HELLO MY LOVELIES! IT'S BEEN A BIT SINCE I'VE SEEN YOU, I'M SOOOOOOO HAPPY TO BE BACK! AND WITH A NEW STORY AT THAT!

I hope you enjoy, I hope you like the title, and I hope you like the pairing!

NOTE NOTE NOTE PAY ATTENTION TO ME PLEASE! Okay so this story starts out during chapter eleven of Key to My Heart. You'll figure it out if you've read it and if not you'll be a little confused but I'll try to keep references from that story to a minimum. Also I don't know how long these chapters are gonna be so don't flame me if they're too short or too long. I have no word limit on this story.

NO SET UPDATING SCHEDULE! And the reason for that is because it is my Senior year in high school, and I REALLY need to focus on my studies. I'll be writing whenever I have free time but I hope you can understand if I don't update too often.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything recognizable so… Basically I'm just f*cking around here.

Enjoy~

A.~

Warm My Heart

Gray chuckled at his pun and Kaia giggled with him.

"Nice one." She smiled and high fived him.

"Thanks." He nodded. "Well, I'm gonna go get some food cause I'm getting kinda hungry. You want anything?" He asked.

"Just tell Mira I'll have my usual, thanks Gray." She smiled as he headed back to the bar. The rest of the group sat down as he went to order.

"Hey Mira, can Kaia and I get our usuals?" He called from the bar.

"Sure, Gray! I'll have them out to you soon, just put on your clothes, kay?" She smiled as she tried to contain the swarm of people ordering food and drinks. With a curse Gray went to go collect his clothes, and then went back to the table everyone was at to wait for his food.

"So what's everyone talking about?" Gray asked, plopping down as he buttoned his shirt back up.

"The baby is kicking Kaia." Lucy smiled.

"Really?" He asked.

"Yeah, come here and feel." Kaia encouraged him.

"Nah, it's okay." He shrugged. But he had a weird look on his face. Kaia smirked knowingly.

"Ya know…. If you didn't break up with Juvia then maybe you would be starting a family right now." She shrugged. He gave her a dark look for mentioning that.

"No." Was his firm retort, not wanting to discuss anything having to do with the rain woman.

"Ya know, I heard she finally said yes to Lyon a month ago." Lucy speculated.

"Good for her." He muttered.

"Yeah, I heard the same thing. They've been dating for about five months now huh? No wonder she's not at the guild much, must be wedding preparations." Kaia added in. Gray tried to tune it out now, and ended up gripping the edge of the table tightly.

"Enough for now, girls." Erza said, looking pointedly at them and glancing at Gray. Both Lucy and Kaia looked over to see the irritated ice mage and the conversation dissolved quickly. No one exactly knew what happened in Gray and Juvia's relationship, what made it end, but they all knew it didn't end on good terms. Magnolia had been flooded and freezing cold for over a month when they broke up, and when one of the mages was in the guild the other was nowhere to be found. Now, even though they could both be in the guild at the same time, things were still tense between the two. Juvia had started dating Lyon two months after the break up and now they were engaged. It seemed to aggravate Gray.

"So….. Does anyone want to go on a mission?" Lucy asked after a minute. "I'm almost out of money from our last one so I need some money for rent."

"I'll go." Erza nodded.

"Me too." Gray said.

"Kaia and I will go was well, as long as there's a monster to fight!" Natsu smirked.

"Uh, 'Kaia' will not be going, Natsu." Kaia scoffed lightly.

"What why not?"

"Pregnant, remember?" She rolled her eyes when his went down to her big belly.

"Oh, right. Never mind, we're not going." He said quickly.

"No, you should go." The bluenette corrected quickly. "We could use the extra money."

"We've got plenty saved up."

"We're eating through that pretty quickly, literally Natsu." She giggled. "Plus extra money would never hurt, for just in case situations." She shrugged.

"Right." He nodded.

"Okay, well, I'll go pick a mission that's got a high reward for you guys." Lucy smiled. She got up and went up to the second floor. Gray chatted with Erza and Kaia for a bit, and Natsu butt in when he wanted to annoy the raven haired man but their conversation quickly ended when Lucy came back down and slapped a flyer on the table.

"So what'd you find?" Gray asked, leaning forward to look at the flyer. "River monster attacking a village. Get rid of it and we'll pay four million jewel." His brows shot up into his hairline. "Dang, that's a lot of money for a river monster. Must be really tough." He muttered.

"Yeah, but we're all S-Class now, and it pays four million—assuming Natsu doesn't destroy anything," she gave him a pointed glare and the rose haired man shrunk down behind Kaia's shoulder," so it will split nicely. Wendy's out with Romeo on a mission—"

"Again? Man those two are inseparable." Kaia giggled. Lucy nodded with a smile.

"I swear they're going to get married one day." The blonde giggled. "Anyways, back to the mission. What do you guys say?" She looked at Gray first. He shrugged.

"Sure, I don't mind." He chuckled. They both looked over to Erza who nodded.

"I'm okay with it." She agreed. The three then turned to Natsu. He smirked.

"I'm getting fired up, fighting a river monster sounds awesome!" He said excitedly. Kaia rolled her eyes and smiled affectionately at her husband. Lucy nodded and, with everyone's agreement, she went to go tell Mira they would take it. Mira told her that they could head out the day after next. With that information Lucy went back to the table, relayed it to the team, and then they began talking and speculating about the mission and the plans to possibly take down the monster.

"Hey Lucy, do you think that you could call Loke back here, see if he knows where Tessa went. My back is starting to give me problems again, and I was hoping she'd be able to help me again." Kaia said when the conversation hit a lull. Lucy nodded.

"Yeah sure thing." She smiled and got up, grabbing up the spirit's key. "Open! Gate of the lion, Leo!" She called as she made the cross motion in the air with the key. Gray looked away disinterested as she waited for Loke to show up, and saw an arm with bandages wrapped around it set a glass of iced tea down in front of him quickly. He frowned.

"Mira what-" He stopped when he looked up and realized it wasn't Mira serving their food. This girl was obviously younger, with hair the color of sakura petals, and big chocolate brown eyes. Her skin was pale, her neck was covered by a green scarf, and a shirt that exposed one arm while covering the other, and showed off a slanted half of her side and stomach. His brows rose when he saw the arm that wasn't covered by a sleeve. Starting at her wrist, bandages wrapped up her arm and covered her shoulder, and he wondered how much it continued under her shirt.

"Who're you?" Natsu blurted. There was a muted smacking sound as Kaia hit him and then his protest followed by her hushed whisper about the fact that it was rude to blurt out questions like that. The girl smiled and her brown eyes twinkled lightly with amusement as she looked at the couple.

"It was rude the way Natsu asked, but I'm curious as well. Who might you be?" Erza wondered. The pinkette giggled lightly and shook her head.

"I wasn't offended, don't worry. Much more polite than some of the other members. My name is Serafina Lee. Mira and Kinana needed help, what with all the new members showing up so I answered the flyers they had posted throughout town. I'm the new member and waitress." She smiled.

"You're a member now?" Loke asked, finally appearing, or maybe it was for the second time since he regretfully told Kaia that he couldn't find Tessa. Gray noted that he looked slightly rumpled for once.

"Yes." She nodded, not losing her bright smile as she finished passing out the food to Gray and Kaia.

"So that means you're a magic user. What kind of magic do you use?" The blonde wondered. Instantly the smile was gone as Serafina's expression darkened.

"I'd rather not discuss it. Yes I used to be a magic user, I don't practice that anymore. I hope you both enjoy your food, I'll see you around the guild." With that short reply she took her tray and left rather quickly, and Gray noticed that she was rubbing her hand up and down her wrapped arm.

"Well, that was interesting. I have to go, oh and by the way Lucy, before I forget." He smirked and swatted her butt lightly.

"What did you do that for!?" She exclaimed, putting her hands over her behind protectively, as if afraid he'd do it again. He chuckled.

"Tessa told me to." He shrugged.

"But I thought you said you couldn't find her." Kaia was quick, and she smirked at him. He spluttered, trying to come up with a response and she laughed. "You found her, she just wasn't decent was she?" She smirked. The spirit didn't reply.

"Oh my god, are you actually blushing?" Lucy exclaimed.

"No, it's hot in here!" Loke said quickly. "I have to go, bye!" He said before vanishing. Kaia burst into laughter.

"He was totally with Tessa." The bluenette smirked. Lucy nodded and they both giggled. "But dang it, now I'm stuck with an aching back." Kaia pouted.

"I'm sorry." Lucy frowned.

"You know, you've got Natsu, why not just have him give you a warm massage?" Gray asked. Kaia snorted.

"He does it too rough. It's wonderful for my feet though." She said, tacking on the end part as a way to comfort the pouting Slayer.

"Well there's gotta be something that could help." Natsu mumbled.

"Yes, getting this baby out of me would help." She teased. "Anyways, I'm hungry so I'm gonna eat." She said, turning to her food. Natsu tried to steal a piece of bacon from her plate and quicker than lightning Kaia's hand shot out and smacked his away. "Mine." Was the only thing she said before digging in to her meal. Gray stifled a laugh at Natsu's hurt expression, Natsu caught it, and a fight naturally broke out, turning into a guild wide brawl eventually that lasted the rest of the day and into the evening.

O~O~O~O

"Seeya tomorrow Gray!" Lucy called as he headed out. He waved, made sure he had all his clothes and then left the guild hall, heading down the street to his apartment.

"Please, if you would just give me a chance, I-"

"I'm sorry, but I don't allow fire mages in my complex. Good luck finding anyone here that does."

"Okay….. Thank you for your time." Gray paused when he turned the corner and saw a flash of sakura pink and emerald green pass him. He turned and sure enough it was the girl from the guild, Serafina.

"Poor girl. That's gonna be tough." The ice mage turned to the man beside him. "She was a pretty little thing, I would have loved to see her brighten up the place but….. Well, fire mages are iffy."

"What?"

"Yeah, it's gonna be tough for her to find a place that'll rent to a fire mage." He nodded.

Gray frowned. One, why was this dude randomly talking to him? And two, Serafina was a fire mage?

Without realizing it he started walking, and then jogging, going in the direction she had gone. He could still see her pink head in the midst of a sudden crowd of people, and he did his best to follow after her, not even knowing why. He was curious though, questions swam through his mind. Why didn't she want to talk about her magic, did something happen, if so what?

The pinkette turned a corner into an alley and Gray frowned, knowing it was a dead end with nothing in it. He waited, but she didn't come back out. Confused he walked over and looked into the alley. She was sitting, leaning against a wall with her head tucked into her knees which were pulled up to her chest.

"Serafina?" She tensed and her head shot up. Startled brown eyes met confused dark blue, and then she was up on her feet.

"Oh, Gray! What are you doing here?" She asked.

"I could ask you the same thing, why are you in an alleyway this late at night?" He asked.

"Ah-I-uh-….. Well-…" She stammered, trying to come up with a response. "I'm new in town ya know, and all the money I'm earning from waitressing at FairyTail is going towards renting a place but I don't have enough for a house, and well…. I can't exactly find an apartment because-" She broke off quickly and looked away.

"No one here will rent to a fire mage." Gray finished. Her eyes shot back to his and narrowed.

"How did you know?" He was surprised at how fast she could go from sweetly flustered to hostile.

"I'm sorry, I saw you talking to a landlord back there and then he started talking to me. But anyways, that still doesn't explain why you're in an alley."

"I have nowhere else to go, Gray. I can't find an apartment complex that'll take me, I don't have enough money to get a house, and I can't waste all my money on a hotel because I'm trying to save up." She mumbled, rubbing her hand up and down her arm self-consciously.

"So you're sleeping in an alley?" He looked appalled and she glared at him.

"Beats wasting my money on a hotel." She snapped. "No one bugs me, and if some dude happens to come over and try something I'll roast his ass."

"But I thought you said you don't practice magic anymore?"

"I don't but that doesn't mean I don't know how." She pointed out.

"Right. But…. Still…" He looked around. Serafina glared at him and for a moment he thought he saw a flash of red in her eyes and fire behind her irises. But it was gone so fast that he was sure he just imagined it.

"Still what?" She asked tensely. He shook his head quickly.

"Uh….. Don't take this the wrong way, but…. I can't leave you out here, there's supposed to be a storm later tonight, and it'll be cold and raining—possibly snowing. Look, why don't you come with me, you can crash at my place tonight and we can figure something out in the morning." He offered. She blinked in surprise.

"What?"

"I'm not trying to do anything weird, okay? But c'mon, I can't let you sleep in an alley." He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

"You're gonna let me stay with you?"

"Well, for tonight yeah, until we can figure something else out." He shrugged.

"You're not scared that I'm gonna burn your place down?"

"Should I be?" He asked. She hesitated, looked away, and then crossed her arms over her chest. "Well?" He asked when they just stood in silence for nearly a minute.

"I-I'm not entirely certain. I can't always control it." She mumbled.

"What do you mean?"

"I have nightmares, and sometimes…. I lose control." She admitted. Gray processed the information and nodded slowly.

"Well, then it's a good thing I'm an ice mage. I can put it out, and I'm used to some heat because of Natsu." He shrugged. Her eyes shot to his.

"Wait, what?"

"I don't care. I can put a fire out, so it's fine." He shrugged again.

"S-seriously?" He nodded. "Th-thank you." She mumbled in disbelief.

"Right…. Uh, well let's go." He said. She nodded and followed him out of the alley.

She was unprepared for how fast he walked and ended up falling behind a little bit. She was about to start jogging to catch up when someone took hold of her bandaged arm, making her wince.

"Hey pretty girl, where you going in such a hurry?" A man slurred as she turned her head to look at him.

"Let me go please." She said politely.

"Aww, don't be rude, I just wanna talk to ya, see I don't see many girls like you around here this late." He said, swaying towards her a little. She tried to move back but her arm was still caught in his grip, and he held tighter to her as he steadied himself, Serafina winced again as his fingers dug into the bandages.

"We can talk, but you're hurting me, please let me go." She asked again, glancing to the side quickly to find Gray had continued walking without noticing.

"But if I let you go, how do I know that you won't just flutter away like a cute little butterfly?" He asked, tightening his grip further. She gasped in pain and tried to pry his hand off.

"Stop it, that hurts jackass!" She snapped suddenly, her polite demeanor gone and replaced with anger.

"Ooo, this little butterfly can sting like a bee?" He smirked, and she glared at him. She opened her mouth to speak—or spit fire, whichever came out first—but someone beat her to it.

"There you are, I've been looking for you baby girl. Is this guy bothering you?" A chilled arm rested lightly over her shoulders and the drunken man's hand fell away quickly when he saw the raven haired man beside the pinkette. Serafina looked up and blushed when he leaned down and kissed the corner of her mouth.

"A little, but I could have handled it." She pouted. Gray chuckled and glanced down at her.

"I have no doubt that you could, but what kind of boyfriend would I be if I didn't step up to defend my girl?" Her blush deepened and she glanced away. He turned back to the drunkard and glared icily at him. "Anyhow, you smell worse than Cana, and that's saying something. I think you should go home and sleep it off before you do something you regret. Some guys aren't exactly forgiving when another man grabs their girlfriend. I'm willing to be generous considering how wasted you are, but if she gets bruises, I'll be looking for you." He said darkly. "You got that?" The other man gulped and nodded.

"S-sorry man, I didn't know she was with someone." He muttered.

"Well, maybe next time you should ask before you manhandle someone, asshole." Serafina snapped. He looked at her, saw the gleam of red in her eyes and then scrambled back quickly.

"I would go home if I were you, I can only keep her calm for so long." Gray warned. The man looked at Serafina again, and she narrowed her eyes, smirked in a way that bared sharp shark-like teeth, and then jerked her head forward to snap her jaws at him. He screamed and scrambled back before turning, stumbling, then running down the street. Serafina, satisfied with how she'd terrorized him smirked again and smoothed her tongue over her teeth, making them human-like again before turning to Gray and rubbing her throbbing arm.

"Oh my god, the way he screamed!" She laughed, and Gray chuckled with her until he noticed something at about the level of her shoulder. She looked down and pulled her hand away to see the patch of dark red seeping into the white fabric.

"You're bleeding." Gray said in concern. She quickly put her hand back over it before he could touch it.

"I'll be fine." She winced and gulped as she grabbed at her arm.

"Did he really grab you that hard?"

"No, it's not from him, well it is, but it's not. Don't worry about it, okay?" She said quickly.

"But-"

"Seriously I'll be fine. It's not even bleeding anymore okay?" She said to reassure him. The stain wasn't getting any bigger so he was inclined to believe her, but still…..

"We can patch you up when we get to my apartment." He promised. She nodded and he put his arm around her shoulders lightly, making her blush and look up at him in confusion. "Maybe if we make it look like we're together people won't approach you anymore." He shrugged. She giggled and decided to play along with it.

"Alright then." She shrugged, leaning into his side slightly. Gray was surprised at how warm she was, considering it was February and still freezing cold. But then again, she was a fire mage, he reminded himself. And a tiny one at that as well, he hadn't realized until then how petite she was.

"He sure was scared of you." He chuckled. "I wonder why, you're so tiny." She tensed for a second and then pouted up at him.

"I can be scary." She grumbled. He chuckled.

"Somehow, I don't doubt that actually." He smiled. "I mean…. If bunny rabbits can be scary." She pursed her lips to stop a smile and elbowed him lightly.

"Jerk." She giggled. He smirked and stopped in front of a building.

Serafina looked up at it and was surprised how big it was.

"Just a warning, the outside makes it look bigger, but my apartment is pretty small." He warned her.

"No matter what, you think I'm gonna complain?" She teased. He shrugged.

"You never know, you could change your mind." He chuckled.

"Hmm…. Take up a very generous offer of shelter for a night when it's supposed to rain, which with how cold it is will most likely turn to snow, or I could sleep out in an alley and probably freeze to death." She teased. "I think I'll take my chances with a pretty small apartment, that may or may not be messy." He chuckled at that and shrugged.

"Okay then. You had fair warning." He led her up the stairs and inside the complex, going over to the elevator. They went up to the third floor and Gray paused in front of a door. "Would you do me a favor, and count to a thousand before you come inside?" He asked quickly. She rose a brow at that and a small smirk tugged at the corners of her lips.

"Did I bring up a memory with my 'may or may not be messy' comment?" She asked.

"Maybe." He muttered. She laughed and then walked over to lean against the wall.

"One." She counted, slowly. Gray watched as her lips formed the words and her tongue flicked from the top of her mouth to the bottom on the 'n'. "Two." He snapped out of it and quickly unlocked the door before going inside, leaving it cracked so he could hear her counting. "Three." She called. He cleaned up the kitchen a bit, throwing some stray cans of soda into the trash bin and sweeping some crumbs off the countertops. "Four." He moved on to the living room and picked up stray clothes that he tended to strip out of when he was home and not bother picking up. "Five." He straightened up the table, put things back in their places, threw away more trash and hid a couple magazines that definitely weren't appropriate. "Ten." Was it his imagination or did she skip ahead? "Twenty." She was skipping ahead! He tried to clean up faster. "Thirty." This was said on what sounded like a yawn. He moved on to the bedroom, found nothing too bad, he just put some more dirty clothes in the hamper and actually made up the sheets. "Forty." He turned on the light in the bathroom and cringed. The place really was a mess. "Fifty." He quickly scrubbed down the toothpaste from the sink, put everything away, crammed in drawers or cabinets, got out the first aid kit when he remembered her arm, and then looked into the shower. Straightening that stuff up as well. "One hundred." Great now she was skipping ahead even more! No fair! He looked at the toilet bowl and thankfully it wasn't bad. He did give it a real quick clean though. "Two hundred." Her voice sounded closer, was she in the apartment now? "Three hundred. Four hundred. Five hundred." And she was counting faster as she got closer. Gray turned off the light and went back into the bedroom, to find her seated on the edge, arms back and legs crossed delicately as she smiled at him. "A thousand." She stated. He chuckled and leaned against the door-frame casually.

"You look at ease." He smiled.

"Were you just cleaning the bathroom. Like, clean cleaning?" She asked.

"Pfft, no." He muttered.

"Really? Cause it smells faintly of ammonia." She smiled after sniffing the air. He frowned, sniffed, but couldn't smell anything.

"I can't smell anything. You sure your nose is reliable?"

"Of course, I've got the nose of a—" She stopped midsentence. "Uh, never mind." She muttered, looking away from him when his expression showed his curiosity. She sat up more fully and her hand went to her arm as she frowned.

"Is it hurting?" He asked, and she just then seemed to notice her actions.

"Oh, n-"

"Let me get my first aid kit and then we can patch you back up." He said gently. She shook her head.

"I can do it. I don't need any help there." She said, getting up.

"But—"

"Don't worry, I can do it." She promised, moving passed him into the bathroom. He turned around and she closed the door in his face with a brief smile for reassurance. Gray sighed and shook his head.

"If you need any help just ask." He called.

"Okay, thanks." With that he went to go grab some extra sheets and make up the couch to sleep.

For Serafina, the second the door was closed she'd leaned against it and sighed silently. Then she listened as his footsteps carried him from the door before she engaged the lock on the handle and moved over to the mirror. She took off her shirt, and stared for a moment with a mix of hatred and pain on her face as she looked at the bandages that covered her right arm, wrist to shoulder, and then wrapped diagonally down her right side, continuing underneath her pants all the way to her knee. She got into the kit, pulled out the scissors, and cut the bandages on her torso and arm in half. When they fell away she was left staring at four long gashes going down her arm and side. She grit her teeth and looked away from the mirror, dropping her head to stare at the freshly cleaned sink as she gripped the sides of the counter.

"Damn you, Feira." She hissed quietly. "Damn you for doing this to me." She snarled, glaring back up at her reflection. Her eyes blazed red with a fire burning behind her irises. Her arm, side and leg all burned like fire had been poured into her veins and the gashes glowed a faint blue. She pulled in a ragged breath to calm herself and when she blinked her eyes were back to their normal chocolate brown color, and claw marks looked like plain scabbed gashes. She cleaned up the blood smeared on her upper arm and then redressed the wounds meticulously. Once she was sure that they were completely covered she put her shirt back on and wrapped her scarf back around her neck, because his apartment was damn cold. "Hopefully the cold will help keep the nightmares away." She told her reflection before cleaning up the kit, throwing away the dirtied bandages, and putting the kit back where she'd found it. She opened the door as she turned off the light and found Gray waiting in the bedroom.

"Okay, so you can have the bed. I assume you don't have any pajamas so you can use a t-shirt of mine and I had some sweat pants from when I was younger that might fit you." He offered.

"Where would you sleep?"

"On the couch of course." He shrugged. Serafina shook her head.

"Oh no, no way. I can't make you sleep on the couch." She said quickly.

"Ser—"

"No. You're already doing so much for me, letting me stay here tonight, letting me use your clothes. I'm taking the couch, and I'm not budging." She demanded.

"But the couch is lumpy—"

"Then I'd feel even worse if you had to sleep on it. I'm not going to argue about that, it's late, I'm tired, and I'm sure you're tired too. Thank you, Gray. Goodnight." With a quick bow for gratitude she took the clothes he offered and left the bedroom, closing the door behind her. He sighed and shook his head.

"Are all fire mages as stubborn as that flame-brain Natsu?" He grumbled quietly, feeling bad that she was going to sleep on the lumpy couch.

"Possibly! I'm pretty sure I'm more stubborn than him though!" Serafina called from the living room. Gray chuckled.

"Well, goodnight I guess." He said at normal volume, just to see if she could hear him.

"Goodnight. Thank you again!" So she could. He chuckled again and then stripped down to his underwear before climbing into his bed to go to sleep.

Well… There you have it. The first chapter. Hope it didn't totally suck! REVIEW! Tell me if I should continue with this or take it down!

UNTIL NEXT TIME MY LOVELIES!

A.~