I don't own Fairy Tail, only my OC Aria and the plot. Enjoy :)

I used my other hand and pulled my stuff closer and fell asleep with her holding my hand.

POV Aria

I was dreaming. My mother was there. I was a little girl and she was tucking me into bed. "Goodnight sweetie. In the morning I'll make pancakes for breakfast if your good and go to sleep OK?"

She reached over and brushed some hair off my face. I grabbed on to her hand "Mama..." I whispered. I knew this was a dream, but at least I could see her again. She started to pull away. "No Mama don't go. Please don't leave I don't wanna be alone." I wasn't ready for her to go yet. I wanted to be with her just a little longer even if it was just a dream.

"It's OK my little princess. You have friends to go back to. You're not alone anymore, they will be there for you always. I love you." I watched her as the dream faded "I love you too, goodbye" a single tear ran down my face.

When I woke up I felt something holding my hand and something next to me. I slowly opened my eyes and saw Gray's face right in front of me "Kyaa!" I was surprised and sat up waking Gray up in the process. "Good morning Aria." he sat up and smiled at me.

"What were you doing!?" I pulled my hand away from his my face beet red by now. He looked down at his hand when I pulled away and a blush formed on his face as well.

"Well you grabbed my hand last night and wouldn't let go. So I guess I fell asleep like that." If it was possible my face turned even more red. "Oh...sorry about that." I said quietly.

"It's fine" we sat there awkwardly for a few moments before I broke the silence. "Well we better find our way out of here" I stood up and packed my stuff away. "Yeah let's go." Gray packed his stuff up and we started walking deeper into the cave.

"This place is like a maze" We had been walking for a while now and there were many twists and turns. "Yeah it is... Do you smell that?" I looked at Gray he was sniffing the air. "Isn't that Natsu's thing Gray?" I giggled at how silly he looked. "Oh be quiet, I'm serious it smells like blood."

I sniffed too and got a big whiff of it and it smelled terrible. "Yeah I smell it now." I covered my nose with my hand. "What do you think it is?" Gray covered his nose as well. "That" I pointed to a body of a dead Vulcan just ahead of us. "Well I suppose that would explain things, but what killed it?"

I went over to inspect the body. I bent down to get a closer look and cringed. It looked like it had been tortured and thrown away...just like I had been before. I took a deep breath to calm myself. "It looks like someone tortured it, possibly with magic." I looked over my shoulder only to find Gray was already right there. I jumped a bit " Gray don't do that!"

"What? I didn't do anything." He looked confused. "Oh never mind. Let's keep going and see if we can't find who did this." I stood up and started walking again and Gray followed.

We walked for a while in silence until Gray spoke up "So what were you dreaming about last night?" I looked over at him "What?" He put his hands in his pockets and said "Last night when you grabbed my hand you were mumbling in your sleep about something and I was just wondering what it was about." I looked down to the ground "Oh...it was just about my mom." I didn't look at him.

"Oh, I think Lucy mentioned something about your parents dieing when you were younger. Is that true?" He looked over at me. "Yeah...they were murdered." Gray stopped walking, I walked a few more steps before I stopped as well.

"That's why I was so surprised and happy when Sebastian came because I hadn't seen him in many years, I thought he had died when my parents did. When I saw him it was like a small piece of my life came back. I wasn't alone anymore."

"Were the people who murdered your parents the same people who gave you those scars?" He walked up next to me. I slowly shook my head yes. He pulled me into a hug. "I'm sorry" He whispered then he let go. "You know, I've never told anyone that. No one but my brother knows. I don't know why I decided to tell you. I was always afraid of what people would think if they knew I was so broken, so damaged, but for some reason I wasn't afraid to tell you."

"I'm glad you told me because I feel like I know you a little better now." He smiled at me and I returned it with a smile of my own. "Now let's keep going. I think we're almost there." I started walking again Gray following right behind.

As we walked further along there were more Vulcan bodies littered along the path. "What do you think is going on? I don't think all these Vulcan just up and died especially considering the marks on their bodies." We had just come across the fifth body and I was defiantly suspicious. "I don't know, to me it looks like they were tortured and then thrown away when they were of no use anymore." I cringed slightly. I know Gray didn't mean it in an insensitive way, but that sounded like exactly what happened to me and it brought up some unpleasant memories and feelings.

I think Gray noticed my flinch, but he didn't say anything, thankfully. I wasn't ready to share that story quite yet. We continued on for a while until I heard someone. I held up my hand for Gray to stop.

"Aria what are you-" "Shhhh" I covered his mouth with my hand. I listened closely and could hear someone faintly further in the cave. "Stupid Vulcans. You are some of the easiest creatures to control and I just love to play with you. It's so fun to watch you cry out in pain. Ahahahaha!"

Gray tapped me on the shoulder and I looked back at him only to realize that I still had my hand over his mouth oops. "Sorry" I whispered. "It's fine. We should head further in and see who this guy is." I nodded my head in agreement and we slowly continued on.

We were careful trying to be as silent a possible as we worked our way through the cave. We soon came to a room. As I looked inside I could see many Vulcans in cages and a lot more dead ones. In the center of the room there was a throne like chair and a strange man sitting in it. He had short blood red hair and was wearing a black cloak. He was torturing one of the Vulcan.

I looked over to Gray and he nodded. I teleported right in front of the man and kicked him hard in the face. Then I leapt out of the way as Gray shouted "Ice Make-Lance". The strange man was knocked out of his chair and into a wall. "Oh look! More friends have come to play~" He got up with a creepy smile on his face. "Why don't we give them a warm welcome?" With a flick of his wrist the Vulcans that weren't in cages ran towards us to attack. I teleported out of the way and went right behind a Vulcan and knocked him out by kicking him into a wall. "ARIA, watch out!" I turned towards Gray only to find a Vulcan right there. He punched me and I slammed into the very same wall I just kicked the other Vulcan into.

"Ouch, God that's definitely gonna bruise later." I rubbed my arm as I stood up and then punched the Vulcan right back. I looked over and noticed the strange guy just watching. Every time a new Vulcan attacked he would move his hand. Then I remembered earlier when we heard him say something about them being easiest to control. I teleported over to Gray.

"Hey he's got to be controlling them somehow. If we can knock him out I bet they will stop attacking." He thought for a second and then said "OK you teleport over by him and distract him and I'll hit him from behind." I agreed.

I quickly teleported in front of the weirdo and started fighting him. Gray made his way up behind him and then shouted "Ice Geyser!" The blast was so strong it knocked the guy out and the Vulcan stopped attacking.

While Gray tied the man up, I went and let all the caged Vulcan out. "Hey Aria look. Aparently this guy is a wanted criminal and there's a reward out for his capture." Gray was holding up a piece of paper with a picture of the man on it. "Awesome! More reward money for us"

The Vulcan were thankful for our help and showed us out of the cave. "Ya know I don't think they were trying to terrorize the village. I think they were made to do it and then when they came down to find help they were chased away." I said.

"Yeah that makes sense and when they trapped us in the cave it was just to find this guy and kick his ass so they could be free again." I laughed "It's kinda funny how this whole quest was a big misunderstanding" We went to the village again and informed the client that the Vulcans were taken care of and then we turned in the man to the magic council and got both of the rewards. Then we headed back to Fairy Tail.

It was late when we got back so we both headed to our homes. When I got back there was a note from Sebastian.

Dear Aria,

I found a place to stay so I don't have to invade your apartment anymore:) The address is included below so stop by and visit soon! See you at the guild.

Your Loving Brother,

Sebastian

"Looks like hes staying close by. I'll Have to bring him a house warming gift or something" I smiled as I set the note back down and went to take a shower. I had some music playing and when I got done with my shower and had finished putting my pajamas on, a certain song came on.

I stopped walking to the window to close it. My eyes started to water with tears. I closed my eyes and began to dance to the slow melody.

I was dancing with an invisible partner until I felt someone grab my arms and continue on with the dance. I jumped back and my eyes snapped open, but I relaxed when I saw that it was only Gray.

I closed my eyes again and rested my head on his chest. I silently cried as we continued our dance. As the song finished I turned off the music and sat on my bed.

Gray came and sat next to me "Are you OK?" I nodded. "That song was my parents wedding song. I danced to it with my father on the night he died. He promised to show me how my mother and him danced to it the next day, but he never got the chance." Tears were running down my face again.

Gray reached over and wiped them away. He stood up, turned the music back on, and held out a hand to me "Why don't I show you how I dance to it instead?" I took his hand and smiled.

We danced for hours. I looked at the time "Oh I'm so sorry Gray. I kept you so late and you were already tired from our mission." He laughed "It's fine I had fun, but could I have my coat back that you borrowed on the mission? That what I originally came here for."

"Oops I forgot about it" I went and dug it out of my bag "here you go." He grabbed it from me. "Thanks. Well goodnight." He turned to leave out the window, which is how I assume he got in. I grabbed his arm and he turned to look at me. "Thank you Gray, for everything. You somehow always know how to make me feel better." I hugged him.

He was a little shocked at first, usually someone else hugged me, I didn't usually give hugs. He then hugged me back "No problem. Now get some sleep." He closed the window as he left and I stared after him and smiled.

Done with another chapter! Lots of Gray x Aria cuteness in this chapter. I hope you enjoyed. Sorry if the chapter is a little shorter than usual and that it took so long for me to update. A special thanks to Neryssa (guest) and Mayawong for reviewing. It makes me happy that you took the time to tell me if you liked it :) so thanks again. I hope to have the next chapter out soon, but no promises.