Hello everyone! Thank you so much if you are taking the time to read this.

Summary: There are three types of people in the world. The first are the lowest of the low. They sleep on the cold ground anywhere there is space for them. They will die within weeks of reaching this all-time-low. Then there are the poor people. These people live in small, run-down houses. They can barely afford food, and they usually survive. The last group are the merchants. They live a little better, but are still barely surviving. But above these people, is the royal family. To the dying people among the streets, they are just scum, too greedy to help the people. But there comes an age when you learn that it isn't quite true. For Gray, this happens earlier than he ever thought.

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Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail!

"Get back here!"

Gray laughed as he ran threw the streets, a sack of food under his arm. Five other people were chasing him, pitchforks in hand. All the more fun for him. He rounded a corner, sliding on the dirt. The fact that he wasn't wearing shoes didn't help much, either.

"I spent months growing those!"

Gray looked ahead and saw his best friend, Natsu, running towards him, a crowd of people behind him. He was carrying a sack as well. They both smirked before running down an alley. They were fast runners, so they managed to lose the angry merchants.

"That was rough," Gray sighed, panting. He put his hands on his knees. His one hand was touching bare skin. The one pant leg of his trousers was gone completely. His shirt was in shreds. Natsu's clothing wasn't much better. They were the lowest class. Honestly, they were lucky they had clothes at all. And they managed to get food, unlike others in their social class.

"Those guys chased me across town," Natsu panted. He slumped down on the river bank. Gray knelt down beside him and put his hands in the water. He scooped some up and splashed his face. He scrubbed some dirt off before splashing himself again. Dirt was still caked in his hair, but he didn't mind. He was used to it. He looked around and saw a few others washing their faces. Some were laying down. He wasn't sure if they were dead or sleeping. But in his eighteen years, if he's learned anything, it's that being dead is better than living, so it didn't matter which it was.

"Isn't that Wendy?" Natsu asked. He pointed across the river. The seven-year-old was talking to a woman. The bottom part of her layered dress was peaking below her brown cloak. The hood was up, so neither could see her face. They couldn't tell if she was wearing shoes because of the length of her dress.

"What do you think they are saying?" Gray asked. He wasn't really phased by the fact that his little sister was talking to a stranger. It wasn't like she would get kidnapped or anything. That would be one more mouth to feed. You were lucky if you fed yourself, let alone someone else, so it wasn't wise to steal people.

"There they are!"

Gray and Natsu were running in a flash. They weaved through the streets, trying not to step on people who were either dead or alive, or run into anyone walking. The line of mud-brick houses were so familiar to them. They could name each crack on the road; they knew the path so well.

Then they reached their safe-heaven. It was a farely large building, but it was very run-down. A crooked sign out front read FAIRY TAIL. It was a small little place where the knitting class would gather, if you were a member. They would sometimes take jobs for merchants, and in return get food.

They swung open the doors and entered with their heads held high. Everyone greeted them as they walked past. They sat down at the bar, smirks on their faces.

"Gentlemen," the woman behind the bar said. She had long white hair and blue eyes. Her hair was only slightly dirty, since she seldom went outside. Her dress was a dull brown, and it had minimal wholes in it.

"Miss Mirajane," Gray said politely.

"Using manners, I see?" Mira chuckled. "You must have brought something home."

Gray slammed the sack on the counter. Mira giggled and opened it. She smiled in approval. "Freshly ground flour," he said, announcing the contents. He reached in his vest and pulled out a small vile. "And I manage to scrap up some honey."

"This is wonderful!" Mira exclaimed. "I'll be able to make bread. But Gray, you really shouldn't steal this stuff."

"Pssh!" Natsu scoffed. "That ain't stealing!" He slapped his sack on the counter. "This is the real gold!" He opened up the bag and smirked. The bag contained fifty or so juicy, red apples.

"You boys outdid yourselves," Mira said. She bowed. "Thank you very much." She grabbed the sacks and took them to the back room, which was used as a storage for food. Unlike many places, they all shared the food they received evenly. That's what made Fairy Tail special.

The doors were once again opened, but a little slower this time. A little girl with long blue hair walked in. Her hair was matted together, mud caked to her face. Her light blue dress looked almost gray with all the dirt. She wore no shoes, but she had cloth wrapped around her little feet. She scampered over to the counter and sat between Gray and Natsu.

"Hey, Squirt," Gray said. He licked his thumb and wiped some dirt off of her cheek. She giggled and swatted his hand away.

"Welcome back, Wendy," Mira said, walking back over.

"You guys will never believe what I got today!" she said happily.

"It can't be better than my apples," Natsu boasted. Gray rolled his eyes.

"It is!" she said. She reached in her dress pocket and pulled out a sack. It wasn't big, but it did contain a lot of something rare. She untied the string and opened the bag. The three around her gasped.

"Is this real?" Gray asked.

"It can't be," Natsu gaped.

"Ch-chocolate?" Mira stuttered. She picked up one of the tiny squares. "Where did you get this from?"

"A kind woman gave it to me," Wendy explained.

"She just gave this to you?" Gray asked. "But she could have gotten so much for it!"

"She told me I should give it to those precious to me," Wendy said with a small smile. "So I'm giving it to you all." She gave a piece to Mira, Natsu, and Gray. Then she went around the make-shift guild and gave everyone a piece. She had just enough to give a piece to everyone but herself.

"Here," Gray said, handing his over.

"But it's for you," Wendy said, holding the chocolate in her small hands.

"I don't really like chocolate," he lied. He loved chocolate. He had it a few times before, and he would nearly kill for it. But he couldn't let his little sister go without some.

"Thanks, Gray!" she cheered. She gave him a kiss on the cheek before sitting down and eating it.

The doors opened once again. A girl known as Levy ran in. "Its raining!" she called. She quickly shut the door and ran inside. Then everyone heard the rain.

"Damn," Gray mumbled. He wanted to go outside, too. When it rained, every person went inside, know matter what social class you were. In the hard times they were facing, medicine wasn't available. If you got the common cold, you would most likely die. Everyone stayed clear of bad weather.

"You should all go to bed," Mira announced. "It would be best to sleep the weather off." Slowly, everyone made their at upstairs. They all lived at the guild. The upstairs was an open space, but everyone still had their own area. The lucky ones had their own hay bales to sleep on. Gray and Natsu were one of the lucky ones.

"At least the crops will get watered," Gray said, taking off his shirt. Natsu agreed and took his off. They then took their pants off, leaving them in their underwear. They handed the clothing to Wendy, who was also just in her underwear bottoms, not needing to wear a corset yet. She took all the clothes over to Mira and helped her wash the clothes. Every night, Mira, Wendy, and a few others washed everyone's clothes. They would lay them out of the floor to dry until morning.

"It's really pouring," Gray said, looking out the whole in the wall. The whole was usually covered by a cloth, but he was holding it aside. He looked down at the streets. He couldn't really see anything. A flash of yellow did catch his eyes, though. He looked closer and saw that it was a woman. Her long blonde hair was swaying behind her. What bothered him, though, was what she was doing.

She was dancing in the rain.

So you all need to go to Youtube, and watch this AMV! Too many FEELS! It's the best I've seen yet. It's obviously a Fairy Tail one. So after you type the address for youtube, copy this after the backslash (or check out my profile): watch?v=XoKcVW0q7HI

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