When Natsu awoke another morning, he found himself back in Isvan. "Again? I wonder if Juvia's here too..." Just then he recognised the voice of a young Gray calling his name in a cheery tone. Could he be seen? Was this one of Gray's dreams and he knew who Natsu was instead of naturally being confused?

"Natsu!"

"Yes Gray, what is it?" Now that wasn't Natsu's voice...

"I...err...h-have something for you?"

Natsu peeked over the wall he'd found himself behind and saw Gray talking to a young girl with light brown hair in a longish plaited ponytail hanging over he shoulder. Gray had a small blush on his face as well as a sheepish grin whilst the girl, Natsu, had a bored expression. "Gray, I don't have time to go find worms and monsters with you and Takeru, alright? Can I go now?" Before Gray could reply, the girl walked off away from him. Poor Gray, what a way to get shot down... Natsu thought sadly.

"Gray, I saw you! I saw you cheating on me!" Came a familiar whiny voice. Natsu suppressed a growl as Takeru came bounding up to Gray and proceeded to squeeze him round the waist tightly. Gray just huffed best he could and rolled his eyes.

"How much longer are you going to keep doing this? We're not dating. We probably never will. And we're too young".

"Oh relax, Fullbuster, I'm just messin'. You've been hanging around girls way too much lately. It feels like I haven't seen you in weeks!"

"...You saw me literally just yesterday. It hasn't even been 24 hours since then".

"I-I knew that!" Takeru growled and Gray smirked a little. "S-Shut up!"

"I didn't say anything! So what was with you hurrying on over here then? Is it something important this time?"

"When it comes to you, my good friend, it's always important".

"Yeah right, so what is it?"

"Just thought you'd wanna go down to the river is all".

"It's the dead of winter, it'll be frozen over. The lake will be too".

"Hello? Is the real Gray Fullbuster anywhere in there? What happened to make you such a killjoy?"

"Knock it off. Look, if you wanna go to the river so badly then let's grab Tama, Mitsu and Chiko and go".

"Yay! You're the greatest person alive~!"

"Don't push it..."

Takeru's stunning blonde hair was styled similar to Gray's, messy but casual, and it was beginning to blind Natsu's eyes - not mention Natsu didn't particularly like this boy anyway. Tama shared the blonde colour but paler. Mitsu had soft silver hair and Chiko had dark blue almost black like Gray. They all watched as Takeru threw various rocks at the ice, attempting to break it. Gray had his chin cupped in his hands from where he sat on the ground beside Mitsu and Chiko. Tama stood beside him and sighed.

"Takeru, you're not gonna break it, just leave it".

"No way, I'm getting there! ...Slowly!"

Gray rolled his eyes and looked round at hearing some people talking. He got up and slipped away from his friends to follow the voices. They led him upstream and he had to crouch behind a broken wall, peeking round the side to find two men clad in black arguing with one another.

"I told you to just break it with an axe pick or whatever".

"Nah, blowing it up is way easier and more effective".

"Ugh, fine, have it your way! Just make sure it works".

Gray didn't have to be told what to do next and he scrambled to get up and run back to his friends. "Guys! Hey guys! We gotta get back to the village!"

"Why? I'm sorry I'm taking so long and making you bored" Takeru huffed, annoyed.

"No, I just saw two weirdos talking about blowing up the ice!"

"And? If they do that then it'll save us doing it".

Gray growled in frustration and began walking off to a safety zone. "Fine! If you fall don't expect me to save you, or worse". The others, except Takeru, followed Gray to a safety zone - much to Natsu's sadistic delight. Just then there was an explosion heard and the group whirled round as the ice began to crack dangerously under Takeru's feet. The boy actually looked a little scared and looked at his friends with a pleading look. Gray knew the others wouldn't risk it, but despite what he'd said, he still cared for his friend - as annoying as he was.

Natsu watched, slightly disappointed, as Gray did his best to step over the ice cracks and grabbed Takeru's hand, tugging him close and then yanking them both off the ice and to the safety zone as shard of ice began to shower on them. One small shard caught itself in Gray's shoulder and another sliced his cheek, drawing blood to trickle from the wound, but he ignored it. When they caught their breath from running back to the center on the village, Silver noticed that his son had been injured and immediately walked up to the group.

"H-Hey dad" Gray greeted him shakily, wiping the blood from his cheek gently. "What's up?"

"...What trouble have you gotten yourself into now to end up with ice in your shoulder, you stupid boy?"

Gray then noticed the pain that shot through his shoulder - and the fact that his dad had just decided to merely rip it out - and cringed, gritting his teeth and letting out a small hiss as he pressed his hand onto the wounded area. He looked up at his father and before he could open his mouth, Takeru butted in and explained the whole situation himself.

Natsu went to the guild that evening to find Gray having a bandage wrapped around his arm from his shoulder down to his elbow. Natsu bounded over and asked what happened - turned out Gray had been caught slightly with one of Lyon's ice shards during a fight they'd arranged. Natsu sighed and hugged his friend. "Want me to beat the bastard up for you in return?"

"No need, I'll get him back next time".

"Whatever you say buddy, just know that I'll do anything for you, okay? No matter what".