene looks familiar to you, it’s because Natsu does the same thing to Gray in an anime-only scene in Galuna.

When Gray is breaking down, Natsu picks a fight. When Erza is down, Natsu comes to make her laugh. When Lucy is down, it's affection of some sort (assurance, a hug, or a piggyback). the only difference is that with Lucy, it’s straight to protect. With Gray and Erza, it’s ‘make sure they don’t be reckless’ first, before he goes to protection.

For Lucy, is because they all acknowledge that Lucy is someone that requires saving from their enemies. Gray and Erza need saving from themselves first.

One of the things I love most about Natsu is that he puts his friends first. Not saying no other MC does this, it’s just that Natsu specifically makes sure they’re out of the way, safe, and in this case, unconscious and away from her self-depreciating thought-- before he actually lets his anger loose.

He makes sure Erza is okay first, he makes her laugh and assures her of his presence first, before he actually lets his temper take over.

Unlike Gray, who’s sharp and temperamental, Natsu is an expert at holding back his temper.

#rambling about fairies #fairy tail #ch95 #tower of heaven arc #i'm reaching

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keyvan-firedrake · 4 years

Text

Here is another random prompt I’ll never write but jotted down the story for. Again sorry for any mistakes I get inspired and just barf all over until I get it out...clean it up late.

START:

Lucy playing a game by herself streaming for Levy. Saves someone and they join a party with a 3rd person. The 3rd person is an ass-keeps running ahead and demanding to be helped. Lucy’s character can heal but that’s not her job. Her and her new friend team up to just do the mission together and ignore the 3rd asshole.

Her new friend and her talk for a bit-he finds out Lucy is streaming for a friend but uploads to YouTube a little bit. (Streamer icon above Lucy’s head gives it away)

New friend asks if she would like to stream with him sometime. With Levys prompting she says yes. After she’s done gaming she gets a notification on discord- her new friend DragonForce has sent her a message. He tells her he actually has a pretty good following and didn’t want her to freak out about it.

He’s really FireSalamander “Salamander”. He says why he was playing on a dummy account, so he could relax and just enjoy a game without the stress of being the best.

Lucy tells him she will need to think about it, she doesn’t know who he is, has heard of him off hand. Levy freaks out and explains, freaking Lucy out as she realizes how big Salamander, or Natsu, really is.

He’s a huge streamer part of a group of other really big streamers. They are all really good gamers and play together randomly and sometimes competitively.

Lucy almost backs out of playing but Natsu messages her again, a few times, and tells her it would just be her and him playing the game from before and having fun. That Gray would join later. He helps her relax and she agrees to keep their play day.

Natsu is a part time fire fighter with Gray, they stream on their off day’s. Erza a police officer with Juvia and Jellel.

Lucy plays, nervously, with Natsu. She had asked for her channel not to be mentioned. Later grey joins. Natsus fans love her. And Happy, Natsus cat that sits in his shoulders when he games or his lap, likes meowing at Lucy.

They play several times together, Lucy becoming part of the group. One day they all do a face cam stream for a bit, talk about life and Q&A with fans. Lucy nervously joins and Natsu about short circuits. (Quickly covers it up) and Happy meows at Lucy (he seems smart enough).

Lucy’s channel gets a following from the group and she is molded into their gang, even becoming a popular streamer on the days she doesn’t play with Fairy Tail. When he can she and Natsu play together (not always streaming). And Lucy opens up more with the group. They all try new games too.

One day, they decide to do a group meet up. Everyone takes the time off and go to Magnolia- Gray, Juvia, Gajeel, and Natsu live in the same town, Lucy is a train ride away, and the others fly or train ride in. (Levy and Gajeel (he plays sometimes too) hit it off on the trip (levy watches his streams a lot and they argue but out of crushing on each other).

When they see Each other Natsu yells Lucy’s name and picks her up, holding her and doing circles. Gray and Gajeel are roommates (Juvia and Levy stay with them Levy was supposed to stay with Lucy. She and Gajeel got together so they decided to stay together, Juvia wanted to sleep on Grays couch) Erza and Jellel share a room. Natsu offers Lucy to stay with him and Happy.

(Or they all stay at Natsus)

They go eat, play some arcade games, and dance. They record a vlog of it all, Natsu and Lucy sticking together a lot. Lucy does a sexy dance (Natsus jaw drops) they also dance together to a sexy song.

When it’s time to call it a night Natsu and Lucy got back to his house. Lucy meets Happy who cuddles on her. They build a pillow tent fort thing and laugh/joke. Tell stories and play some games together.

Next day they all go out again and spend the day together, go carts and things like that.

When it’s time to leave later that day, Lucy has a hard time saying bye to Natsu. He jogs with the train to make Lucy smile until he can’t go any further at the station.

They get back to normal life but it’s not the same. Natsu and Lucy video call and play games still, but then Natsu invites Lucy, just Lucy’s back. This becomes a thing, they visit each other and hang out. Staying at each others homes (as just friends). They keep it secret for a while.

(Play a game where they have to be mates Ark? And Natsu only chooses Lucy.)

Natsu likes horror games and eventually makes Lucy come play them with him because she’s too scared to on her own or even streaming with him.

They slip up on stream with everyone and it goes public that they kept visiting each other. It’s embarrassing and they get teased but they don’t let it stop their friendship.

Gray has man to man talk with Natsu- who confesses but says he can’t ruin what he has with Lucy.

Lucy is unsure of Natsu, until she has a talk with Gray. Then she decides to make a move. Game reference or stream thing where she asks him out?

Natsu looks up online at the train hours and books it- Natsu bursts into her house while she’s streaming and kisses her.

#keyvan talks #personal #nalu #fairy tail nalu #depression sucks #seriously

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gralunaisland · 2 years

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Analysis of the Daphne Arc

Be warned.

While I am a fan of Gray Fullbuster, this post calls him out for some of the ridiculous actions he takes. No one is free from criticism, (to pretend otherwise is folly), and I hope my fellow Gray stans will listen to this critique with an open, mature mind. Plus, it ties into bashing gr//via and juvia, so it’s for a good cause, people!

I like how pro-gr////vians use that one scene from the dragon lady arc as a gr///viugh moment. That arc where the lady obsessed with dragons kidnaps and almost kills Natsu by putting him into her fake dragon? And the scene where the whole guild is questioning why Gray would betray Natsu like this? Yeah, that scene. The one where juvia steps in and tries to guilt trip everyone for doubting Gray.

I shall be debunking the arc as well as analyzing Gray's and juvia's actions below.

Gray has stupid reasons for betraying the guild

I don’t know about you guys, but I always found that side arc and that scene so stupid. The reason for Gray betraying and putting Natsu through excruciating pain and putting Wendy, Carla, and Happy in danger as well as causing harm indirectly to Lucy, Erza, Makao, Wakaba, and Elfman, was “so Natsu would learn the value of following through with his promises”????

Yes there’s also the “you have to destroy the dragon from the inside”, but that could’ve been figured out by telling Natsu the whole plan and making sure the others weren’t in danger themselves. He also could’ve never handed Natsu over in the first place, like Master Markarov said. But nooo, he’s gotta learn a lesson.

But seriously. I love Gray, and yet I was so mad at him during this tiny side arc. He’s really trying to teach Natsu a lesson that fulfilling his duties to the guild is more important than finding Igneel by putting him through a horrendous ordeal that will kill him given time, even though Natsu had made that promise (to save the City Without Sound) when he was a small child?

You’re really going to give an adult Natsu a punishment for something his 10 year old self did? Especially when little Natsu was desperately looking for his missing father, Igneel. He’s already distracted enough, what with his father missing and all, and instead of Gray telling Natsu sooner to help that hidden village, he decides to wait like 7 whole years to surprise him. If he really cared about the cursed people, he would’ve told Natsu sooner! That city has been waiting for basically a decade!

What kind of lesson is this???

Besides, it’s not like, as a young adult now, Natsu is solely obsessed with Igneel and spends every waking moment chasing after him (unlike someone *cough cough* juvia *cough cough*). Natsu almost more than anyone loves his guild with his whole being and will do anything for his friends, so I really don’t see the need for a lesson here.

And what’s more is that Gray somehow made it about himself, saying Natsu is the only one he needs to prove himself to because “Natsu has Igneel whom he can beat, and Gray doesn’t have Ur”. I see practically no correlation.

juvia is an awful guild mate and as toxic as ever

All that to say, Gray’s terrible reasoning in my opinion does not excuse him for the betrayal he made against several members of his guild. If his plan failed, he could’ve even killed them. I really think Gray was out of character here, but that all seemed like a set up to promote gr/////viugh anyway, so no wonder it was poorly written.

Because when the other guild members are horrified and Cana is demanding that Gray wake up and look at his handiwork (Elfman being severely injured) and everyone is wondering why he would do this to his family, juvia is there to put her body in between them and to shove Cana away from shaking Gray’s shoulders, yelling and I quote:

“Leave him alone! Don’t you dare call him [a traitor and pathetic]! My beloved Gray would never turn his back on Fairy Tail! What happened to hearing both sides of the story before you start accusing someone? I have faith in him even if the rest of you don’t. I always will.”

Instead of this being sweet, it’s purely insane. Trust is something you don’t hold onto blindly. Gray’s done nothing to prove his absolute trustworthiness to juvia, besides have abs and be decent to her, and yet even in the face of all he’s done to the guild members, she doesn’t care. she doesn’t care that Natsu is in danger, that Elfman is hurt, that Gray had put many members in harm’s way, that the dragon is on its way to destroy Magnolia.

she’d rather make herself look better by saying “I have faith in him even if the rest of you don’t” even though what he’s done are things he needs to answer for, and his sorry reasoning does nothing to help excuse it either.

she tries to make it sounds like a bad thing that the other guild members are mad at Gray’s actions.

Um, if you hurt my close friends and put at least one of them at risk of death, then I’m sure as heck going to be mad at you, even if you’re also a close friend.

If you don’t hold your friends accountable for their actions, it’s my firm belief you’re not actually friends.

Trust and faith are sorely earned, and yet they can be broken easily, and to blindly believe in Gray when he hasn’t even tried to apologize or explain himself is just showing more of her weakness. It’s unhealthy because it basically shows that in their “relationship”, Gray can do no wrong, and that could lead to both of them getting hurt. Plus, like I said, it shows juvia really doesn’t care about the other guild members, once again proving she’s only a Fairy Tail member because she “loves” Gray.

Plus, we can’t even say that she’s just giving him the benefit of the doubt until he explains his reasoning. she just said “I always will [have faith in him]”, meaning that no matter his reasons for betraying the guild, no matter what he does in the future, none of it matters because juvia will whole-heartedly believe in Gray. That’s just stupidity.

What’s more, Gray seems even more traitorous when he responds to juvia’s insanity and Cana’s anger by saying:

“That’s enough. It’s alright. You’re supposed to take me to see Gramps, right? I’m ready unless you want to sit around and chat some more.”

Obviously his tone was a part of the charade to make the audience believe he still was a bad guy, again poor writing because it’s so out of character AND completely unnecessary, but seriously. He’s got this rude tone and doesn’t apologize to Elfman or anyone here for no reason. He doesn’t have to pretend to be a bad guy anymore, yet he still acts like one.

And of course all juvia does is blush, look after him leave, and say “oh Gray”, rudely ignoring Levy who asked her if she was alright after that confrontation. Asking her if she was alright doesn't even make any sense, considering how juvia was the one butting in where she didn't belong. His guild mates are doing the right thing by holding him accountable to his actions. He could do anything and still be considered an angel by juvia. Tell me which one is the healthy response to Gray’s betrayal? (Ding ding ding, it’s his guild’s).

Closing notes

That was just a sucky idea for an arc I gotta say. In any case, please do let me know what y’all think! Thank you for your time.

#anti gruvia #fairy tail discourse #gray fullbuster #anti gray fullbuster #like seriously gray I love you and all but this was just dumb #Mashima at it again with the poor writing #daphne arc #anti juvia #anti juvia loxar #anti juvia lockser #fairy tail #fairy tail discussion #gralunaessay #fairytail #anti gray x juvia #anti gray fullbuster x juvia lockser #gruviugh #gruvia can burn #gruvia sucks

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staygoldaj · 3 years

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Analysis on the MHA Girls

(Part I: Uraraka & Momo)

I know that the fandom tends to dislike these queens and push them aside, and I know Hori doesn't really know how to write women, but what he has given us is great and I wish the fans would appreciate these awesome ladies more. So here's an analysis for my girls, I wanna do an analysis on the three musketeers (broccoli, popcorn, & candy cane) so that'll be posted soon too :)

Uraraka

BEST. GIRL. I love Uraraka so much, she is the reason why I started watching MHA and she's such a sweetheart, I wish she wasn't so hated amongst the fandom.

We first meet her as this wholesome, bubbly girl who saves Midoriya from falling, and it's pretty clear that she's gonna be the main love interest. Honestly, I was a little disappointed during her first few scenes. Like I said, she was the reason why I started MHA, and she turns out to be the typical sweet girl the main dude has a crush on. I didn't have high hopes tbh. What first intrigued me was when she admits her reasons for becoming a hero. You would never expect the innocent girl-next-door love interest to be doing something for money. Even she herself says it's "such an unwholesome motivation" in comparison to Midoriya's and Iida's reasons, and she gets praised for "looking out for herself." This is the first misconception I see often on her character; she wants money for herself because she's poor. If you look into her reasons, she just wants to make money for her parents, not for her, so that her parents can take it easy. She is just as selfless as Midoriya and Kirishima, but I don't see her get praised for her selflessness nearly as much as for those two or other characters. I also really like the small flashback they included; her father tells her to not worry about them and to follow her dreams. Whether at the start Uraraka truly wanted to be a hero or solely did it for the money is up for interpretation. I personally think she started solely for the money, which I'll get into after I talk about the Sports Festival.

Uraraka vs. Bakugo is one of the most emotional fights in my opinion, and it's one of my favorites. EVERYONE in that stadium underestimated her. I'm not going to say that the reason was because she was a woman, but rather, Bakugo is pretty ruthless and powerful, where as she is not, and people knew that. The fact that she was a "small young girl" just added more fuel to that, if that makes sense. And this best girl did what she could to prove EVERYONE wrong. This is where Uraraka proves that she isn't a typical sweet shonen love interest and I wish people took notice in that. People think of ambitious, determined, driven, cunning, and powerful women as dark and mysterious, femme fatale so to speak. But this fight shows that Uraraka, a pretty extroverted, kind, and bubbly person, is all of those qualities, just as ambitious and determined as the strongest male characters in the show, such as Bakugo and Todoroki.

And when she loses the fight (after basically passing out btw, queen didn't stop until the very end), she doesn't just mope and quit and wait for encouraging words from her love interest, she 1. GIVES the encouraging words TO her love interest and 2. she understands that her quirk alone isn't going to be enough to get her to the top, so she carefully chooses a hero agency where she knows she will be taught combat, AND SHE LEARNS. The next time her class is attacked by villains, she single-handedly takes down one of the more dangerous members without a quirk, just with the fighting skills she took the time to learn.

Back to what I said earlier, Uraraka started her hero journey solely for money. This plays directly into her development in seasons 3 and 4, which is criminally underrated. She sees her entire class working harder than ever, and even though she's dealing with unfamiliar emotions, she decides to push those emotions aside to not fall behind, determined to be a good student and hero like her classmates. During the events at Shie Hassaikai, Uraraka finally learns the true environment a hero works in. Failing to save Nighteye, she realizes that what she truly wants for herself isn't money or Midoriya, it's being a hero who saves people. I believe Nighteye's death directly ties into the "who protects heroes when they need protection?" line. This recent chapter in the manga makes me think that she's gonna do something big and go through a character arc. I said this on Twitter and I'll say it here, I want Uraraka to become a hero who protects heroes (whatever that could mean, it has a nice ring to it lol). Honestly, her character has sm potential, I'm excited for what Horikoshi has in store for her.

Momo

God is a woman and that woman is Momo Yaoyorozu. I'm tired of people calling her annoying because of one episode, as if you've never had self-esteem problems before 🙄 so now I'm going to talk about why she's amazing 😋

My initial impression of Momo was the typical smart girl, stern, formal, and aloof, but still caring. And as I rewatch the series, I believe this is what Horikoshi was going for at first. I think her voice was deeper in the first season too. As much as I love the Erza type of characters, I love where Horikoshi ended up going with Momo. As a teenage girl, I find the arc she went through during season 2 very relatable. It's obvious that Momo was raised to have full confidence in herself. While she may not show it like Bakugo does, I think it's obvious that she's not used to losing, she was probably praised for having an amazing quirk growing up, like Bakugo, but is a way more humble about it because she was raised differently. So at the Sports Festival, she experiences losing, seemingly for the first time, in a place where she just can't afford to lose. But she does. And this takes a huge toll on her.

She's rich, pretty, the top student in class, and admired by her peers, but obviously that's not what mattered to Momo. What mattered to her most in that moment was looking good in front of agencies, what mattered most was to be a worthy hero, and she feels like she's failed. She seeks guidance from a female hero, hoping to have a female role model guide her through issues she has as a 15 year old girl, but instead finds herself being used for her looks. Again, Momo doesn't care about any of that, she just wants to be considered a worthy hero, and her defeat at the Sports Festival made her completely lose the confidence she needed to accomplish that goal.

Now we have the Yaoyorozu Rising episode. Fans who hate her often refer to this episode as "evidence for Todomomo", "her being annoying by not knowing what to do," etc. etc. etc. 🙄

I like Todomomo. It's a cute and healthy ship. There are WAY more Todomomo scenes, not in this episode. Todoroki is a side character in Momo's story in this episode. This episode is MOMO'S. Sorry but she’s not sharing the spotlight. I know that seems a little aggressive, sorry, but this episode shows a lot of development in Momo, and it just gets brushed off as Todomomo content when it's not. She did know what to do, btw, she has a plan. She didn't know how to communicate that. She didn't want to communicate that. She was scared that her plan wouldn't work. She was scared that she'd fail. All of that stems back to her defeat at the Sports Festival, she has lost a major amount of confidence, and Aizawa and Todoroki notice this. Aizawa even says that her actions are of a normal 15 year old girl's, and even though he wished to help her, he couldn't, so Todoroki does it in his place. This is something I notice about Momo that is one of the most relatable things I've ever seen in a teenage girl in not just shonen, anime but just in fiction in general: she knows she has a good plan, but she doesn't have confidence in it until someone else gives her the validation. Upon seeing that others trust her, she regains her confidence and fulfills her plans with excellency. She is a REALISTIC 15 YEAR OLD GIRL which is honestly SO refreshing to see in a work of fiction. It's what I love about her character: she represents many teenagers, girls, boys, and theys alike.

And yeah, it might've been annoying if she had stayed the "has good plans but only executes them if she gets the validation from others" type of character. But she doesn't. By season 3, she has shown a significant amount of growth. She is shown to be more of a leader now that she's more confident in herself, and she's still dealing with it (that one scene with Sero & Jiro 💀), but she's gotten a lot better after realizing her worth, after realizing the trust others have in her, after realizing that others see her as an intelligent leader. So in the forest, she quickly comes up with a plan and executes it quickly. Had she not done this, had she not thought and acted quickly, who knows how long it would've taken before the heroes found Bakugo.

Another thing I want to mention before I finish Momo's section- at the hospital, All Might calls her a worthy hero because of her actions. It was her inability to act quickly at the Sports Festival that made her doubt her worth, and it's her ability to act quickly that makes All Might see it. I think this plays a major role for her character, maybe why she ultimately decided to go on the mission to save Bakugo. She's gonna have some of the spotlight to herself during the Joint Training Battle.

I also want to mention something from the manga, if you don't want spoilers then don't read this part.

Some of Midnight's last words in the manga are "Yaoyorozu's going to make a fine leader someday," which shows how her peers and mentors alike notice her potential. Additionally, she proves this statement right by quickly coming up with a plan to stop Gigantomachia. I'm very excited to see how Momo develops into an even more inspiring leader as the manga continues.

#mha #bnha #boku no hero academia #my hero academia #momo yaoyorozu #ochaco uraraka #character analysis #anime

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gruviafan-forever · 4 years

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SENSEI, MY LOVE

PART- II

It had been a week since summer vacation started. Luckily, Juvia and Meredy didn't have to attend any supplementary lessons for the rest of the vacation.

Gray and his friends were assigned to take those lessons for two weeks.

As Juvia laid on her bedroom daydreaming about how to spend some time with her beloved after his work got over.

"Another one week to go" Juvia sighed and took her mobile to check her WhatsApp messages.

There was a text from her beloved which perked up her mood.

" Hi Juvia

Hope you are doing your homeworks. I was busy for the past few days that's why I couldn't text you back. Sorry for that Juvia.

And I was thinking about going for a three days trip to a mountain resort.

From next week, I will be free. So are you okay with it?"

Seeing the text, Juvia was over the moon. This trip was going to their very first trip as a couple.

Moreover, it's an idea from her Gray-sama. So she being excited is an understatement.

Soon, she sent her reply. Before she could see Gray's reply, her mobile got shut down due to low battery.

"Juvia can't wait for it. Juvia and Gray-sama doing couples like things…"

Her imagination ran wild which lifted up her mood for the rest of the week until the day of the trip.

Within a blink of eyes, a week has passed. Now Juvia was all set to enjoy their much needed getaway trip, just she and her Gray-sama, out alone in mountains where they could create new memories.

Juvia wore a summer dress which Lucy and her sister-in-law had brought while they went shopping for their respective trips. She was happy for them as well.

As she checked her overall makeup which was good and subtle. Soon the doorbell rang.

"Looks like Gray-sama has come." She beamed with happiness and turned off the gas supply and main switch and finally took her luggage and keys.

"Coming… Hello Gray-sama" Juvia greeted him with a wide smile. Gray smiled back and kissed her forehead.

"Hi Juvia, ready to go.."

"Yes Gray-sama…" Once they got down. The smile on Juvia's face fell when she saw her brother, sister-in-law along with Natsu-San and Lucy-San.

They greeted her warmly but Juvia simply stared blankly at them. She caught Gray-sama's t-shirt and leaned towards his ears.

"Gray-sama, didn't you say we were going alone?"

Gray raised his eyebrow and looked at her and flicked her forehead, "I never mentioned about going alone. Looks like you didn't see that P.S.part. Naughty girl!!"

He smirked at her which made Juvia completely forget about her angry state and blushed.

"Come guys, we don't have much time.." Jellal called out to them.

"Onii-chan, you are a meanie.." Juvia showed her tongue out which made everyone laugh.

Jellal smiled, "Yeah!! I won't allow you both to be alone until you graduate. And I can't believe that Stripper.."

"Hey, I heard you.." Gray growled and got inside the car with Juvia by his side.

They reached their destination after two hours of drive. The mountains were quite cool compared to the main city.

As they got checked into the inn, Jellal had booked two rooms, one for the girls and another for boys which Natsu didn't expect.

"Okay, now we had our lunch. We are to go around. So, you guys wanna go around as a pair or as a group?" Jellal asked them.

But except him, everyone voted for a pair combination which he reluctantly accepted.

"Just chill, Jellal. Let those two have some quality time. Bye guys" Erza took off with her husband for sightseeing.

As the pairs parted away, Juvia hooked her arms with her Gray-sama and strolled around the nearby area.

"Gray-sama, Juvia can't believe we are walking like a couple now. Juvia's simply so happy. But it would have been better if it was only us."

Gray chuckled, then, threw his arm over her shoulders pulling her much closer.

"True, even I feel the same. But your brother was adamant. It was like either with us or no trip at all. So, I chose the first. It's better with something than nothing. Come, let's forget about it. So, girlfriend, what do you wanna do now?" Gray asked and looked around before planting a kiss on top of her head.

Seeing her Gray-sama being this lovely and carefree made her wonder how he had become something like this from being ignorant.

It had been a week since Christmas eve. Since the time Juvia left her sensei's house, her thoughts were only occupied by Gray and his mesmerising smile.

When she disclosed what had happened with her on that day to her best friend, Meredy. And how their maths teacher showed a very different side of himself.

Meredy couldn't believe whether her friend was telling the truth or was hallucinating about something like that. But she chose to confirm it with her own eyes.

Once the school began after the holidays, things got back how it used to be before.

Gray was very strict with his students and gave them assignments with a short period of completion time.

Meredy couldn't believe this was the same person Juvia mentioned.

Meredy could sense her bestie was acting differently towards their maths teacher. She knew anytime the love bomb would be dropped on him.

Currently, Meredy and Juvia were having their lunch on the terrace. As it was still winter, it was practically empty except for them.

"Meredy-chan, how's Lyon-san doing?" Meredy blushed on hearing her boyfriend's name and told Juvia how she had spent her Christmas holidays with him at his hometown.

"So Juvia, now you have reconciled with your brother? Are you still staying in that apartment?" Meredy asked her friend.

When she heard about this, Meredy was genuinely happy for her friend, as she got back with her family.

"No,Juvia is still staying in that apartment. Juvia doesn't want to impose on onii-chan and onee-San. That's why Juvia decided to stay alone even though they insisted. But during the weekend, Juvia stays over there."

"That's good to hear" Both the girls turned their heads towards the direction of the new voice which belonged to Gray sensei.

Juvia smiled at him while Meredy greeted him.

"What are you girls doing here? Don't you feel cold?"

"Sensei, we could ask you the same. Moreover, last period, we had P.E. class. So, it's okay for us. Isn't it, Juvia-chan?" Meredy looked at her friend who nodded in agreement.

"Then, it's fine. I'm on my break." Gray went near the railings and began to light the cigarette.

Suddenly, Juvia got up and went near her sensei. She caught hold of his wrist which startled him and Meredy as well.

"Sensei, Juvia knows you are an adult and you know what you are doing. But Juvia doesn't want you to fall prey to these cancer sticks. It's not good for your health and life. Please think about it."

She took the lit cigarette and stamped on it while throwing away the packet which was on his hand into the dustbin.

"Well, may I know why you care about me? It's not that we are some best buddies. I'm your teacher and you are just my student. Don't repeat such things again. And don't get full of yourself." Gray said in a harsh tone and began to move towards the door.

"Juvia will do it every time. She sees you doing it. Juvia cares for you, sensei. You saved Juvia and helped her gain back her self-respect. Juvia doesn't care if you are being rude to her but she will never stop loving you."

Hearing her words, Gray stopped and Meredy was dumbfounded. She didn't expect her friend to straight away confess to their teacher.

Meredy had paid attention to Gray to see his reaction and just hoped that he wouldn't complain to the principal.

Gray just left then without saying anything. Meredy felt her hunch was going to happen soon.

"Hey Juvia-chan, what's with this confession? Did you really think what would happen after this? I'm sure he will report it to Mrs.Fernandez and the principal."

Meredy was ranting out her fear but Juvia remained determined not to lose hope after coming this far.

Throughout the afternoon, Meredy was hoping that Gray sensei mustn't have reported about Juvia and till that moment, they didn't receive an announcement which was a good sign.

Last period, it was maths. Juvia was determined not to feel nervous. When Gray entered the class, he looked everywhere except towards Juvia.

As Gray was solving a problem on the board, Juvia was looking at him and was thinking of ways to make him understand her feelings for him.

Juvia knows it's childish to fall for someone who just because they saved you from one crisis. But when she heard of his back story from her sister-in-law, she knew he needed to be saved from the darkness.

"Ms.Locksar"

Gray's voice removed her from stupor.

"Yes sensei" Juvia stood up.

"Why don't you come up here and solve this problem?"

'If only, Juvia had looked at this solution' She thought to herself and went up to the board.

She tried to solve a bit but couldn't proceed further which made her a laughing stock in front of the class.

"Ms.Locksar, if you had paid your attention while I was teaching you would have solved it. Don't waste your time day-dreaming about impossible. Hope you understand it… Now get back and focus on your studies.."

Gray sent her back and hoped she had understood his answer for her confession.

Once the class was dismissed, Juvia informed her bestie to go ahead while she had some business to be attended.

"Juvia-chan, if sensei does something don't worry.. You don't lose your hope." Meredy patted her shoulders and left them.

"Gray sensei"

Juvia called out to him just before he went towards the door.

"What do you want, Ms.Locksar?" Gray said nonchalantly.

"Juvia wants to hear your answer for her confession. Juvia said she loves you." Juvia said confidently and waited for his response.

Gray laughed which hurt Juvia's sentiments.

"Seriously, you are a kid. See I'm a teacher and 22 years old. You are just 17. At this stage, what you are experiencing now is just mere fling. Just 2 weeks back, you were in love with a jerk and now with me. What am I a fool to believe in this child's play?

See I don't fall for highschool students. Just consider this as a warning. Next time, if you do something like this again, I won't hesitate to report it to your brother and principal."

Gray left her after making his point clear. He just hoped that she wouldn't bother him again.

But Gray's calculations went wrong, his warning in turn boosted Juvia's confidence and didn't hesitate to convey her feelings for him through her actions.

Once Lucy tried to advise Juvia about this but Juvia considered her as a love rival and began to worry about how to compete against such a lovely lady. But Lucy confessed that she and Natsu were dating.

It was during Valentine's week that Gray heard Juvia talking highly about him to her bestie.

'I just saved her. What's so special about that?'

"Meredy-chan, Juvia loves him wholeheartedly. She doesn't feel this to be a fling. Why can't sensei understand this?" Gray could hear her crying while Meredy was trying to comfort her.

He could sense the sincerity in her words but he was reluctant to start a relationship with her so that it doesn't harm her future.

Gray would be lying if he said he didn't ever consider her a love interest. Moreover, he doesn't want to know how Jellal would react to it.

As the valentine's day approached girls began to swarm around him to know whether he was single or not and whether he would accept chocolates from them.

Seeing this Juvia's confidence began to flicker because Gray was actually entertaining them by answering their questions with a smile which Juvia believed he only showed to her.

Valentine's day arrived the girl students were hyperactive in finding Gray sensei but Mrs.Erza Fernandez made sure no such drama occurred inside the campus.

Juvia was finding time to give her chocolates to Gray but she couldn't. And the only option was to give in his class last period.

Meredy throughout the day encouraged her friend and not to give at this point.

Once the maths period got over, the girl students didn't leave the room and wanted Gray to accept their chocolate which he didn't and shushed them away smiling.

"If you girls, don't go now… I have to call Mrs. Fernandez."

Hearing the name they flew away soon until he was left with Juvia. Gray was waiting for Juvia to come close to him but she never went towards the door.

"Aren't you trying to give chocolate to me? Did you lose interest in me that soon?" Gray said with a smirk.

Juvia turned around to look at him, "Sensei said he isn't going to accept any chocolate from students."

"Well you never consider me as a sensei then means I can also not consider you as a student." Gray smiled and looked at her.

Juvia started blankly trying to process what he meant with those words. Once she understood, her cheeks flushed making her look adorable.

"Come on, give me my chocolates. I never said I won't accept Juvia's chocolates."

"Sensei, does it mean what Juvia thinks?" Juvia asked with hope in her question.

Gray smiled and nodded in agreement. Soon Juvia fished the chocolates which she made for her love interest from the bag and handed over to him.

It was a heart shaped chocolate which Gray gladly finished. He was surprised how tasty and delicious it was.

"Did you add wine in it?"

"Yes, Juvia thought sensei might like the flavour of wine. So do you like it?"

"Yes, I love it. Thank you for giving me chocolate. And I don't think there's any harm in trying a relationship with you. Don't worry, if anything happens. I will take responsibility for everything.

So Juvia, do you like me?"

"I love you, Gray-sama. Can Juvia hug you?"

Gray smiled at her and opened his arms which Juvia understood and happily complied to embrace her love interest.

"Juvia seeing your honesty and determination and not to forget your dedication towards relationship made me fall for you.

It would be wrong on my part if I didn't acknowledge my feelings after realizing my love for you.

I love you, Juvia. Sorry for this wait…" Gray confessed his feelings which made Juvia beam with happiness.

Back then, Juvia didn't know how much her Gray-sama loved her. But now, she's certain that he loves her a bit more than anything else.

#gruvia #fairy tail gray #fairy tail juvia #ft juvia #ft gray #grayxjuvia #gray fullbuster #juvia loxar #gray #juvia #modern au #student-teacher relationship

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natsubeatsrock · 3 years

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The Rewrite of Fairy Tail: Bonus (What If? #14)

What if Gajeel didn't join Fairy Tail?

I've said this a few times, but people still aren't keen on Gajeel and Levy's relationship panning out the way it has. And even as I like the ship, I can see some of the arguments against it as understandable. The big one is that the time between attacking Levy and being a potential lover is too short. That Makarov lets him in the guild despite his reservations may seem like a stretch for many to accept.

That's at least part of the reason to consider this as a possibility. I was inspired by a tweet where Mashima admitted he didn't originally plan on having his, Juvia, and Jellal's face-turn. We'll likely never know how much of this or other plans are because of original plans to cut Fairy Tail off after Phantom Lord. At the same time, I think it's interesting to think of a situation where Gajeel doesn't join Fairy Tail and the series goes on without him as an antagonist.

Let's start with his actions in Phantom Lord. Gajeel is still going to destroy the guildhall and attack Shadow Gear, just as you'd expect him to do. But I feel like there should be a bit more to this Gajeel. Don't get me wrong. These are pretty villainous actions for any true antagonist for Fairy Tail to take. Still, there was that possibility that it could be worse. Even as shocking as his inclusion in the guild was, I don't know that what he did made it outright impossible for him to be able to join.

That's why our Gajeel kills Shadow Gear.

Well.

That's an idea.

That certainly feels weird to consider as a possibility. Admittedly, this was the first idea that came to mind when I saw Mashima's tweet and I couldn't even believe my mind would go there as a possibility. Of course, the point of this series is to consider scenarios that seem weird and impossible, even for me to rewrite. But... yikes. I can never idly pass by that statement, even in editing this post.

I don't feel the need to say much else on this topic. Makarov doesn't strike me as the kind of person who would let Gajeel in the guild if he killed one of his kids, regardless of if Juvia asks for him to join. (It's worth remembering one "What If" has her die before joining the guild.)

Now, imagine Gajeel's position. You have no more guild after the council makes their decision on the inter-guild fight. You very likely still have a bone to pick with the guild over the situation. At the same time, being the face of the whole situation, in addition to several other crazy antics outside of this, earns you a bad reputation as a toxic mage, and no guild worth their salt wants you. The only reason canon Gajeel changed for the better is the positive influence of Fairy Tail members after Phantom Lord. With those bridges burned, where do you go?

Some people might say that, outside of Fairy Tail, Gajeel's time in the series should end. While I can understand why someone might write Gajeel out like that, that feels a bit too easy for me. Like, I feel that Gajeel can be more of an antagonist for the guild with this setup. Do you think I'm just going to let that go to waste?

Here's what I got.

For a while, the rest of the series goes off pretty okay without Gajeel in the guild. Mystogan directly saves Gray and Erza in Edolas. Gajeel and Levy's canon contributions to the Tenrou Island arc aren't so important that I couldn't change them. Gajeel isn't part of anything relevant for seven years. His existence is almost forgotten by most of the guild. Makarov would near definitely remember him, and I wouldn't be shocked if Natsu somewhat remembers their fight. But the average member isn't likely to remember too much about what happened unless it's brought up.

Of course, Fairy Tail would still be set on the path to join the Grand Magic Games at the same time they did in canon. They were going to need to anyway. So, the two teams get past the preliminary round. Let's say that Lisanna (look, I'm the one writing this scenario) takes Gajeel's spot on Team B, and Happy can find Wendy on his own. But something is off. Unlike in canon, her injuries are entirely physical. Nothing that couldn't stop her from her canon-appointed fights later in the arc, but it's still pretty bad. Of course, both teams have to shrug this off as the time comes for them to find out who they're facing for the competition. And with the reveal of Raven Tail as an antagonist, comes the reveal that Gajeel has become a member. (I feel like I hyped this one up a bit too much.)

I'm playing on his canon involvement with the guild and turning it into a genuine allegiance to a guild that seeks the destruction of Fairy Tail. I don't foresee his inclusion doing much to change the overall fate of the guild by the end of the arc. But this allows for some interesting things to happen. We have two big possibilities for fights with Fairy Tail members. One is swapping him out for Ivan (or Alexei as he's known at the time) and have him get knocked around by Laxus. Remember that Laxus does what he does in Fantasia because of Phantom Lord. I don't see any scenario where Gajeel beating Laxus. The other option is having a rematch between Natsu and Gajeel. It's not like Gajeel joining the guild in canon made them feel buddy-buddy if the canon GMG fight is anything to go by. (I'd throw in a fight between him and Juvia, but I don't know.)

One interesting issue with Fairy Tail is that there aren't many important consistently evil villains. Outside of Acnologia, Brain, and arguably Zeref, it's not unreasonable to see a villain's second appearance in the series be their redemption. Most of the truly evil characters of Fairy Tail usually stay dead or never come back to relevance. I love that about the series. Still, I can see some novelty to having a character come and stay evil for much of their time in a series. Gajeel is a character who could have easily stayed relatively evil for long portions in the series.

The big issue with doing this is Gajeel's involvement in canon, specifically as a guild member. I've managed to find ways to circumvent this up to day 3 of the Grand Magic Games. What happens for the rest of the arc? Do you honestly think someone with his record would get off with a warning, like Flare? How do I deal with his canon involvement in Tartaros and Alvarez? Heck, I don't have a great set of replacements for his place for their team in Avatar, and that's comparatively inconsequential.

And let's not forget that Shadow Gear is also out of the picture. Sure, Jet and Droy are pretty inconsequential, but Levy's fairly valuable to rewriting the series. As I've already explained, she provides an easy path to help with the series worldbuilding. I'm not just going to let that slip away because Mashima might have let Gajeel stay evil.

Based on Part 29

#the rewrite of fairy tail #gajeel redfox #what if 14 #every once in a while #an entry in this series #only really exists #because people are crazy #sometimes #i am people #fairy tail month: seven of these?

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crystallos-sol · 4 years

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The 3K event

Okay so here I am making a massive 3K analysis again. I wanted to do one of Gray Fullbuster because he's a character I relate to the most and he's definitely one of the more complex characters. The rest is under the cut, be warned its long & you might not agree with some things but its a fact of life to not agree with everything.

To make it easier on my poor hands I am going to divide this up by arc! I will list the arc at the top starting from the beginning of the story. It will be two paragraphs of his behavior for each arc!

Maco Arc:

Gray here first appears nude, fighting and asking Lucy for her underwear because he lost his. That is mostly the extent of his appearance during that arc. Analyzing that small moment we can conclude: He has a nude problem, He has a temper, Him and Natsu don’t get along very well. We can also conclude or make an educated guess based on the fact that he is nude and asks Lucy for her underwear: He is a pervert or has those types of intentions.

We also have only just met him during that arc. So there isn’t going to be a lot of information about him at first. Looking at his behavior, he is certainly interesting and seems to almost be brash. There is something about him that does say he has a brain under his head of emo hair.

Daybreak arc:

This arc focuses on Natsu and Lucy and Happy.

Lullaby arc:

This is where we learn alot about Gray. His interaction with Natsu before Erza shows up says that they are in some type of friendship. It is clear that they can stop fighting one another but it appears they just want to fight one another. We definitely learn Gray is a humorous character based off of his reactions throughout the arc. His behavior suggests he is scared of Erza and gets along with Natsu when he needs to. Gray also seems to be more on the calm side of things unless he gets mad. Gray doesn't show that much emotion within his face when calm.

Gray seems to show his feelings and thoughts through actions. He also has some weird behavior and even strips off his clothing. He is a quick thinker when it counts and during the train station section of the arc, we see that he is strong in his own right. That idea is reinforced by the speed and strength of his ice magic during the battle with Lullaby. Based on all of this we can conclude that Gray is on Natsu’s level of power, He is strong and emotional in a way most people aren't. He has a stripping habit based on how when serious and on the magic car he stripped off his top.

Galuna Island Arc:

Here we learn so much about Gray. The paragraphs will be larger so please be prepared to read that.

Gray is clearly traumatized and doesn’t react normally because of it, Before Erza arrives to take them back to the Guild he is calm and collected. This suggests that it is a facade or only one part of him. Gray also has a tendency to ignore the pain he is in or twist it around. Gray is shown to have been the sole survivor of his village and having lost his parents to Delliora, a demon from the books of Zeref. This makes his actions against Lullaby who is also a demon from the books of Zeref seen in an entirely different light than before. Gray is faced with his adoptive brother who is destroying the ice that is his mentor or mother figure to get to Delliora. Gray clearly believes what happened that day was his fault.

Gray also irrationally thinks that Delliora who has been sealed away under lost magic is alive. This is shown when he tries to commit suicide to end Delliora. Surprisingly enough it is Natsu Dragneel or his rival that saves him and fights against Delliora. This moment is such a huge action. Here is really where they become even closer on Gray’s end of things. For him Natsu just destroyed the monster that took everything from him, the very thing he likely had nightmares about for years. The same event he cant process correctly because he is so emotionally vulnerable and traumatized is ended by his rival. Gray was actually set free at that moment. Afterwards there is an air of Gray that he didn’t have before. He seems almost relaxed but not sure what to do about it. Gray cannot believe he's finally free and he is also still processing that Natsu Dragneel was the one who put himself between Gray and the nightmare of his entire life.

To Gray his whole life just changed. Not only was his master set free finally but his friend saved him from self destruction. Looking at that attempted suicide it puts Gray and his character in a new light. It is clear he loves Fairy Tail and would do anything for his guild. It is purely the most drastic change in a character because he had everyone fooled. This is the first analysis of him:

Analyzing that small moment we can conclude: He has a nude problem, He has a temper, Him and Natsu don’t get along very well. We can also conclude or make an educated guess based on the fact that he is nude and asks Lucy for her underwear: He is a pervert or has those types of intentions.

Gray wore a mask and he had everyone fooled. Even the viewer/reader.

Phantom Lord Arc:

Here Gray is lighter. His character seems at peace until he sees the ruined guild hall. Almost all of his hurt and agony is thrown out the window in favor of his family. During the moments leading up to the fight Gray is stressed and angry. Like the rest of Fairy Tail he is mad. During the battles Gray doesn't hesitate. However the most outstanding moment that showed his actual character was when he stopped Juvia from dying. When he accidentally grabbed her chest during an attack and immediately backed off. Not getting into Juvia's character at all here however her reactions to those events influenced Gray’s own reaction. He wasn’t rude and didn’t attack her after the fight. He let her lay there and even smiled at her because Gray despite the mask he wore has the biggest heart in Fairy Tail.

Loke Arc:

This arc shows us a relaxed and genuinely worried Gray. He knows something is wrong with Loke during this arc, and like a friend is concerned about him. The two are painted to be friends and they both clearly have a history together based on the way Gray is worried. Gray isn’t exactly appearing in this arc a lot so sadly that's it.

Tower Of Heaven:

This mostly focuses on Erza but it does showcase that Gray despite being scared of her genuinely cares about her. It also shows again that Gray is awkward and doesn't exactly know what to do when his friends are upset. He cares about them but he hasn't figured out how to approach it or handle it,

Battle of Fairy Tail:

There isn't really anything that can be said about this that I haven't already said.

Oracion Seis arc:

Gray instantly is concerned about Wendy and wants to help her. He also automatically considers her a friend. Gray when fighting against them is clearly upset about them trying to destroy Wendy’s guild. He is mad and saddened like he is when Fairy Tail is facing a conflict. Once again showing Gray is more emotional than people give him credit for. He also backs and approves of Erza’s decision to allow Wendy to join Fairy Tail. It is clear Gray wasn’t about to let her wonder off without knowing if she would be okay first.

Daphne Arc:

I have said it before and I will say it again, there is no way Gray “ I care about my family “ Fullbuster would ever do anything like he supposedly did in that horribly written episode. I can admit that some points of Fairy Tails plot is stupid and or badly written but I don’t understand how it managed to embody a cringey fan fic from the early 200s that is in first person pov and has only 700 words and multiple chapters with no spaces.

Edolas Arc:

Gray is again upset about mistreatment and that his guild is being harmed. He also is once again showing his thinking side when he goes along with the plan Natsu, Erza and Him come up with to save their friends. He is worried about his guild mates fighting the King, but of course is relieved when they all come back alive and just a little banged up.

Tenrou Island Arc & X791 Arc:

Gray is deathly protective of his guild and it didn’t go over well when Ultear hurt Juvia. Now during this Arc Gray is targeted by Ultear because she believes he killed her mother and took her away from her. She intends on murdering Gray for it. He however is emotional about it because Ultear is UI’s bloodline. Both Gray and UI had no clue that she is alive and they certainly if aware of it would have torn that organization to shreds to reach her. Gray when faced with a monster coming to destroy them is more concerned about his family than the impending doom. He does like the rest of the guild stares death right in the eye without a hint of fear.

As any Fairy Tail member knows they are all together and they are never once going to go through something alone here. In the end when woken up by members of his guild he is happy to still be able to interact with his friends and family.

Key Of The Starry Sky Arc:

This arc mostly focuses on Lucy and the relationships of her family. There are however moments where other members of Fairy Tail have their own relationships with her explored. With Gray he is worried about her and doesn't want to lose his teammate and friend. Their relationship however is shown slightly from Gray's actions when fighting and doing his best to prevent her death. He doesn’t exactly have a relationship with her outside of friendship however that doesn't mean Gray can’t view her as an important part of his life like he does with the rest of his guild.

Grand Magic Games:

Gray's love for fighting is definitely shown here. He is also downright cheerful during the games at points. But he still is angry when his guild is targeted and when his guild mates are hurt. Gray does seem to have his head on straight during his fights, even cheering for his brother and telling him to essentially stop being stupid. Gray does get concerned about Gajeel and the Dragon corpses purely because he cares about his friends and also because he doesn't know if he feels so happy knowing dragons got pitted against one another here. He has been accused of murdering Frosch by Future Rogue who comes back through the gate. However it is believed he is lying because when Gray meets Frosch he thinks the excess is adorable and instantly wants to befriend them.

However an extreme point to know is that Gray dies for a period of time. Shoving Juvia and Meredy out of the way of a magic attack he got hit multiple times. The final shot was right through his head. Gray was however saved by Ultear who sacrificed her own life to turn back time. He has expressed no memory of this happening but says he has a blank spot in his memories he isn't sure about.

Eclipse celestial spirit arc:

Here Gray goes to fight Cancer and return him back to normal for Lucy. We also learn that Gray can’t dance well but since he was put on the spot he threw a routine together for his friends sake. He is also relieved when his friend Like or Leo is returned back to normal.

Sun village arc:

Gray is faced with the obseratady of being turned back into a child. It is also revealed that Gray can make ice disappear. He cant make the Ice that is covering the village go away without some effort. After they get the flame back to its strength he is shown confused about the ice around them. He can also safely cool others down with his magic. It really shows how much he has improved.

Tartaros arc:

Gray finds his dead father. Even though he receives a gift from his father it clearly doesn't change the pain he is in because of the loss. He is really shutting down at the fact that he lost his father twice. Gray however handles his grief differently than another character. He knew from the moment he saw his dad that he was dead. Gray looked at him and saw that without a problem. The problem here is that Grays has a knack for looking at things as his fault. He views this event has something he caused. No other character twists their pain and grief so badly. Gray knew his father was dead from the beginning. He already lost him, it's not that the second time didn't hurt just as badly it's that Gray could have prevented this. In his head he could have had his father back in his life. To Gray he failed and wasn't strong enough to save his father.

Avatar arc:

Gray is lost here. His guild, his constant in his life is gone. He has lost that contact with them. Gray clings to the part of his family that is with him. Erza scarlet. Now during the arc he had to renounce Fairy Tail and play a dark persona that isn't him for almost a year. For almost an entire year Gray was a monster he created. A monster he created for Erza, for this mission he threw himself into. He went through a massive transformation and Gray while parts of himself are still there has changed. His world view has been altered and Gray now knows that not even Fairy Tail is going to be his constant. I have written about this on my Ao3 Littledanceingdragons it is under the title: Undercover. I am not going to link it here check the notes since Tumblr shadowbans any post with links.

When Fairy Tail is brought back Gray is back to his normal self and even looks relieved because his family came back for him.

Alvarez empire arc:

This arc caused Gray so much pain. I am not going to cover the Juvia & Gray scene fully, mostly because that scene was so horribly written for a core plot moment it felt so forced and out of character.

That being said I am going to talk about how Gray would rather die than hurt a guildmate. Now this is purely because I think Gray has been pushed to his limit. He lost his father, fought demons, lost his family, transformed into a dark persona for a mission. At this point Gray at his lowest develops irrational thinking and suicidal thoughts and actions. It is crucial to remember the past for this so here are they key points of multiple paragraphs:

Gray also has a tendency to ignore the pain he is in or twist it around. Gray is shown to have been the sole survivor of his village and having lost his parents to Delliora, a demon from the books of Zeref. This makes his actions against Lullaby who is also a demon from the books of Zeref seen in an entirely different light than before. Gray is faced with his adoptive brother who is destroying the ice that is his mentor or mother figure to get to Delliora. Gray clearly believes what happened that day was his fault.

He however is emotional about it because Ultear is UI’s bloodline.

He is mad and saddened like he is when Fairy Tail is facing a conflict. Once again showing Gray is more emotional than people give him credit for.

Gray here at that point has lost it. Thinking back on those episodes it makes sense for Gray to snap at some point. He has merely done it now, when in a war, after believing one of his guildmates died. Logically that makes sense and it is understandable. Getting to Natsu vs Gray fight. Ignoring that it doesn't make sense for the cause for Gray or the cause Canon says is what happened. The fight between them was more than out of character. Mainly for a point that Natsu has addressed before the war:

Fighting when your friends are on the line isn't fun.

Yes, they fight one another constantly. However it is really more accurate to say: Spar. It is described as this:

If you spar with someone, you exchange light blows — either literally by punching each other, or figuratively by exchanging verbal blows. If you box, you might spar with an opponent at the gym while you're training. You don't strike too hard — it's just practice.

Or in other words, it's not serious. Gray and Natsu aren't trying to kill each other. The only reason it is mentioned is because Gray is clearly in a bad place there. He is having a breakdown. I also direct your attention to the fact that Gray tried to kill himself because he felt like shit over it.

You all know the scene.

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