The next day Erza took Lucy and Juvia's measurements and then called in for two suits and two evening dresses to be purchased and delivered to the bureau anonymously. For the remainder of the week Lucy schooled Natsu, Gray, and Juvia how to behave in polite and high society. How to talk, how to greet guests, how to waltz, even how to eat. Natsu found the dining lessons to be especially annoying and uncalled for but Erza insisted he learn. Then of course there was the waltzing lesson...

"Do I really have to dance at this thing?" Natsu complained.

"If you don't want to blow your cover then yes." Lucy said. "Remember you're masquerading as a wealthy gentleman and every wealthy gentleman knows how to waltz."

"Can't I just say I know how to waltz and not actually do it?"

"This gala is probably going to have a moment where all couples must waltz so no."

"But I can't dance. I've never danced a day in my life."

"I offered to give you lessons years ago but you refused." Erza said.

"That's because you don't teach any skills, you enforce them. I'll never forget the time you tried to teach me how to drive an automobile. You screeched at me like a bat from hell every time I made a mistake."

"That's because if you make mistake while driving someone could end up dead."

"Alright Erza I think you should let me handle this." Lucy said. "Don't worry I know what I'm doing. I've known how to waltz since I was four."

"Very well."

Erza left them alone and Lucy approached Natsu.

"First thing's first, stand up straight and face me."

Natsu did as he was told.

"Now I want you to put your left arm around my waist and use your right hand to hold mine."

"This feels ridiculous." Natsu complained.

"Just do what I say."

His left arm moved to her waist and his free hand joined with hers. She laid her right hand on his shoulder and she put some distance between them.

"Now it goes like this. One, two, three. One, two, three."

She demonstrated the dance steps that she knew by heart and Natsu did his best to mimic them. He struggled a great deal and Lucy could tell by his facial expressions that he was very embarrassed by that but she didn't make fun of him. Instead she responded with compassion and encouragement.

"I don't really understand what the big appeal to dancing is." Natsu said. "Seems like a bunch of crazy movement to me."

"Dancing is a fun activity and you know it can actually be very helpful."

"How?" He asked her.

"Well for one thing it serves as a method of expressing how you feel. Other times it can be a form of exercise. And it can help a couple grow closer to each other."

"I don't see how."

"You don't really know a lot about romance, do you?"

"For your information I know plenty."

"Oh? Did you ever have any girlfriends?" Lucy teased with a raised eyebrow.

Suddenly Natsu's face turned melancholic. Remorseful. Shameful. As if her question had stirred up the memory of a mistake he had made long ago.

"No." He answered. "I did have a few bed mates when I was still human. Usually on lonely nights when I had a little too much to drink. But no one serious."

"Are you sure? No first love?"

"No and can we leave it at that?"

She could sense his discomfort on the subject so she complied with his request.

"What about you?" He asked. "Did you have many boyfriends?"

"Yes." She replied. "I was a bit of a flirt when I was a teenager and before I came here I had been given many proposals. They were nice gentlemen and would have made wonderful husbands but I didn't love any of them so I turned them down much to my father's disapproval."

"So you've never been in love?"

"Never. To be honest I don't think I want to fall in love and get married. There's too much I want to do in this world and marriage may prevent me from doing that."

"You make it sound like marriage is a restriction."

"Isn't it?"

"Vahan didn't think so."

"I thought Vahan was a monk."

"Just because he chose to never marry didn't mean he was against marriage in general. In fact he held it in a high regard. Preaching to us that it was to be seen as a bound of eternal love, devotion, and teaching."

"Teaching?"

"He said marriage teaches us what it really means to share burden, to be committed to the one we love, to share one soul. You know before all this supernatural stuff happened I think he was hoping Gray and I would get married and start a family someday."

"Why would he care about that?"

"Vahan was like a father to us and like any true father he doesn't want his children to be lonely once he's gone."

"I get it. He was afraid that once he had passed on, you and Gray would be all alone."

"Correct."

"But wouldn't you two still have each other?"

"Well there were other reasons. It wasn't just about having comfort, it was also about having someone to learn from."

"Learn from?"

"Back in those days getting married and having a child is what taught a boy what it meant to be a man. And in some cases that method is still true. Becoming a spouse and/or a parent means learning to be selfless, humble, patient."

"Vahan sounds like he's all those things but he never married or had children."

"You're sort of right. He never married and he never had any biological children but he became a parent as soon as he took me and Gray in. Growing up he told s how he was a completely different man before we came into his lives."

"Different how?"

"Well he was always kind but he according to him he started out arrogant, self-righteous, and prejudice to supernatural beings and anyone non-Christian. Mostly because he had seen members of both groups commit heinous acts of evil. It was all black and white to him at first. He didn't believe there were any grey areas. But that all changed when we came along. Gray was born from supernatural forces, my father came from an Islamic background, loving us helped him let go of his prejudices."

"Whatever happened to him?"

"I don't know. Last time I saw him it was when I had turned myself into a vampire and renounced God. I was so sure he would be angry with me but he wasn't. He didn't shout at me or curse me or scold me. He just looked at me with tear filled eyes. Back then I didn't fully understand what I had done and now that I have, not a day goes by when I don't regret it."

"What did you do?"

"I broke his heart. I made him feel like he had failed me because he had spent his entire life trying to raise me and Gray to be good men. When I came back as a blood sucking monster he blamed himself. Gray told me that he felt that he should have stopped from going to war. That he should realized after what I had been through as child, I wouldn't be able to handle war. Words cannot describe how much I hate myself for what I put him through."

"Did you ever try to find him?"

"Yeah. Many times. I wanted to find him and tell him that my choices weren't his fault, that he was always good to me. But it was like he had completely vanished off the face of the earth. I never saw him again. No doubt he's long dead by now but I would give anything in the world to be able to make things right with him."

"Maybe you can do that by making things right with Gray?"

"That's never going to happen."

"It's probably what he would have wanted. You say that he loved you both like you were his sons, the hatred between you two is probably tortuous to his spirit. I don't know the man but judging by what you've told me, he's most likely terrified that you and Gray might end up like Cain and Abel."

"Vahan is dead. How can he be terrified?"

"Dead doesn't mean gone Natsu. You believe in God don't you? You may hate him but you know he's real which means you must believe there's an existence beyond death. How do you think Vahan would feel about how things are between you and Gray? It would hurt him, wouldn't it?"

"It's not my fault."

"It's not all your fault but you share some blame. You and him both. You need to try to work things out with him."

"He won't listen."

"Have you ever made a genuine effort to try to fix things with him? Since you were revived?"

"No but I see no point. He'll never believe me when I tell him the truth."

"You can at least try to make him listen."

"Why are you so obsessed with this? You're not even close to us."

"Let's just say I know what it's like to watch a family fall apart because of tragedy and I wouldn't want anyone else to suffer through that."

Natsu huffed in frustration and after thinking for a moment he gave her a playful grin.

"You sure are persistent. Reminds me of Erza when she was a kid. Sometimes it annoyed the crap out of me but it the end she usually had the right idea."

"Does that mean you'll try to patch things up with him?"

"I'll think about it." He admitted. "Now let's hurry up and get this dance lesson over with it. It'll be my lunch time soon."

Lucy rolled her eyes but again she complied with his request.