You guys make me so happy with all the support, thank you all, you're the best :)

Don't worry Cherry Blossomm, I'll teach you how to cook those x)

Special thanks to my bro Emil, and ShiningStellar for pointing out my mistakes, even tough Emil called me impolite in front of you all ¬¬

I know you were just kidding, thank you for the help man :D

Here it goes.


Chapter 3: Wednesday


Morning light always made Gray feel like closing his curtains, but it also made him realize it was time to wake up. Today something was wrong with the morning light, because it wasn't coming in from his window like it was supposed to, there was snow blocking the way. Gray carefully moved from his spot on the couch making sure Lucy laid comfortably. Looking at the blonde, the ice mage couldn't help but smile, he told her she could have his bed just to have her sleep with him on the couch. Does anyone understand a girl's brain? Maybe he was trying to understand the wrong part of her body. The ice mage got hungry and decided to get something to eat.

Around one hour after Gray woke up, Lucy smelled something coming from the kitchen, she could obviously say it was food, but she couldn't actually put a finger on it. The blonde decided she's been curious for too much time, and went to the kitchen. As the celestial spirit mage approached the kitchen the smell got stronger, she could almost remember what smell it was. Could it be... pancakes? Lucy stepped inside the kitchen to find Gray sleeping on a chair with his upper body over the table beside a plate full of pancakes. Lucy stopped for a while looking at the sleeping figure, she didn't understand why he didn't eat the pancakes, or tried to wake her up.

"Gray... wake up." Lucy gently stroked the ice mage's hair trying to wake him up. "Gray. I didn't know you could be such a lazy person." Lucy shook him by the arm, which made the ice maker wake up in an instant.

"Next time I'll use the shaking earlier." Lucy smiled.

"I liked the stroking better." Gray confessed and then yawned.

"You were pretending to be asleep!" Lucy tried to sound indignant, but she couldn't avoid her smile.

"I did this for us, since you cooked dinner, I wanted to make something to repay you." Gray explained.

"But why did you sleep on the table?" Lucy sat at another chair, and looked at her sleepy friend.

"You slept so peacefully I didn't want to wake you up, so I just waited." Gray confessed.

"You waited for me until now? So cute! Next time be sure to wake me up, so I can help you with that." Lucy looked at the pancakes, then back at Gray, and for a moment she thought she was living a real fairy tale, with Gray being the prince charming towards her, the shirtless prince charming, the undressing prince charming... undressing? Lucy startled, and suddenly the fairy tale gave place to reality.

"Gray what the hell are you doing?" Lucy yelled. Gray who was still sleepy, jumped in surprise.

"What?" Replied the ice mage.

"Your clothes, put them back on now!" Lucy ordered trying not to blush. She should have expected things like that when she agreed to live with Gray.

"When did that happen?" Gray got dressed in less than five seconds, after he started living with Lucy, he improved his time putting his clothes back on, for obvious reasons. Lucy picked a plate, and started eating her pancake, Gray sighed and did the same. They ate in silence, and got ready to leave, but when they tried to open the door, a huge amount of snow started to go inside Gray's house.

"Oh come on, don't tell me we're stuck in here." Lucy hissed.

"I won't tell you." Gray teased. Lucy just glared at her friend with a not so friendly look. "You like to tease me so much don't you? You're dead Fullbuster." And they began with the chase.

Outside Gray's house, Erza and Natsu headed for the door.

"There's too much snow. I'll leave that to you." Erza pointed at the snow covering the front door. The Fairy Queen made her way around the house. As soon as Erza got out of Natsu's sight, she went running to the window, she has been curious about what the two mages have been doing at Gray's house, of course all kind of things went through her head, some of them even her haven't done, which wasn't expected since she's been living with Jellal for a while.

"I'm gonna break all your bones Gray Fullbuster." Lucy rushed in Gray's direction. Gray just ran to the living room jumping over his couch, and hiding behind it. Lucy tried to reach him from the right, but he moved to her left, she went back to the left just to be fooled again. Lucy stopped and reminded those cartoons where this situation would happen, and she always asked herself one thing.

Why don't they just jump over the obstacle? And that's what the celestial spirit mage did, more like threw herself over Gray, who just fell on the floor with Lucy over him. The blonde didn't waste any time, she started trying to reach for the ice maker's neck, she wouldn't hurt him... not so much. Lucy didn't realize the awkward position they fell in, nor did Gray. Lucy was sitting on Gray's lap with her legs parted to each side of his body.

Outside the house Erza wiped the snow from the window, and started peeking at the two mages from there, what the Titania saw and heard next made her eyes go wide.

"Lucy! If you keep that up, I'm gonna have to appeal." Gray held both her arms.

"Go ahead and try!" Lucy challenged.

"I'm telling you, don't beg me to stop after I've started it." Erza's eyes went wider, the Titania was beginning to worry about her blonde friend.

"I'm not afraid of whatever you have stored for me." Lucy moved back and forth above Gray while she tried to take a hold of the Gray's neck, making Erza wonder what the ice mage possibly had stored for Lucy. Erza's close breathing on the window made it blurry, and now she couldn't see the two mages so well.

Gray started tickling Lucy, who began to laugh.

"Gray stop that, it tickles!" Lucy said between her laughter. Erza's face went deep red. The Fairy Queen suddenly remembered about what she told Natsu to do a while ago. Erza rushed back to the front door trying to prevent a tragedy.

"Stay still! I'm not done yet." Lucy's movements faded when she saw the door opened, and two mages emerging behind it, Natsu, Erza and Happy, guess that makes three mages... somehow. Erza's face went crimson, and her eyes wide once again. Natsu stood there clueless. Happy of course, said his totally overused phrase.

"She liiiiiikes him." Happy held his cheeks with his paws. As if the situation wasn't embarrassing enough, Gray managed to take off his shirt while Lucy was trying to kill him.

"We just came to i-invite you t-two for a mission..." Erza barely managed to say the whole sentence.

"What are you doing with Lucy droopy-eyes, get your hands off of her." Natsu yelled.

"I'm doing nothing, she was the one to start that." Gray tried to explain, but in Erza's head it sounded even worse. The Titania would never think the blonde was the type to dominate in this kind of situation.

"I was the one to start it? Who are you trying to fool? You asked for it!" Lucy glared at the defenseless ice mage. After hearing Lucy's words, Erza blushed even harder.

By the end of Gray and Lucy's discussion, they explained what happened, and Erza was in the corner of Gray's living room curled like a snail's shell.

"Erza! What are you doing over there? Let's leave already." Said Natsu.

"Aye!" Answered a scared Erza moving out of her corner.

Once outside Lucy saw snow like she'd never seen before, there was so much all around, and there was still snowing.

"It's cold." Lucy pointed the obvious while shivering from head to toe.

"Why don't you call Horologium?" Suggested Erza.

"No need for that. I'll warm her with my fire! Just stay close to me Lucy." By the time the words stay close to me left Natsu's mouth, Gray was already covering the blonde with his black jacket that had white fur around the neck.

"Thanks Gray." Lucy said without blushing this time. Lucy was already used to Gray around her by the time, there was no use for blushing anymore. The celestial spirit mage slipped her arms through the jacket sleeves noticing they were longer than her arms.

"Lucy! You look like a little girl having Gray's jacket cover your hands like this." Erza regained her usual personality.

"Why don't you just hug me all the way to our mission? I bet Gray's jacket is cold since his body temperature is low." Natsu pointed out. Gray was about to start a mess all over again, but Lucy interrupted him.

"I'm fine with Gray's jacket... and his body isn't cold at all." Lucy pulled Gray by the arm, and started walking ahead of the remaining mages.

"She liiiiikes-" A snow ball hit Happy's face before he could finish his last sentence. Natsu had an annoyed look on his face, but then screamed 'snow ball fight' and prepared more snow balls.

"Natsu! That wasn't nice." Three other snow balls hit Happy's face almost at the same time, the last one making the cat drop to the floor. "Hey! Natsu doesn't have three arms." The exceed rubbed the snow away from his face, just to see Erza wiping snow from her hands.

"Erza?" Happy asked in disbelief.

"Happy?" Erza pretended not to know what happened. "Sorry Happy, I got carried away, please punch me, I deserve punishment."

"Enough I guess. Let's get going." Gray sounded annoyed.

Team Natsu was reunited and heading to the airport, which made Gray and Lucy exchange looks. (I don't even know if Magnolia has an airport, let's just pretend it has. Train all the time is boring)

"Where are we going exactly?" Lucy was the first to ask.

"To a snowy mountain at the north part of Holoska." Erza explained.

"Holoska? Never heard about it. Are we really going by plane?" Gray asked looking worried.

"Yes." Erza replied shortly.

"I heard this place is famous for its stormy weather. We better be careful out there." Lucy pointed out.

"It's about time someone tells us what we're gonna do there." Gray demanded. Erza handed him the report card with the details from the mission.

"We're going to retrieve a stolen artifact for an exceed?" Lucy looked at the report card over Gray's shoulder.

"Looks like it." Gray answered. "It says here that it contains some kind of magic sealed inside it.

"Sounds interesting." Lucy replied.

Team Natsu took their plane, and headed for Holoska Mountains. (Yes, I took the name from a Sonic game)

Inside the plane Natsu kept walking from side to side until Lucy took her seat, as soon as she did, the fire mage sat beside her. Gray who was also heading for the seat, took another direction, and just went past them making Lucy frown.

"Excuse me Natsu." Lucy called the fire mage.

"We're finally going on a mission together! Finally." The fire mage cheered with Happy on his lap.

"Natsu I need to pass." Lucy was at the window seat.

"I bet you just want to go sit with Gray." Happy let out crossing his arms and closing his eyes, and then continued. "Looks like Lucy doesn't like us anymore Natsu!"

"That's ridiculous. I'm not going anywhere, I just need to go to the bathroom." Lucy explained.

"Then we're waiting for you right here." Natsu said with a wide grin.

"Sure. I'll be... right back." Lucy left, but couldn't make her way to the bathroom. The blonde passed by Gray's seat which was still vacant, and for an instant she thought about staying there. Gray, who was looking outside through the window, saw Lucy's reflection on it, and turned back to face her. Lucy didn't expect for this reaction, she just stood there trying to find something to say.

"Is something wrong Lucy?" Asked Gray.

"Actually there is..." The blonde answered.

"Tell me. What is bothering you?" Gray asked once again. Lucy made up her mind, and was about to sit when Erza came back from the bathroom, and sat exactly beside Gray.

"I'm sorry Erza I didn't know this seat was taken." Lucy went back to Natsu and Happy leaving behind a confused Gray. In Lucy's mind, it was fine leaving Gray alone with Erza for a whole trip, but in her heart, she wanted to spend as much time as possible with the ice alchemist, plus Natsu's behavior towards her was starting to become different, she didn't really feel like traveling by the fire mage's side.

It was quiet inside the airplane, or rather saying, inside the ship, It looked nothing like an airplane, it had no wings, and it had turbines below it to maintain the height if necessary. Lucy slept on her seat, but the ship went through some turbulence, making the celestial mage's head drop to her left a little, and with that, her head started to fall on Natsu's shoulder, who was also sleeping due to Erza's solution to his motion sickness. Natsu woke up to see Lucy laying on his shoulder, he checked Happy to see if he was still sleeping. After making sure the cat was asleep, and trying his hardest to control his sickness, the fire mage held Lucy's face with his right hand, pulling the blonde's face closer to his, and leaned for a kiss. The dragon slayer's hand was trembling, while he tried to steal a kiss from one of his best friend, but he felt left aside when Lucy went to Gray's house, and he knew they were getting closer, so he also wanted to get closer, or maybe he realized some feelings for her that he wasn't aware of before.

Natsu's lips were about to claim Lucy's when the ship started going through some serious turbulence, making Lucy wake up in the process. The blonde noticed the proximity from their faces, and didn't hesitate in pushing him away with such force that the fire mage lost control over his sickness, going back into green face mode.

"The ship lost one of the main turbines. We're gonna fall." Erza explained to the two mages who had just woken up, behind her was Gray covering his right arm with spiky ice.

"Attention everyone, including the pilot! We're going to abandon the ship, but I need you all to cooperate." Erza explained in a loud tone.

"How the hell are we going to leave the ship without parachutes?" Asked a man who seemed to be out of control.

"Fortunately. We are mages from Fairy Tail, and that man is an ice mage. He's going to create an ice slide as soon as we jump from the ship." Erza explained once again. Gray didn't seem to be worried about the falling ship, the ice mage had no expression on his face, he went straightly to one of the sides of the ship, and punched it to create a hole. The air outside was cold, they were in the middle of a storm with strong winds, and snow blocking their vision.

"Now everyone give your hands to the nearest person to you. We're going to jump now!" Erza explained, and took Natsu's hand who took Lucy's. Gray watched from the hole he just made. He knew something was up with Natsu's strange behavior. The fire mage could have asked Happy to carry him instead of sliding all his way to the floor.

"What are you waiting Gray? We don't have much time." Erza yelled taking a hold of Gray's hand with her free one. The ship seemed to start falling faster, the people inside it got nervous with Gray's lack of attitude, until one of them pushed the ice mage out of the ship.

"Gray!" Lucy shouted from where she was. Although she realized Gray was their way out of the ship, Lucy couldn't stand seeing him being tossed from it.

Erza lost the grip on the ice maker's hand, and was about to jump after him, just to be pushed away with inexplicable force. "Out of the way!" Lucy let her body free fall from over fifty thousand feet from the floor. The force of the wind pushed Lucy's body violently as soon as she left the aircraft.

"What is she doing?" Erza tried to see what she could do in her conditions.

"We're going to try a forced landing." The pilot said holding the remaining mage's shoulder, with that, he went back to the ship's control panel.

"Where is the turbine you lost?" Natsu asked in a hurry.

"I'll take you there." Said the co pilot.

Outside the ship Lucy searched all over for Gray. The thought of losing her friend scared her more than her own death. Lucy's brain told her she should find Gray in order to survive, but her heart told her she had to be with him even if she had to die. When did she start worrying this much about the ice mage? Being ready to give her life away for someone was once a distant thought in Lucy's head, but after she met Fairy Tail, she understood the feeling very well, and here she was, ready to put theory to practice.

The celestial spirit mage finally managed to spot Gray's falling body. Lucy brought her arms and legs near her body, and faced down going straight to where the ice alchemist's direction. The wind pressed against the blonde's face with force, and she couldn't see much due to all the snow in her way. Lucy went close enough to notice Gray had passed out, and had his forehead bleeding. Lucy's heart did never beat so fast in her entire life. She managed to take Gray's hand, and pull him closer to her, she hugged him by the torso with their bodies falling upside down, and prayed that everything would be alright in the end.

"Gray... please don't die." Lucy whispered, the blonde had tears streaming from her face. She kissed the ice mage's lips for the last time, and closed her eyes.

"Not yet..." Between all the noise in the storm, Lucy could hear his voice on her ear. Gray spun with Lucy making their bodies fall like they were standing. "Hold on Lucy. I'll need both hands for this, hold onto me, and don't let go!" Gray had a serious look on his face.

"Don't worry, I won't let go no matter what." They continued to fall. At this rate time was everything, they didn't have much time until the collision. "Whatever you're going to do... make it fast!"

"Ice make... Grappling Hook." Gray created two four-pointed grappling hooks with ice chains connected to them, quickly launching them upwards.

"Gray! Where exactly are we supposed to hang on to?" Lucy asked in utter shock.

"Where exactly do you think I hit my forehead?" Gray replied before feeling the strong pull in both his arms. The grappling hooks met their destination making both mages stop abruptly. Gray left out a loud cry of pain. The ice mage had to put a lot of force in his arms, and on his magic, so the ice wouldn't break with the impact.

"What if the grappling hook hit a plane surface? Did you think about it? We would fall!" Lucy tightened her grip around Gray's neck. The ice mage had to hold both of them, and manage to breath with the squeezing arms of his friend on his neck.

"Hell if I know. It worked right?"

"What did you say? So you weren't sure we would survive? Are you crazy or what?" Lucy lightly hit Gray's head for a couple of times not noticing the floor a few inches away from their feet. Gray released the chains falling down to the land, and giving Lucy a heart attack in the process.

"Am I dead? I feel so cold... is heaven this cold?" Lucy seemed to become delirious. Gray stood up at her side, and offered her a hand. "You're fine Lucy." The ice maker pointed.

"I can't say the same about you... your forehead is still bleeding." Lucy said worried. "I'll be fine." Gray said after he was done cleaning the blood from his forehead, and freezing the bruise in his head, preventing the blood from coming out.

"We should look for the ship. It's probably very far from here." Lucy reasoned. "Fine. Let's get going." Gray agreed, and started walking besides the blonde.

From the distance they stood in, all they could see was the smoke coming from the ship. The storm wasn't getting any better, and to make things worse, Lucy could hear howling, and it was getting closer. Before they could notice, the two of them were surrounded by wolves.

"I'll take care of them." Gray stepped ahead preparing some ice magic. Lucy sighed, and held the ice mage by the shoulder. "I won't let you do everything on your own. I'm feeling like a burden here." Lucy took a key, and called forth her spirit. "Open the Gate of the Golden Bull! Taurus!"

As soon as Taurus showed up, he started to make his comments about Lucy's body being perfect not realizing an enraged Gray coming his way. The wolves were still surrounding them, but Gray decided to completely ignore them. "I won't stand here watching this cow flirting with my gi... with you Lucy." Gray punched Taurus away with such force, that the bull's body almost carried the wolves along with it. The wolves attacked without hesitation this time. Lucy dodged their incoming attacks and took out her whip. In a spinning motion, the blonde let her whip loose, hitting all the wolves at once. Gray watched dumbstruck as the celestial spirit mage dealt with the wolves without any problem. The wolves retreated once they knew who they were dealing with. (Yes, with that I meant girls can be more scary than wolves)

"Gray what did you do to poor Taurus?" Lucy watched as her spirit laid inconscious on the snow. "He is a cow! That's ridiculous. How come a cow find a girl's body atractive?" The ice mage released his anger.

"First! He is not a cow, he's a bull! Second, he is one of my spirits, and I love all of my spirits, so don't just go punching them like they're Natsu whatever you're used to punch." Lucy finished.

"Fine. I won't hit the cow, as long as he doesn't flirt with you, that's disgusting." Gray started walking ahead again. "Gray wait up. What's wrong with you?" Lucy followed the ice mage who was already shirtless.

"What's happening with you? I never saw you losing your cool like this Gray." Lucy held the ice maker's hand. "You seem to be more concerned about Taurus than actually getting out of this place."

"I don't like it..." Gray finally spoke. Lucy's movements faded. "What is it? What don't you like, please tell me." The blonde asked.

"We don't have time to talk about it right now Lucy. I promise I'll tell you everything once we're safe." The ice mage held the celestial spirit mage's hand, and started walking forward. Lucy kept gazing at Gray. She was worried about whatever was going through his mind.

They walked for a long time in the smoke's direction, but it seemed to be very far from them. Lucy's finger tips where beginning to get numb, she felt dizzy and her vision was blurry. Gray walked ahead, and if not for the fact that he held the blonde's hand in a tight grip, he wouldn't be able to realize when she dropped to her knees, and eventually to the floor. "Lucy?" Lucy's vision started to get darker and darker, until it she was completely unconscious.

The cold air was still there, but Lucy's body felt warm. She looked up to see rocks protecting her from the cold. The blonde heard the sound of cracking wood pieces coming from her left, she checked to find Gray feeding a bonfire. "What happened?" Lucy said while trying to stand up. "Don't move. You passed out out there, and I brought you to this cave." Gray explained.

"We need to keep going, or we won't reach the ship." Lucy forced herself to stand up. "I told you to stay still." Gray held the blonde's body seconds before she lost the balance collapsing in his arms.

"I'm sorry Gray... You were right to do all the fighting in the first place. I'm useless... I-I am just a burden for everyone... can't even stand alone." Lucy sat beside the bonfire gazing intensely at Gray's eyes. She wrapped her arms around her knees, and brought them closer to her body.

"What are you talking about Lucy? I don't understand." Gray sat beside his blonde friend, before throwing the last branch at the bonfire. "Of course you understand. I know the rest of the team thinks I'm weak. You guys just don't confess it." Lucy wiped a single tear from her face.

"Is that how you feel about yourself? I don't know what would have happened to me if you weren't in this mission. I'd probably be dead." Gray pushed the branches that weren't on the bonfire's reach to the top of it. "What do you mean?" Lucy asked confused while turning to look at the bonfire.

"You know... you knew you wouldn't survive, and you still jumped after me. If you weren't there to recover my senses. I'd become food for the wolves." Gray smiled not really looking at Lucy. "Even if you say that, I'm still the weakest member of our team." Lucy frowned.

"That might be true, but you know what being a team is all about?" The ice mage turned to look at his friend. "I... used to." Lucy replied. "Let me tell you what I think about it." Gray paused, and Lucy went closer to the ice maker. "For me... a team is like the parts of a body. Natsu and I are usually the arms, getting ourselves into trouble, and fighting our way into solution on whatever comes our way." Lucy smiled on the ice mage's last words, she didn't think he knew how reckless they could be. "Erza is the head, she is the most focused from us, and probably the one who suffers the most, for being responsible when taking the decisions, for being the one to be blamed for the consequences, being them good or bad." By this time, Gray had Lucy's full attention.

"Do you know what part you are Lucy?" Gray asked preparing some ice magic in his hands. "I must be the mouth, for talking more than actually doing something." Lucy looked down. "Wrong... You are the heart." Gray finally said handing an ice heart to Lucy. The blonde took the heart in her hand, but didn't feel any better. "Why am I the heart?" She asked.

"From all of us, you're the one who cares the most about everyone else. You even told me you love all your spirits when I can only care about Loke. You're the one who keeps us together and strong. When you left to your father's house we all went after you, because we need you. You're part of this team, and in a team there is no more important, or less important, in a team, we're all important in our own way." Gray stopped for a while noticing Lucy was beginning to cry.

"Why are you crying? If our team's heart is sad, we'll all sink in sadness. You have to be strong, and keep on going, even when you fall, you'll have me and Natsu to catch you, and if you're lost, you'll have Erza to guide and look after you." Lucy's face was wet from tears. "I'm not crying from sadness... not anymore. I just don't know what I did to deserve friends like you. You're amazing, how come I didn't notice that until now?" Lucy wondered.

"You tell me I'm amazing, but you were the one jumping from that ship without a parachute to catch me when I was falling straight to death. I don't know how to describe it if not as amazing." Lucy laughed lightly, she moved to sit on the ice mage's thigh while resting her right hand on his cheek.

"I don't know how important you think you are to the rest of the team, but outside the team, you've become the most important to me." Lucy whispered like the place was crowded. "Lucy I..." Gray's words were suppressed by Lucy's thin finger. "Shhh." The blonde slowly pulled the ice mage for a deep kiss. Lucy's right hand was on Gray's waist, while the other hand had its fingers intertwined with Gray's. Lucy was the one to break the kiss.

"Thank you Gray." Lucy let out in a very low tone.

"I'm the one who should be thankful. You saved me." Gray replied. The ice mage felt nice with Lucy in his arms, he forgot about everything that happened just a while ago. Lucy had something that made him come back for more everyday, but above all, she was a friend who truly cared about him, and to him, that was enough already. The fact that she is pretty damn cute would always be a big plus though.

"I'm worried about the others." Lucy took some distance to look into Gray's eyes. "You're right, we should get going." Gray agreed, and both of them started to walk towards the fallen ship once again.

The storm was gone, and the two mages walked for around one hour, Lucy didn't call Horologium to protect her from the cold, not even a single time. The blonde was feeling motivated, and somehow felt like she could walk a thousand miles without stopping. Gray spotted the ship not so far from them, but there was still one little problem.

"Phew... It's a long way down." Gray looked at the ship down hill from where they were.

"We should be careful here. The slightest vibration could cause an avalanche, and cover the whole ship with snow." Lucy had barely finished her explaination when from the ship Natsu spotted the two standing at the top of the hill.

"Hey! Gray! Lucy! Get over here you two. We managed to fix the ship! I'm all fired up now." Natsu spit fire all around himself in his celebration. Natsu's screaming didn't cause an avalanche, but his fire breath melt the snow on the base of the hill causing the snow from the top to fall. Lucy and Gray started to feel the snow below their feet tremble.

"That's not good." Lucy's eyes snapped wide open. "Tell me about it." Gray scanned his surroundings.

"It's a good opportunity for that slide you've been planning before!" Erza shouted from the bottom of the hill.

"That's it. Thanks Erza. Ice make... Slide!" A slide made of ice appeared in front of the two. Lucy took Gray's hand, and jumped on the ice sliding her way down to the ship, behind them, the snow came crashing everything in its way.

"Wow that was intense. Let's do it again someday." Lucy surprisingly smiled at the ice mage. "If we survive. I promise we will." Gray replied pulling the blonde inside the ship in a hurry.

"Come on. Put this thing to fly now!" Erza ordered. The pilot almost let out an 'Aye Sir' before going to his cabin.

"We don't have enough time. The snow is gonna get here in a second." Lucy pointed at the avalanche coming at full speed.

"No way! We're getting out of here no matter what." Gray stepped out of the ship causing everyone to panic. "Ice make... Rampart!" A huge wall appeared before the avalanche stopping it for a while. "It won't hold the snow for too long, we need to get out of here fast!" Erza explained. Gray came back to the ship.

"Don't worry about it. I got our way out of here in my right hand." Lucy said with a confident look. "Open the gate of the maiden, Virgo!" Lucy called another spirit, but this time it would hopefully be the right one.

"Are you going to punish me hime-sama?" Virgo looked expressionless at the blonde mage.

"Not now Virgo! I want you to dig the largest hole you can manage before that massive ice wall over there." Lucy pointed at the wall.

"Yes hime-sama. It'll be done in a moment." Virgo was digging as fast as she could, she managed to create a huge hole before the wall that was already starting to crack.

"Well done Virgo! Now back to the celestial realm." Lucy ordered. The snow broke through the wall and started to fall on the hole with amazing speed.

"We're ready to go!" The pilot informed. "Then do it." Lucy shouted. The ship started to float, but the pilot had some trouble balancing the weight of the ship, since one of the turbines was damaged.

"Now Natsu!" Erza commanded, and the fire mage was by the side of the damaged turbine in a second. "Leave it to me!" Natsu started using his dragon slayers flames as an extra turbine aiming it to the floor, causing the ship to restore its balance.

The ship left seconds before the avalanche arrived. The pilot was all sweaty, but cheered on everyone's performance to save the passengers, and themselves. The people on the ship congratulated team Natsu for the great job, when they weren't even paid for that.

"We're safe." Lucy said while sitting besides Gray on Erza's original place.

"How did you guys managed to fix the hole I made there?" Gray asked curious.

"We used Natsu's fire to weld an old piece of metal we found from another fallen aircraft." Explained Erza.

"That's nice." Gray replied. "What about the mission?"

"We already retrieved the artifact for the exceed. We're heading back to Magnolia to receive our reward. Everyone agreed that it would be better for us to go back to Magnolia now, this place is too dangerous." Erza finished.

The exhausted mages got back to Magnolia in order to receive their reward. While they were with the exceed who request their help, Lucy asked the exceed to take a look at the artifact that caused them so much trouble. The blonde took the cat like statue in her hands and examined it carefully. There was something written on the base. Lucy read the words, and felt something flowing through her body before she handed the statue back to the exceed.

"Are you alright Lucy?" Erza asked the blonde who seemed to be a little dizzy.

"I'm ok." Lucy regained composure. After that, everyone took their own ways, since it was pretty late already. Lucy and Gray arrived at Gray's house, and Gray didn't even bother getting his towel, he knew the first to use the shower would be Lucy. After she was done, the ice mage took his shower before getting back for dinner. This time they couldn't avoid eating frozen food, since they didn't buy anything to prepare. Exhausted and hungry, Lucy came up with the following suggestion.

"Let's eat popcorn. It's ready to eat in three minutes, and very easy to prepare." Lucy looked at her friend who had already two different flavors in his hands.

"Original or cheese?" Gray asked smiling at his blonde friend. Lucy just laughed at the ice maker's sudden reaction, she thought he'd complain about having to eat popcorn for dinner. "But if we're having popcorn for dinner, we might as well watch a movie. What do you say?" Gray suggested.

"That's actually a good idea Fullbuster." Lucy said teasingly. They turned on the TV and left it on the first movie they found.

"Gray, the popcorn is ready. Can you get it for us?" Of course they were too lazy to prepare it on a pan, so they just used the microwave. "Give me a sec. I'll be there soon." Gray picked the popcorn from the microwave causing his hands to heat with the hot air coming from inside it. "That's why I hate the heat."

"Come on Gray. Will you leave me waiting?" Lucy asked suggestively.

"Looking for me?" Gray popped from the other side of the couch where Lucy was sitting, the same couch they've been sleeping for two nights now. It didn't look like tonight would be different. Actually, they would find it weird if tonight was different. "Found you." Lucy said in a playful way before leaning on the ice mage's shoulder.

"So what are we watching?" Gray asked putting the popcorn between them.

"I don't know. Something about zombies." Lucy replied.

"That sucks, I hate zombies." Gray complained. Lucy looked at him full of teasing intents. "Yeah, I know you like vampires better right?" The blonde went to the other side of the couch trying to stay away from Gray.

"And you tell Natsu and Erza that I am the one who asks for what happened today earlier." Gray let out bluntly. "Did I hit a nerve?" Asked the celestial spirit mage.

"No way. You were the one to tell me I can keep my cool right?" Gray smirked, taking some of Lucy's popcorn, and stuffing it into his mouth.

"Now that you mention it. You told me you'd say what was bothering you early today. Something about you not liking something or someone." Lucy remembered, causing the ice mage to get shivers, yes, he actually got shivers on his body.

"That's nothing really." Gray lied, but Lucy isn't that innocent. "I bet you're lying." Lucy picked one of the popcorn from Gray's hand and pushed it against his closed lips. "Come on Gray. Say Aahh." Lucy smiled sweetly at her friend who refused to do as he was told. "Too bad for you, this one was special." Lucy threw the single popcorn inside her mouth. Gray looked at her mouth with lustful eyes. "I think I changed my mind. I want the special popcorn." The ice mage laid over Lucy's body claiming her lips. Lucy didn't expect such a reaction, but found herself laughing between Gray's lips.

This time the kiss was a little more demanding. One of Gray's thighs were between Lucy's, the blonde's hands moved freely on Gray's back, they made sure they stopped before it could get out of control. Hormones exists for a reason, but so does self control.

By the time the two mages finished their make out session, the movie was already over. "Now Gray... will you tell me what bothered you?" Lucy asked, this time the blonde was serious.

"Fine... here it goes." Gray breathed in slowly. "I don't like the way Natsu is acting around you." Gray confessed.

"Now that you mention it, when I woke up on the ship today, I saw his face a little too close to mine, but I don't think he meant anything with that, he was probably just trying to take something from my face, knowing how Natsu is." Lucy giggled. "But why don't you like it Gray? I mean he always did that." Lucy asked.

"For the same reason you don't like Juvia's behavior around me." The ice mage replied.

"Smart answer." Lucy giggled once again. "I thought you were jealous." Lucy held Gray's face caressing it.

"Same goes for you." The smile on the blonde's face disappeared as soon as she heard Gray's words.

"Oh really? I just happen to know I can make you so much more jealous than you can make me." Lucy challenged, lightly squeezing Gray's cheeks between her fingers.

"And what's the point in doing that? Do you want to make me angry?" This time Gray looked very serious.

"I'm sorry Gray... I wasn't serious about it. I know how bad it is to feel jealous. To be honest... I was jealous when I saw Juvia with you yesterday." Lucy confessed.

"Let's make a deal then... no more letting Juvia and Natsu do whatever they want with us?" Gray offered, and then started to stroke Lucy's hair with his right hand.

"If you promise me you'll caress me like this everyday, I'll promise everything you want." Lucy smiled pulling Gray to lie down with her.

"I see no problem with that as well." The ice alchemist smiled back, while adjusting his body besides hers, so he wouldn't lie exactly over her.

"Gray turn off the TV. I know the movie was awesome and all, but I want to sleep." Lucy laughed softly also adjusting her body under Gray's.

Gray turned off the TV and rested his head on Lucy's chest, something she'd usually consider awkward, but the ice mage wasn't aiming for her chest, she could see clearly it was her heart he meant to reach, and she would gladly accept his in return.

Lucy was lost in thoughts once again, even considering herself a novel writer, Lucy had never tried to define love, such a confusing feeling, defining it would take decades. She knew one thing or two about falling in love, she'd seen it happening so many times, to friends, to people in the books and on movies. There was no doubt anymore, she honestly felt something different for Gray, something different than what she felt for Natsu. Even then, she didn't want to dive in this whirlwind of emotions called love, not yet, not before she was sure Gray felt the same way, until there, she'll try as much as she can to protect her heart.

After all she was the heart of her team, and such a responsibility isn't something she could just throw away that easily.

"Lucy... what are you doing still awake?" Gray kissed Lucy's lips softly. "I think it's about time one of us realize we're sleeping on the couch when there's a bed in your room." Lucy pointed out.

"I'm too lazy to go there right now, but I swear I'll sleep with you on it if it comes here." Gray's words were confusing with the sleepy intonation on them. Lucy just smiled crossing her left arm over the ice mage's torso.

Lucy enjoyed being with Gray, it's true that she did never have a boyfriend before, and maybe Gray haven't been in a relationship either, but if the ice mage was going to be her first, she wanted him to be the last as well.

Lucy wondered if she would have accepted living with Gray if she could go back in time.

"Good night Lucy." Gray's hand rested on the blonde's waist holding her in a tight embrace. "Good night Gray." She replied before yawning, and making herself comfortable on the couch.

Looking at the blonde's smile tonight, the answer becomes clear to see.


This one took me so long.

I can't believe it's actually done. I hope you like this chapter as much as the others. Their relationship is improving, and I hope it's not going too fast, or you'll all lose interest in my fic and abandon me T-T

I just know there are lots of mistakes in this chapter, but I'm not going back to get them. I'll do it tomorrow x)

Just kidding :)

See ya next time *waves*