Hi everyone! Thank you so much for continuing to read this story with me. I know for a while it was on hiatus and I had terrible writer's block, but I am back and ready to go. Please enjoy this next chapter and of course, I do not own the rights to Fairy Tail, or its characters. Enjoy, comment, & follow for updates!

Chapter 11: The Winter Woods

After the first few miles, the forest of the mountain grew deeper and thicker around them. No longer could they view the mountain's peak, but instead only an endless sea of giant pine trees.

"At least the tree coverage blocks the wind?" Levy stated.

"Yes, and according to the map we should still be in here by nightfall, so plenty of firewood and shelter, that's a good thing at least," Erza said

"Yeah, as long as no more monsters blindside us." Gajeel groaned

"It's not like we knew it was going to happen, Gajeel," Wendy stated

"But we did, Yura warned us this journey would be difficult, we need to be more careful." Erza reiterated her warning from earlier.

"Juvia?" Juvia had been listening to the others' conversation but was walking towards the back of them. Gray had slowly paced his way next to her.

"Hm? What is it, Gray-sama?" Juvia asked

"What happened back there?" he asked low enough hoping no one else would hear.

"Juvia isn't really sure, it was like she could sense the monster approaching. She felt a tightness in her chest just as the creature emerged, but she's never done that before has she?" Juvia couldn't remember if this was possibly a power of hers that she had forgotten about.

"No, you haven't. Do you still feel winded from fighting earlier?" another question.

"No." a lie, Juvia did feel winded, almost more than she did after she cast her magic.

"Juvia you may not remember this, but you have always been a terrible liar." Juvia scoffed, a little annoyed he could read her like a book.

"Well, that is Juvia's answer." With that, she sped up her pace to walk closer to Gajeel.

"Hey, kiddo," Gajeel said

"Hello Gajeel-San, can Juvia ask a question?" She had to push long strides to keep up with him.

He could tell pretty quickly and tried to slow his pace. "Sure."

"Juvia was wondering since you've known her the longest would Gajeel-San be able to tell her if she is a bad liar?" Gajeel snickered under his scarf. "I hate to back up the icicle, but yeah you pretty much have the worst poker face ever," Juvia grumbled under her breath, she was so grumbly that her feet were getting stuck in the snow. Suddenly she felt one of his giant arms pick her up and throw her onto his back. Juvia gave a small squeak but repositioned herself so she could comfortably cling on. "Sorry, thought this would be easier to talk about without you having to catch your breath every sentence." Juvia smiled and nodded, giving a quick glance back to Gray behind her.

Juvia had to suppress a smirk and giggle, Gray's face was completely flat, but a bit contorted. Clearly annoyed, Juvia could guess a hint of jealousy? She felt satisfied, not that she had any feelings for Gajeel-San, but maybe he would ask fewer questions for now. She turned back and leaned on the top of his shoulder and continued their chat. "You shouldn't be annoyed by being a bad liar. It's only because that's not who you are, you've always been above lying. I've always respected that about you." Gajeel smiled.

Juvia felt a warmth in her heart, like the cold and pain melted away for just a moment. "You wanna know my favorite memory of you kid?" Juvia nodded. "When the master invited us to join Fairy Tail, everyone was against me, but not you. You backed me and stood up for me when no one else would. I felt like I was holding you back, but you said you wouldn't join if I didn't come with you. You're my sister, blood, or no blood, and when Gray told us what happened back then, well I almost lost it. I thought about quitting, thought about killing Invel myself, and I was angry you sacrificed yourself for Gray, at the time I thought you were too good for him. Then I thought about what you would have said to me. You'd tell me to think about Levy, and the future I had with her. How sad you would be if I left our family because of what happened. You'd also probably tell me to get along with the ice pop, I will say I've tried my best with that one ha-ha."

Juvia chuckled, but she also felt a few tears drop from her eyes. There was no need to say anything more, she reached her arms around his neck and gave him a hug. "Thank you, Gajeel-San," she could feel a flush of pink in his cheeks which made her giggle even more.

"ALRIGHTY THEN! Looks like nightfall has approached and it's time to stop for the evening. THANKS, GAJEEL YOU CAN STOP THE JOY RIDE!" *stomp*

"OUCH, WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?!" Gajeel groaned. Gray had stepped on his foot knocking Juvia right out and into his arms. "Sorry about that, I must have accidentally stepped on your foot, no hard feelings!" Gajeel huffed and shook it off "yeah whatever snowball."

The sun was just about to set, it was hard to tell while hidden so deep in the forest, but it was noticeable. "Alright everyone let's split up the tasks."

"Lucy, Cana, and I will set up camp and tents. Levy, Wendy, Carla, and Juvia can start prepping food. Gajeel, Natsu, and Gray, take Lily and Happy and go collect firewood." Erza delegated and everyone got to work.

It didn't take long to set up a shelter for the night. The tents held magical properties, which meant they were very warm and protected from the inside. Three tents total, so everyone could have enough room. The food was also coated in a type of magic, it came in pouches, and when connected with the heat from the fire it would appear in full form. The girls lit a few lanterns they had while waiting for the boys. "Could they take any longer? I'm starving!" Cana groaned.

"Quit your complaining." Gray's voice emerged through the woods. The rest of the boys came behind them, each arm full of firewood. They set the wood down in the makeshift fire pit, and now it was Natsu's time to shine. "EVERYONE READY?" Natsu grinned and with a wave of his hands, he sparked the flame and brightened the entire camp. The group clapped and cheered and began to cook their meal. Soon everyone was chatting away amongst themselves. Juvia was trying to eat but was having a hard time keeping it down. It seemed the relief she felt from Gajeel earlier had disappeared and the windedness had returned. It was manageable but definitely noticeable to her. "Something wrong with your food?" Lucy asked. Juvia smiled and shook her head "There isn't anything wrong with it, Juvia just isn't very hungry that's all, but she will eat nonetheless." Technically it wasn't a lie which is the only reason Juvia felt Lucy didn't press the subject further. "Alright we should head to bed, but we need to discuss guard duty first," Erza suggested.

"Guard duty?" Juvia asked.

"We can't have another creature attack us when we have our backs turned Juvia, it's fine we will take shifts, so everyone is able to rest," Natsu said, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "How about an hour each?" Natsu stated and everyone agreed.

"Happy and I will take the first shift!" he stated with a smile.

"I'll take the second shift." Cana yawned

It went on; Lily and Gajeel, followed by Erza, Levy, Wendy & Carla, Lucy, then Gray. "I guess Juvia will take the last shift then." She smiled. She was an early morning person anyway, so that would be fine. "You don't have to take a shift Juuves, that's eight hours already, so we should be fine. "But Juvia wants to help!" She furrowed her brows at Gray. She didn't feel it was fair if she didn't pull her own weight. "She can share the duty with me." Lucy chimed in. Juvia smiled and gave her a hug "Thank you Lucy-San!"

Erza also assigned members to each tent; Gajeel, Lilly, Natsu, Happy & Gray in the first one. Erza, Cana, Wendy, and Carla in the second. Lucy, Levy, & Juvia in the third. Everyone said their good nights and headed inside.

"Gray." Lucy walked over to him before he entered his tent. "Juvia can do something as simple as guard duty, it won't wear her out." Gray sighed "I know she can, but I can already see she's in pain, it's not even the first day Lucy, I don't want-"

"To lose her, I know, but if you keep making her feel helpless, she's going to be even more upset and in pain. She needs you to believe in her, if you do then she might open up more when she's hurting." Gray looked at Lucy and he knew she was right. He had been sheltering her since she came back to him, and he wasn't trying to not let her breathe. "Alright, I'll take a step back, okay? But if something happens, wake me up, okay?" Lucy nodded and headed back to her tent.

Inside lay three soft cots and a small heater. Soon the camp was quiet, with nothing but the crackle of the fire and wind to soothe everyone to sleep. Natsu and Happy lay on a log in front of the fire, Natsu entertaining his exceed with fire magic, it seemed peaceful for a moment, but how long could it really last?