/AUTHOR'S NOTE/: Sup everyone, Angel's here to give you another chapter of NE! For the 20th chapter of this story, I wanted it to be special and you know, kinda angsty... so expect some heart warming moments. And from the title already, I think you guys know what is this about ;) Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima.

Chapter 20 - Childhood Memory of You

"Time for bed, Erza." Gray told while washing the dishes. It was a quiet night. No noise, no sound. He heard her groan in disagreement. "It's like I'm babysitting a 6-year-old." he thought, wiping the plate and putting it back in the cupboard.

"It's getting late, you better go upstairs." he stated.

She groaned again, but this time louder. "I'm still hungry." Gray sweat-dropped.

She already ate 10 sandwiches and 1 bowl of noodles and she still wants more.

"Gray-kun!"

Gray decided to give in and opened my fridge to get some left over sandwiches. "Here's some of the sandwiches."

The requip mage smiled gleefully as she took the sandwich and bit it. "Thanks, Gray-kun!" He smiled, watching Erza eating the sandwich. He watched her gobbling it that made her cheeks puff. It was too priceless. You get to see Erza like this only once in a while.

He was so lucky.

"Gray-kun..." she called, "can I go to bed now?" He nodded and directed her upstairs. He opened the door and stepped aside, making way for her to enter.

She giggled with pink-tinted cheeks and went in. Gray doesn't know why, but that giggle just made his stomach knot.

Or maybe its just that feeling that something amazing - no, precious is going to happen.

Slightly opening his eyes in the middle night, because of this weird thought in his head that something just happened. Gray slowly turned his head to his side and found Erza gone. He quickly sat up and looked around the room, but to find no Erza.

He jogged downstairs to the table, to the living room, to the kitchen and it's empty. It's empty. It's dark. No one is here. Damn, how many times has Erza been sneaking away from him?

"Shit, I seriously need to put a bell around that woman."

Then, he thought she might be outside and immediately went to the door. Surprisingly, the knob was unlocked. "Erza went out!" he thought. He ran outside to the middle of the street and again looked at the surroundings to find her.

But, no sign of her.

Gray breathed heavily, ran his hand through his hair and thought for a bit. Where could she be? He couldn't think of any places of where could she be. He couldn't do anything, but to just sit on the small stairway of his apartment and wait until Erza comes back.

And boy, he can't wait to hear her explanation for all of this. Like the look on her fa- WAIT!

He obviously knew that he can't give up now. He had to find her. Its late at night and she's out on the streets, alone. She can't use her magic too and very vulnerable. To others, she's just an ordinary girl with a perfect hot body and take can be easily taken advantage. Fuck, he better find her, before someone else does.

One thing: He doesn't know where to find her!

And it hit him! How stupid can he be? Now, why would this place be where Gray would least expect Erza to be? Before he would find her there, sitting and thinking. The place where she wanted to be alone. The place he treasured so much in his heart. You know why?

Because it's the place where she can put down those walls around her.

On his bare and cold feet, he rushed to the right and left his apartment. He ran, wearing only a thick gray sweater and his boxers on the dark concrete street.

Then he stopped. There it is.

The riverbank.

He took a deep breath, hoping that she would be here. It was right in front of him. One step forward that continued with other steps and looked down. His eyes widened.

"Erza!"

A sigh of relief escaped from his mouth and was ready to call her until he heard her talking. He decided to listen. "I missed this place. . ." he heard her say, while playing with the running water. Her beautiful scarlet hair danced in the cool breeze. Gray warmheartedly smiled. He miss this place too.

With Erza

She breathed, "I remember I would sit here and think, recalling all that happened before. . ." then she lowered her voice, "And be alone. . ."

"I also remember when I was a little girl, I cried here and suddenly Gray-kun shouted behind me, then I turned around. He stopped and looked at me." she laughed, "Then, I acted like I didn't cry, told Gray-kun to come at me and surprisingly he didn't want to fight me."

She breathed again before continuing, "He asked me why I was always alone and I answered: I liked being alone and he asked again. . ."

"You're alone now, so why you crying?"

"Next thing I knew, Gray-kun sat next to me and I left. Stupid me."

The riverbank is the first thing that comes into her head when she wanted to be alone. Sometimes she would wonder why she liked to be alone. When she was young all she ever wanted was to have someone by her side. Caring for her.

She closed her eyes, "This place is so precious to me."

"Brings back memories, huh?"

Erza shot open her eyes and turned around, "Gray-kun!"

He slid down the hill and ran to sat down next to her on the grass. "You remembered." he said, putting his hand in the water as well.

She looked at him. He looked at her. They're staring to each other's eyes, noses almost touching. They can feel their warm breaths. Gray could feel his heart pounding against his chest and his cheeks heat up. Unconsciously, he slowly brought his face closer to hers. "Wait, what was I thinking?" then, he pulled away. "S-Sorry."

Erza giggled at his stuttering voice. "Yes, I still remember." He made a huge smile just seeing her happy. Her chocolate brown eyes and scarlet locks reflected on the moonlight. Truly, this was a beautiful sight.

"I couldn't forget that day." he whispered.

"You couldn't forget the day that I acted so weak in front of you." she reminded, furrowing her eyebrows.

Gray remained calm, preventing himself from yelling at Erza that she's wrong. Dead wrong. He stared at the sparkling river before him. It was so gorgeous under the moonlight. "So breathtaking." he thought, placing both the palm of his hands on the grass.

"Like her."

He turned his gaze to the redhead, "You don't need to act tough in front of me, Erza." She didn't answer, instead she just kept silent. Gray continued, "No need to have that armor around me." He cares for her. He wanted to protect her with his own life. He would do it.

She didn't like the idea.

She never wanted someone to risk their life for her. She doesn't want someone getting hurt just for her sake. She doesn't want to see another loved one die right in front of her eyes because of her.

"Gray-kun, I-"

"Let me be your armor."

She doesn't understand. "What?"

"I want to be your armor."

She doesn't want to listen."Gray-kun, no, you don't get it."

Gray's eyes widen, "I don't. . ." His words trailed off, he couldn't take it to finish.

He looked at her, he couldn't take his eyes off of her. Erza turned her gaze at the water below her, "I'm sorry."

"Erza?"

She inhaled, "For everything that happened. Being a burden to you, taking me into your home, feeding me, especially the kiss-"

"Wait, stop there!" he commanded. He held her by the shoulders, before she could respond. "Erza, all those things you told me, those things that happened between us. I was happy that you chose me to take care of you."

"Gray-kun. . ." she said, holding back the tears.

He smiled, "Don't be sorry. Okay, Erza?"

She nodded frantically, "Okay." Then, she hugged him. His eyes widened again, before slowly wrapping his arms around her tightly. She closed her eyes, cherishing every second. "He's so warm." she thought. She opened her eyes and now, she knows why.

"Oh." she said, blushing.

He looked at her, "My shirt!"

Erza snickered, "No, its fine, you're my armor remember?"

Shocked, Gray pulled away from their embrace. "Erza, you serious?!" She responded with a nod. He couldn't express his happiness in words, but he quickly got up and screamed like there's no tomorrow. Oh Mavis, this may be the happiest moment of his life. She pulled him down and covered his mouth.

"Shh, you might wake everybody up." she whispered, removing her hand.

Gray again happily stood up and held out his hand to Erza, which she accepted.

"It's pretty late, we should probably go home." he said.

She smiled, "We probably should."

He smiled back.

"This precious place gave me another precious memory of you."

Did anyone cry? :D Just kidding, but I want this chapter to let us go back to memory lane, where we want to see the reason why we ship GrayZa. I hope you guys love this angsty fluff. If you do please follow, favorite, or review! See ya!