Here's the next chapter. Review to let me know what you think!

And I don't own Fairy Tail.

"We do not fear the unknown. We fear what we project onto the unknown." -Teal Swan

"Juvia will go first." The water mage said calmly looking around the room. "Juvia knows what it is that she fears the most." At this, everyone in the group looked towards Gray; the ice mage himself looked directly at Juvia, a fearful look in his eyes. Juvia met Gray's eyes and smiled sweetly.

"Love-rival?" Juvia said without taking her eyes off of Gray.

"Yes Juvia?" Lucy replied, not sure what the water mage was going to ask of her.

Only when Lucy had responded to her did Juvia finally break her gaze with Gray. She turned her gaze to the celestial wizard in her child form. "Will you accompany Juvia?"

"Me?" Lucy said, shocked. Lucy, and everyone else, expected that she would ask Gray to go with her, and if not Gray then surely Gajeel would have been the next choice. Lucy looked down at the floor unsure of herself. Lucy began to stumble on her words, not really sure what to say. "I… uh, well…"

Before she could say anymore, someone had grabbed her hands. Lucy looked up to see young Juvia had held both of Lucy's hands in her own. Juvia met Lucy's eyes and formed a small smile on her face. "Juvia believes that the best person to accompany Juvia on this task is Lucy. Juvia believes that Lucy will help Juvia face her biggest fear and help Juvia be brave."

Juvia spoke in a soft voice, but she had no doubts in what she told Lucy. Lucy took in her words for a moment, and returned a smile. "Okay, I'll do it."

"Juvia is glad love-rival has accepted." The water mage said with a genuine smile. She turned towards the looming hallway and began to walk towards it, still holding one hand with Lucy. Erza approached the two girls in front of the hallway before they could go much further.

"Be careful, you two. We may be in a dream-like state, but what we do here does have some impact on our bodies and we still don't know how much of an impact it has." Erza explained to the girls, but was loud enough for everyone to hear. Juvia and Lucy nodded. Erza then turned to look at Lucy, "While you are there with Juvia, try to take in as much information as you can. You might be able to learn something about how we can get out of here."

"Alright, I'll try my best." Lucy said.

With that, the two girls started walking down the strange hallway as the others watched them. With the dim lighting in the hallway, it wasn't long until the two girls were out of sight.

"You sure it was a good idea sending Bunny-girl and Juvia down the little hall of horrors together?" Gajeel scoffed and started walking towards Erza.

"You heard Juvia, Gajeel. She wanted to take Lucy with her." Erza said calmly while turning to face Gajeel and the others.

"Ya, I heard her, but maybe one of us should follow them case anythin' happens." Gajeel said, crossing his arms as he stopped in front of the requip mage.

"I don't think that's such a good idea, Gajeel." Levy's small voice came from behind the tall boy. The girl had climbed up on to part of a crumpled column and sat down with her feet dangling below her perch. "Nightmares can be confusing and disorienting to begin with, and we don't know if having Lu-chan there will change how the spell forms their nightmares. Besides, I believe in Lu-chan and Juvia. They can handle whatever gets thrown at them." Levy claimed with a small smile on her face. Gajeel stifled a "whatever" under his breath and headed back towards where Levy was perched.

Lucy walked hand in hand with Juvia in silence. They had only been walking for what seemed like a minute or two. When Lucy took a look behind her, she couldn't see the rest of the group anymore. She shifted her gaze back to where she and Juvia were walking, but there was really nothing to look at. For Lucy, this was unsettling. She wished that she was as confident as Juvia was about their task.

"Juvia?" Lucy called out.

"Yes?"

"You said you knew what your greatest fear was. What are you afraid of?" Lucy asked. At the question Juvia stopped walking. She turned to look at Lucy, her expression was calm but her eyes looked as though she wasn't there with Lucy in the creepy hallway.

"Juvia is afraid of the rain." She said calmly.

"But, I don't understand. You're a water mage, how can you be afraid of the rain?" Lucy asked. She wasn't sure how Juvia could be afraid of a little rain. In fact, it was raining when Lucy first met Juvia. She didn't look scared then; in fact she seemed devoid of emotion.

"Lucy misunderstands Juvia. Juvia is not afraid of rain that comes from the weather. Juvia is afraid of the rain that comes from Juvia. Ever since Juvia was a little girl, the rain followed Juvia everywhere. The rain stopped Juvia from making friends, from developing relationships, from trusting people, from being happy. Juvia does not know what started the rain or why the rain started." Juvia spoke softly and avoided eye contact with Lucy. Tears started to form from her eyes and her tiny hands gripped on to the skirt of her dress. She returned her watery gaze to the blonde girl.

"But then Juvia found Fairy Tail. While Juvia was fighting with Gray-sama, something happened and the rain left Juvia. Juvia knew that she needed Fairy Tail, that Fairy Tail kept the rain away, that Gray-sama kept the rain away. "Juvia took a shuddering breath and closed her eyes, "Then when Fairy Tail was broken apart, Juvia stayed with Gray-sama. But when Gray-sama disappeared, Juvia was haunted by the rain again. But for Juvia, it was worse than before. Juvia now knew what life was like without the rain and Juvia had lost it all to the rain again." The tears formed streams down the water mage's face. Lucy saw the girl's cheeks grow red and puffy from crying. Juvia wiped her hand across her face to try and clear the tears from her eyes.

"Although Fairy Tail and Gray-sama have come back, Juvia still remembers that time when the rain came back. Juvia is afraid that one day the rain will return, and it will consume Juvia." The bluenette sobbed at her confession.

Lucy stood there for a moment. Lucy understood that when she and Natsu found Juvia that she was depressed, but she never realized how terribly troubling it must have been for Juvia. Never in that moment had she seen the woman more vulnerable. Although she had never been close with the rain woman, Lucy felt a deep need at that moment to comfort and protect her. Lucy grabbed the crying girl in front of her and hugged her close.

"Juvia," Lucy started, "I won't let it happen. I will never let the rain consume you. Not as long as I have anything to say about it." The blonde proclaimed while rubbing Juvia's back in a comforting manner.

"Yes, that is why Juvia asked for Lucy to come with Juvia." Juvia said, sniffling slightly trying to clear her tears. "Lucy always believes the best in every situation. Lucy has the one thing that Juvia needs to face her fear."

"What is that Juvia?" Lucy asked, still hugging the water mage.

"Hope. Lucy always has hope, even when no one else does." Juvia said and pulled herself out of the hug. She wiped her eyes and looked at Lucy with a small smile. Lucy stood back and returned with a smile. Suddenly Lucy was not as apprehensive about facing what Juvia feared. There was something about Juvia's faith in Lucy that had changed her entire outlook.

"Okay then." Lucy said and took Juvia's hand again. "I'll be with you the whole way through. You can do this thing."

"Yes, let us continue." Juvia said with a nod, and the two continued down the hall.

Jellal walked over to the young Gray and sat down beside him.

"So, ready to talk about what happened?" The blue haired boy asked, not making eye contact with the dark haired boy. Gray had been sitting in the same spot since the girls left. He took a quick look over at Jellal and then looked around the room. Erza was pacing around the room. Natsu was just as restless, kicking a piece of rubble back and forth across the room. Even Gajeel and Levy looked nervous. Levy kicked her legs and let them sway back and forth while Gajeel had become incredibly interested in attempting to remove a piece of metal from his clothing.

"What is there really to talk about?" Gray huffed. He adjusted so that his legs were in front of him and he let his forearms rest against his bent knees.

"You just saw two women and not just any women. Those women made huge sacrifices for you Gray, what isn't there to talk about?" Jellal let out a soft chuckle. Jellal mimicked Gray's sitting position, still not making eye contact with the ice-make mage. Gray made a quick questioning glance back at Jellal. "Don't forget, I spent nearly seven years with Ultear, there were few secrets between us."

Gray took a deep breath and turned his gaze to the floor. He slowly released the air from his lungs before he started to speak. "They were right."

"Who was right?" Jellal questioned.

"Ur and Ultear. Back in that hallway, they said that I was useless, a waste of space. They gave their lives for me, and what have I done in return?" Gray asked, keeping his voice low, never lifting his eyes from the ground.

"So that's what this is all about? You think that they deserved better? Or do you think that you were unworthy of them?" Jellal questioned the boy next to him.

"I…" Gray started, but was almost immediately cut off by Jellal again.

"Gray, you have been dealt a shit hand in life. How old were you when your hometown was destroyed?" Jellal didn't wait for Gray to respond to his question. "Then you found a positive force in your life with Ur. She took you in, took care of you, gave you the skills to be a powerful mage, and then you were tested when you lost her too." Jellal continued, but this time it was his turn to be interrupted.

"Because of my mistake… I lost her because I was so caught up in trying to stop that damn demon that I didn't think of the consequences. It was all my fault…" Gray's voice cracked, stopping him from continuing his self-depreciating rant. Jellal sat up and crossed his legs.

"You know what I hear, Gray?" Jellal said with a slight smile on his face. "I hear that you experienced something terrible. You lost everything and everyone and when you heard that the same thing could happen to someone else, you decided that you would do everything in your power to stop it."

"But, look where it's got me. Ur died, she lost her life. She never got a chance to reconnect with her daughter because of me. I was too stupid to realize that I never stood a chance. I made a stupid choice, a selfish choice…" Gray seemed to only get more frustrated the longer he talked to Jellal.

"You can see it that way, but let me put a different spin on things. Ur knew that you were headed to your death and she followed you." Jellal said calmly. "When she found you, she could have grabbed you and Lyon and made a run for it. All of you would have been alive. Instead, Ur chose to end the thing that caused you so much heartache. She put an end to the thing that caused you so much pain. She chose to act compassionately."

"Ultear acted similarly. She wanted to change herself. She saw all the misery that she brought to others and worked her ass off to make things right in the world. Back in Crocus, she saw things were going badly. She chose to give everything that she had, all of her time left to give everyone a second chance."Jellal looked over at Gray with a smile, a genuine smile. "Everything that I know about you and Fairy Tail tells me that you are right where Ur and Ultear would want you to be. You care about your companions, you act compassionately," and Jellal added with a shit eating grin, "and you're not a bad mage either."

Gray lifted his eyes to look at Jellal. He had never had a close connection with the man, well, boy at the moment. He remembered how he had reacted when Jellal was the cause of Erza's tears, but he had changed since then. The boy in front of him was so genuine at the moment, Gray couldn't help but trust that Jellal believed everything he told Gray. If only he could believe those words.

"Maybe," Gray mumbled after a long pause.

"Give it some thought Gray," Jellal replied, a slight smile still stuck on his face.