"Erza," Makarov said as he approached the table where she and her usual group of peers hung around during slow days of the week.

"Yes, Master?" Erza said, immediately turning away from her conversation with Lucy. She glanced down from her seat and saw that their master had a piece of paper in one of his hands… a request slip? Those pieces of paper never left the board unless the request was being accepted, and the fact that Master Makarov was coming up to her with one in hand sparked her curiosity.

"Is there something wrong?" she asked.

"No, no," Makarov said shaking his head and holding up the slip to her, "A request just arrived today specifically for you and it's pretty urgent, I'm afraid."

"What?" Natsu piped up from his seat next to Erza, "How come Erza's the only one that gets something special like that?"

"That's because you're a doofus," Gray said, leaning his chin on his hand and pulling one of his legs up on the bench in a bored manner, "and no one wants to straight up hire a doofus."

"I want in! Erza, let me go with you!" Natsu said boldly, ignoring Gray's comment from his newly enticed excitement, but was then silenced when one of Erza's armored hands strongly clamped over his mouth.

"It says to be at the city of Bristol by tomorrow afternoon," she said, reading the few lines on the paper, "'Please wait at the entrance of the city borders when you arrive,' it says."

"Wow, they must really need you if they want you that soon," Lucy said as she leaned over the table to look at the message. She then sat back down and tapped her chin thoughtfully, "But it seems weird that they didn't at least mention exactly what the job is."

"Weeeeird!" Happy echoed.

"Did you see who came in to drop the request off, Master?" Erza asked, turning her attention back to the old man.

"No," he replied, scratching the back of his head, "Mirajane was the one who received it first, but she mentioned that the messenger was dressed in a black suit looking like he was in a hurry. I think it's safe to say that the request could have possibly come from someone of power in Bristol, though I'm not particularly sure whom. But all I'm quite certain about is that they want to be discreet and the short, but specific, request just proves it."

This was an odd request indeed. Well, it wasn't so much of one with the fact that the message was as vague as they came. On top of that, it also sounded more like orders rather than asking for a favor. Erza narrowed her eyes, both curious and suspicious of what this job entailed. She liked being clear and concise, so it annoyed her how the description was far from being sufficient enough to have expectations. However, with the same vagueness, this also poised as a challenge at the same time… and a challenge was something her nature would never want to turn down.

"I accept the request, but it also says that I'm to bring along a partner for the job," Erza said, rereading the last line, "In particular, a male with black hair."

She looked up around the guild, her eyes scanning over everyone who was present and lounging about in their own business. Gajeel, Wang, Droy, Warren, Nab, and Alzack, she mentally noted as the ones who fit the criteria. With no other pieces of information to assess the mission, it was hard to pick out who would be the best choice and she was exceptionally picky with who she chose to work with on jobs.

She was on good terms with Gajeel, however she knew nothing of how their joined forces would cooperate. Wang was a silent man and she expected that trait to be a hindrance on a mission like this. Droy would be too intimidated to work together with her and probably would only go if Levy were to. Warren would be useful with his abilities, but again it was difficult to tell if he actually would be of use with the unknown circumstances. Nab… he lacked a backbone and would probably back down if approached. And Alzack was already browsing the request board with Bisca.

Then, Erza realized she completely left out one more possibility- one that she should have just immediately chosen in the first place. After all, she knew how well they worked together. How did she manage to overlook him, especially when they were sitting right across from each other?

"Why are you looking at me?" Gray asked, his expression suddenly breaking the look of boredom. The way her brown eyes looked at him with a form of hard resolve kind of irked him more than usual.

"Gray, you'll be my partner," Erza said with an authoritative tone and a furrowed brow.

"Wha-?" Gray and Natsu exclaimed together.

"Why not me, Erza?!" Natsu complained, slamming down his hand on the wooden table, "I'd be a better partner than he will be!"

"The request clearly states that a male with black hair is needed," she snapped, half glaring at him in annoyance, "I don't know more about this request, so I've decided that Gray is the best choice since our teamwork is the most flexible out of the other options. How far is Bristol, Master?"

"Not too far; just about thirty miles west if I remember."

Erza then stood up from her seat on the bench with the paper in hand, "Alright, Gray, we leave tonight if we want to make it in time tomorrow afternoon. Get whatever you need to bring and meet me here at the guild at sunset to get going. We're taking the train. We'll aim to get back soon, Master."

"Good to hear it," Makarov said, grinning at her typical, strong demeanor. He expected this job to be over with no difficulties, despite the lack of information about it. It was Erza Scarlet, after all, "But come with me; I found this new armor while I was on my way back home and I think you'll like it!"

"Oh, great," Gray sighed as the two walked off, setting his chin back down on his palm, "Just me and Erza on a job… I already feel my bones cracking."

He honestly didn't mind going on jobs with Titania; in fact, he actually liked to- but only if he wasn't the only one about to suffer. They were close friends, good teammates, and they wholeheartedly and silently trusted each other with their lives, so it wasn't a bother to go with her if he considered those facts. However, Erza was still as fearsome and controlling as ever and those were some of the things he was wary to deal with alone. It didn't make it any better that she was also acting much more domineering in the last few weeks. The mages of Fairy Tail were being hammered down more than usual even during down time.

"I don't get why she didn't pick me," Natsu continued to complain, "I could just dye my hair black."

"You'll look like a mini Gajeel," Lucy said, sweat-dropping at the mental image of Natsu sporting a head of black locks and having the same shady look on his face, "But still, though, a request that unclear seems a little suspicious. It's pretty questionable."

"Yeah," Happy chimed in with a fish in his mouth, "What if it's a trap or something?"

"Beats me," Gray said, shrugging, "No matter what job this is, I just want to get out of it alive, especially when it's Erza I'm forced to be partnered with. And I don't know if it's just me, but she's been acting a little more uptight than usual lately and that's got me pretty scared already."

"Yeah, I've actually noticed that too," Lucy said, nodding, "When I asked her if she wanted to go shopping with me yesterday she actually turned me down for the first time ever! She hardly ever passes a shopping trip up."

"And she actually took away my fish and threw them out after yelling at me for leaving bones around," Happy cried as he held on to the fish he had for dear life.

"Maybe it's just that time of the month," Natsu snickered mischievously with a sneer on his face. Lucy instantly grabbed his ear and violently yanked it, causing the Dragon Slayer to yelp in pain.

"Hey! What was that for, Lucy?!"

"Shut it. Don't be an immature idiot."

Gray ignored his friends' little bickering and looked over to where Erza and Master Makarov were at the bar with Mirajane who held up a torso of beautifully molded armor. Even Gray had to admit, the armor was gorgeous and looked expensive. The Master wasn't one to just throw money away for unnecessary things but, right then, he actually looked proud of his find, gloating and laughing loudly enough for others to hear.

However, one thing was painfully, visibly out of place: Gray had never seen Erza so indifferent to a beautiful piece of armor before.

Their timing was exceptionally good that evening even if their punctuality wasn't. If they'd arrived even five minutes later than they had, they would have missed the train heading west and would have resorted to hastily finding different means of transportation post haste. But it was all right; they at least made it on the train and were now on their way to Bristol.

Gray heaved a sigh as his eyes were riveted on the blackness of the train's window. There definitely wasn't anything to look at, but with the silence that occupied the last hour and a half he found nothing else to do but stare out into nothingness. His eyes conspicuously glanced at Erza, who was also staring absentmindedly out the window, and took note of how… tired? she looked. No, tired wasn't the right term, but he couldn't find any other word to describe it. Sad would have been even more incorrect.

His gaze then landed on the two bags sitting right beside her. It was common knowledge that Erza was the one who over packed for everything- pulling a large cart full of her things even- and now she only carried two. It was beyond unusual. And the silence that should have been comfortable was awkward and he couldn't have dealt with it much longer. It was off-putting even with the sounds of snores from the other passengers and the faint rushing of wind from the outside. He had to break it.

"Any idea of what's going on at Bristol?" Gray asked, folding his arms and leaning back on the soft cushioned seat of the train.

"No," Erza turned her gaze away from the window and looking at him across from her. Her voice was firm yet soft, "I haven't heard anything about the town."

"Oh, alright."

And it went back to silence again, the uncomfortable feeling creeping back on him. Erza didn't waste any words, Gray knew that well, but the lack of any sort of conversation bothered him just as much as her unusual behavior did. Something must have been wrong that he, or any of the others, didn't know about. Leave it to Erza to keep her personal troubles to herself, but they all knew even the Almighty Titania needed to unravel every once in a while just like everybody else.

"Erza, is something wrong?" he asked slowly, grabbing her attention away from the window again, "You seem… off. If there's something bothering you, you know you can tell me anything."

Erza didn't reply immediately and only stared right into Gray's eyes like he was a wall. Her mouth automatically started to open to say something, her conscience wanting to confide in him, but she stopped herself before any words came out. She trusted Gray, yes, and knew he genuinely cared for her as she did for him. But no, they were on a job and this was not the time to waver from it even if they were just on their way to their destination.

"No, there's nothing wrong," Erza finally said after a moment, folding her own arms and closing her eyes as she leaned back, "but thanks for caring enough to ask."

He wasn't buying it. Gray knew her well enough to not fall for her dauntless words.

"Come on, Erz," he said, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees, "It isn't like you to just stare off into space in complete silence like this."

He kept his eyes trained on her now open brown ones and had no intention of looking away. There was obviously something going on and he intended to get to the bottom of it. Gray really did not like seeing the bold and daring Erza out of character; it was alarming and just showed that something was bad enough for someone like her to be bothered by it.

Erza only stared back at him again and found herself stopping the words once more. She found it slightly annoying that he was obviously going to prod her; she hated it when people were nosy. Nonetheless, she also reminded herself that Gray was just trying to offer his help and a shoulder to lean on, so she couldn't bring herself to snap at him like she would have if it were anyone else with her. Still, some sort of reply was needed to prevent their situation from being more awkward that it already was.

"I…" she started to say, but was then interrupted in the next instant.

BOOM.

The train suddenly stopped and shook violently at an unexpected explosion, throwing everyone on board off their seats and bags toppling down from the bars overhead. Surprised screams and frightened cries from the other passengers split the air and the sounds of more explosions started to drown everything else. What in the world was happening? The lights instantly flickered like wildfire and blacked out into complete darkness.

"Wha-? What's happening?!" Erza heard Gray bellow nearby as the train continued to shake. Then the right side of the train where the two were thrown to the floor ruptured, the section briefly brightening orange in color from the explosion. More screams split the air and Erza realized that she had been just a few feet away from being in the burst's range. But then another realization hit her: her partner was nearby and he'd been caught in it.

"GRAY!"

I just recently got into Fairy Tail and I have never been sucked into a series so hard before. And I have so many OTPs that I don't even know whom to ultimately ship anymore. D: HOWEVER, all I know is: I really, really, really ship Gray and Erza for their unique relationship. I feel like they have so much chemistry and history that I don't see how anyone can't ship them in some way or form. OTP for life, seriously. It's up there with Jerza for me.

And with that strong shipping drive, I had the urge to write something for them so here I am! Like with my other stories, the first chapter is always a pilot to see if it's something people would like to read. If not, I usually just delete the story.

If you'd like to read more, please don't hesitate to favorite, alert, or leave a review! Feedback is always great to read and it encourages me to continue on.

Thanks for reading! Until next time~