Hi everyone. Thanks for everyone who left a review. I am glad that you guys are intrigued and/or like the story.
I feel like this chapter doesn't feel very satisfying on its own, but I also didn't feel like it should be combined with the next chapter either (I'm picky about these things). So I'll put this chapter up tonight and I'll give you the next chapter sometime tomorrow.
Review to let me know what you think, otherwise I just sit here thinking about how I am a terrible story teller.
Oh, and in case there was any confusion, I don't own Fairy Tail. :p
"Even if you know you're sleeping, you're still at the mercy of your dreams. People who are asleep can't simply decide to wake up. Nightmares don't let you off that easily. They hold you in their clutches until they decided, in their own good time, to let you go."
― Steven James, Blur
Jellal only released Gray when Erza approached.
"Gray, come here and sit down. Tell us what happened." Erza guided Gray to a spot on the ground in the center of the room and then took a seat beside him. The others, who had previously split up into smaller groups, gathered around forming a small circle as if they were children about to play "Duck, Duck, Goose". All of their eyes fixed on Gray with anticipation and anxiety of what Gray had to say.
"I don't even know where to start," Gray mumbled, looking down at his hands which were still slightly trembling.
"You said that you thought you saw a ghost?" Levy prompted. She was sitting between Lucy and Gajeel and her arms hugging her knees to her chest. "Who or what did you see?"
"I saw Ur… and Ultear…" Gray said. At the mention of his old friend, Jellal's eyes perked up and gave a quick glance to Erza. Lucy spoke up hesitantly and in a quiet voice, "But, Gray… how is that even possible? They are both…"
"Dead, I know!" Gray raised his voice, causing Lucy to shift back and closer to Levy. Natsu shifted closer to Lucy in a defensive manner and opened his mouth to snap at Gray when a voice sounded around the room causing everyone to jump.
"Gray! Gray can you hear me? Is everything alright?" The voice called from overhead drawing everyone's attention up.
"That sounds like Warren," claimed Natsu.
"Warren? Is that you?" Gray yelled back.
"Woah, no need to scream in my ear and what is up with your voice?" Warren replied.
"Oh, sorry." Gray replied. "Can you tell us what's going on? Where are you?"
"We were hoping you could tell us that," a second voice replied. This voice was unmistakably the youngest of the guild's dragon slayers, Wendy.
A third voice rang out through the room belonging to the one and only Mirajane, "When I came to the guild this morning, I noticed that the guild hadn't been locked up from last night. I was worried and went to check the library. That's where we found you, Gray. You looked like you, and everyone else, had fallen asleep. But when I tried to wake you, nothing worked."
"When I came to the guild in the morning, Mira found me and asked me to see if anything was wrong. I tried, but I couldn't find anything wrong with any of you. You were just asleep. We even called Porlyusica-san, but she said that you are just asleep." Wendy recalled calmly.
"Wait, it is already morning?" Erza called out.
"Erza?" Warren questioned.
"Yes, I am here as well." Erza replied.
"Is everyone else there too?" Mira responded.
"Yes, all of us are here." Levy called out.
"Oh Levy, you sound so cute!" Mira cried out.
"Mira, focus!" Replied Erza, who was now standing up and addressing the ceiling. Mira giggled an apology.
"Anyway, were thinking of contacting some of the other guilds to see if they knew anything when Gray just started thrashing around and sweating. We had to hold him down to try and stop him from hitting his head on the ground. We tried again, but we still couldn't wake him." Wendy explained. At that statement Gray lowered his eyes to look at the floor so no one could see how pale his face had turned.
"Then we decided that we should try to talk to you, so I went to get Warren while Wendy kept an eye on you." Mira explained.
"What I want to know is how all of you are in the same place?" Warren questioned. "Usually contacting someone while they are asleep only affects that person."
"Well, we aren't sure what has happened either." Lucy was the next to speak up. "I remember being with everyone in the library and there was a blinding light."
"It was kind of like when Mystogan would come to the guild and put everyone to sleep without anyone noticing!" Levy exclaimed.
"Right, then when I opened my eyes we were here, wherever here is… and well…" Lucy continued not quite sure how to explain their child like appearances.
"And we are all back to how we were as children, or at least in child-like forms." Erza explained. "That and our guild marks are different…"
"Different?" Mira asked.
"They're empty," Gray clarified. "There's just the outline now."
"Hmm… Let me check." Wendy called out leaving the group silent for a few seconds before speaking again. "Well, it looks like your guild marks are okay, I don't see anything different."
"Strange…" Erza commented trying to think of what could cause such a thing to happen.
"Juvia thinks she knows what has happened now." Juvia called out in a small voice.
"Wait! Juvia, you are there too?" Mira called back.
"Yes, Juvia is here too." Juvia replied and her cheeks flushed a slight pink.
"Wait, Juvia you know what's going on with all of us?" Natsu called in an accusing voice, "Why didn't you say something sooner?"
"Shaddup, flame-brain! Let the rain-woman speak." Gajeel said while standing up and crossing his arms. A squeal of "Gajeel sounds so cute!" could be heard in the background meanwhile, Lucy had her hands covering Natsu's retort to Gajeel's insult. "Go ahead, Juvia." Lucy encouraged while struggling to keep Natsu's mouth covered.
"Juvia thinks that this is a sleeping spell. Back when Juvia was a little girl, Juvia became frightened of a nightmare. Juvia's uncle told her that nightmares allow for a person to face their fears. Uncle explained that there are even some villages where people would cast spells to make a person have nightmares." Juvia explained, her eyes never leaving the stone floor.
"I've read about something like that." Levy said excitedly. "It was a very old practice in some villages where they would cast a spell on children when they come of age. They believed that once the children could master their fears that they were ready to be adults. The spell would put the children to sleep and when they had conquered their fears they would be able to wake up and be considered adults."
"So, let me get this straight." Lucy said, finally releasing Natsu from her grip. She stood up and put her hands on her hips. "We are all asleep and stuck in some kind of nightmare dream world? And the only way to get out is to 'master our fears', whatever the heck that means?"
"Well it does make the most sense Lu-chan." Levy replied to Lucy.
"It would also explain the things that I saw." Gray said. He had been able to keep his voice level, but one hand had formed a fist at his side and the other had a death grip on the pendant of his necklace.
"Yes, Juvia believes that it was Gray-sama's deepest fear, as a nightmare." Juvia said.
"If it is some kind of spell," Erza said and she began to pace around in circles with arms crossed. "Someone must have cast it or triggered it some way."
"I think I will try to contact Freed. He may be the best one to figure out where the spell came from or how to break it." Mira said thoughtfully.
"In the mean time we should move everyone to the infirmary. If you guys will be having nightmares like Gray, we don't want you guys to get hurt." Wendy chimed in.
"Oh, and Juvia?" Mira called out.
"Yes?" Juvia looked up expectantly.
"You aren't in the library with the others… Do you remember where you were before you fell asleep?" At Mira's question, everyone's head turned towards Juvia. Juvia's cheeks turned a bright red when everyone turned their attention to her. Quickly she looked down at her feet before replying. "Juvia was in the kitchen. Juvia wanted to get some ingredients to make cookies for Gray-sama…"
"Okay, I'll take a look there," Mira said with a giggle. Gray also had a slight pink to his cheeks that Erza spotted just before Gray looked down at the floor again, hiding his face. Erza smiled and her gaze fell to Jellal who was standing right behind Gray.
"Mira, wait." Erza called quickly. "Can you take a look for Jellal too?" At this Jellal blushed furiously and looked away from the group.
"Oh, really?" Mira giggles playfully. "Jellal what were you doing at the guild last night?"
"I came in on the second floor," Jellal said and looked up, making eye contact with Erza. His blush only deepened further when he continued speaking. "It is easier to sneak in on the second floor because there are fewer people…"
"Hehehe, I'll get you to talk later, Jellal!" The demon mage promised with a giggle. "While we take care of you guys, why don't you see what happens when you get past the nightmares?"
"Yes, I think that would be the best plan as well." Erza commented. "Keep us up to date on what you learn about this spell."
"Will do," Warren replied.
"Good luck you guys!" Wendy called out.
"We will contact you when we get a hold of Freed, hang in there!" Mira called out. The last of her words started to fade out and the group was left in silence.
"So, what's the plan now guys?" Levy spoke, eager to end the silence that had come over the group.
"I think that we should confront the nightmares, but seeing what happened with Gray, I think it is unwise to go alone." Erza commented. Gray kept his eyes fixed on the ground.
"Just because snow-flake couldn't take it, doesn't mean that I can't handle whatever that stupid hallway―" Natsu started, jumping up from his spot on the floor.
"Shut up, Natsu." Lucy said, while smacking the dragon slayer upside the head. "Don't be so insensitive."
"I agree with Erza. It would be a good idea to take someone with us when we face our nightmares." Jellal spoke up. "At the very least, having someone else there could prevent us from being overwhelmed by the experience."
"Whatever," Gajeel called out, "So who goes down the creepy hall of horrors first?"
At that question, everyone started looking around at each other. No one spoke up right away. None of them were eager to see their worst fears come to life.