Chapter 1 - The Runes Master

It was a rainy day in Magnolia. However, the guild of mages, Fairy Tail, was noisy and messy as usual.
Natsu and Gray had just finished one of their pointless fights, and while Natsu headed to the exit with Happy and Lucy to start a mission, Gray collapsed on a bench. "I'm gonna kill that idiot one day..." he muttered. Despite his bad mood, he sensed an even heavier depression aura coming from his left. Sat on the same bench as him, Juvia was staring at the table in front of her, emotionless.
Gray looked at her for a while, waiting for her to notice his presence as she usually did. But nothing happened. Well, this is new. he thought to himself, a bit startled.
"Hello? Juvia, are you there?"
His voice didn't seem to reach her. Juvia's only reaction was getting her eyes more and more filled with tears. Which worried Gray a little bit, as he began to think he was the reason of her sadness. He had known about her feelings for a long time, but he still wasn't able to face them. He couldn't even state what he himself felt. Maybe that situation had finally overwhelmed Juvia, and she had decided to forget him once and for all and pretend he didn't exist.
All these thoughts ran through the ice mage's mind, making him more and more uncomfortable. Then, a gentle voice calling his name distracted him.
"Gray... come here". It was Mirajane, who called him to the counter with a little gesture and her usual smile.
Confused, he stood up and went to her. "You know what happened to Juvia? I mean... She looks awkward." he whispered, glancing at the water mage.
With a little sigh, Mira explained: "It seems that Juvia's money was all stolen last night, when she was out for a mission. And also some of her precious handmade dolls disappeared... She doesn't have the money to pay the rent for Fairy Hills, and she doesn't even seem to be in the mood to work to gain some..."
Gray's look was now puzzled. Then he couldn't help but feel relieved. "Oh! I see... That's all! It's just a theft!" Hearing those words, Juvia hit her head on the table and began to cry like a baby; Gray felt incredibly stupid for his words. "Ah! Uhm, no, I mean... that's bad... Damn it!" Why am I so relieved?!
Mira smiled again, and asked for Gray's attention again. "Listen here, Gray..." she whispered. "I'm pretty sure she'll go on a mission if you ask her to. Or, even better, why don't you go along with her?" Gray kept silent for a while. He knew when Mira made that kind of suggestions, with that satisfied smile on her face, there was no way to decline the offer. But that didn't change the fact that he still felt uncomfortable with Juvia's obsession for him...
Oh, come on, it's not like it's the first time we'd go out on a mission together! And she's in big trouble, if I can be the one to help my nakama I have to do it.
"Well... I don't have anything else to do..." he sighed.
"Oh, that's wonderful! You heard, Juvia? Gray wants to go on a mission with you!" Mira raised her voice drastically, and immediately caught Juvia's attention. The blue-haired girl lifted her head and looked at Gray, her eyes were filled with happiness and hope. "R-Really, Gray-sama?!"
With a little nervous smile, Gray looked back at her and replied: "Eh... sure! Let's go."

A few minutes later, the two were on their way. The rain had stopped, and Gray realized it was probably because of Juvia's bad mood. Now, however, there was no trace of her depression at all.
"So, what's the mission Mira suggested for us?" she asked, smiling cheerfully.
Gray took out the paper which had the details of the mission. "There's this guy, 'The Runes Master', who seems to be playing a bit too much with his magic. He's built a big house, which is known as 'Dream Room', where people can go to make their dreams come true. At least, this is what it claims..." The boy stopped talking as he noticed Juvia's ecstatic face. He just could read what was passing through her mind. Dreams come true... Come true...
"Don't get so easily distracted! That's the trap!" Gray scolded her. "A lot of people are stuck in there because of the traps he's set everywhere inside the house. It seems that it's a kind of 'game', where you have to go through some obstacles to reach the end and make your dream come true. But they just can't get out of there, because his rules are just too weird and hard, if not impossible, to be respected."
"Rules? Does that mean that... Uhm, this person uses the same magic as Fried-san?" Juvia asked, finally back to herself. "It seems so. The paper also says that the rules don't involve violence or harming, but they're hard enough to keep people trapped inside. We'll have to be careful."
"Well, at least we won't have to fight each other or something like that." Juvia sighed with relief, thinking back at the Fairy Tail Battle created by Laxus, back when he wanted to take Master's place no matter what.
"We're gonna make it" Gray said raising his fist. "And look! The reward is enough for you to pay the rent for, what, 3 months? Four?" he added with a smile. Juvia took a look at the paper, and murmured "M-Maybe just a month or two...". Gray shook his head. "You know, I'm not going to take half of the reward, I leave it all for you. It's you who's in need of money, I'm here just to help." After saying that, he patted her on the back and gave her a smile of encouragement. Juvia blushed and smiled back, looking at him with the sweetest eyes ever. "T-Thank you very much, Gray-sama!" For some reason he felt embarrassed, and put his hands in his pockets while looking around. "No problem really..."
Juvia didn't stop thanking him all along the way to the Dream Room.