Gray fell asleep later that night but it wasn't a peaceful sleep. He felt hot and sweaty, his body trembled. He kept having strange urges and thoughts. He woke up the next morning thinking that it was the roughest night of his life. He went into the bathroom to wash his face and was shocked to find that his eyes were still green and in slits.

"What the hell?" He tried to will his eyes to change back but they wouldn't. When he moved to rub his eyes to make sure that he wasn't hallucinating he saw that his finger nails were still claws. Just like with his eyes, he tried to will his claws to revert into regular finger nails but also like his eyes they remained unchanged. "Oh this is bad. This is bad. I have to call Erza."

He grabbed his phone and tried to call her but she wouldn't pick up. Unable to wait, he put on a pair of gloves and sunglasses then left his dorm room to find her. He had just made it out the door when he ran into Lyon who was on his way back.

"Well, well if it isn't my so called friend." He said bitterly.

"Look Lyon I can't talk right now."

"Really because I think we do need to talk pal. Right now!"

"Lyon please-"

"I was out with Juvia the other night and I learned something very interesting about her and you. Something that you neglected to tell me."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about how you stole my girl!"

"Huh?"

It was at that moment that Gray finally remembered that last night Juvia had revealed to Lyon that she couldn't date him because she had feelings for Gray. Lyon had been so angry about it and he acted as if she had been leading him on or something. But that wasn't the case at all.

"Lyon it's not what you think."

"Oh spare me! You knew all along didn't you? That she wanted you and not me!"

"Not exactly." Gray answered. "I mean she wanted to date me but I told her I wasn't interested and it was before either one of us met you. Lyon I know you think you may have been deceived but that's not the case. We didn't tell you because we didn't want to make things awkward and I can't help how she feels, okay? And keep in mind that I turned her down."

"So you're not interested in her at all?"

"No. She's an awesome friend but that's all she is to me. I didn't steal anyone's girl." Lyon looked like he was about to calm down and see reason but then Gray muttered under his breath, "But to be fair she wasn't even your girl to begin with."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means that you're acting like she was your steady girlfriend who cheated on you with me. But you two only had one date and she was upfront with how she really felt in the beginning. And I thought you were cool with that."

"I was until I found out it was you that she preferred over me."

"What does it matter if it's me or not?"

"How do I know she's not just using me to get to you huh? Or that this isn't some cruel joke you two are playing?"

"Now you're just being crazy. She's not like that and neither am I. Come on Lyon, you know us."

"Apparently I don't. If I did I would have figured out long ago that sweet innocent Juvia was really some conniving flirt."

Gray felt his blood boil at what Lyon was implying about Juvia, boiling so hot that he let a feral growl slip out.

"Don't ever talk about her like that again." He bared his teeth. "Don't blame her for the fact that you can't handle rejection! She doesn't want you! Get over it! And don't you dare say anything horrible about her!"

Lyon stepped back in fear. Fear of Gray's sudden change in demeanor and for his predator like stance.

"Did you...Did you just growl at me?"

It wasn't until Lyon asked that question that Gray came back to his senses and realized what he was doing.

"I...I...I have to go."

He bolted from the building and hurried over to Erza's office. He hoped to God above that she was there. Luckily she was, she had just returned from a meeting with her colleagues hence why she couldn't pick up when he called.

"Sorry I couldn't answer your calls Gray." Erza said. "But this meeting was very important. It was on how we could raise more money in the budget which poor Gildarts desperately needs at the moment."

"I understand." Gray answered, knowing all too well of the professor's situation.

"What's wrong now?" She asked with concern. "More pain?"

"Not exactly."

He took off his sunglasses and gloves thus revealing his claws and feline like eyes.

"No matter what I do they won't change back to normal." He explained. "And this morning I growled at Lyon. I'm also getting these urges and feelings that are...Are...I can't explain it but I know they're bad."

"Alright don't be alarmed but last night I examined those hairs on your back and they weren't human."

"What?"

"It was tiger fur and I found that some strange chemicals had entered your system. We better take a look at the results to find out what those chemicals are really doing to you."

Gray waited with baited breath as he watched Erza read the results of his D.N.A that has been printed on her newest file. He saw deep fear and concern creep on to her face as she read the file which he knew wasn't a good sign.

"Oh no." She said. "Oh this is not good."

"What? What is it?"

"No don't panic but those chemicals you crashed into got into your system and is altering your D.N.A."

"Altering? What do you mean altering?"

"These chemicals were engineered to accelerate the strength and immunity of one's white blood cells but according to these results the chemicals are highly unstable and it would seem that they have accelerated the mutated tiger D.N.A that you were infected with."

"So what does that mean?"

"It means that your tiger D.N.A is over taking your human D.N.A, slowly making you more animal than man. It's just like with what happened to Jellal only worse."

"How worse?"

"When Jellal succumbed to this he went insane but still had human thoughts but when your transformation is complete your mind will become completely animal. You probably won't even remember being human."

"Oh my God! You mean I'm mutating into some kind of mutant tiger beast?"

"In a nutshell, yes. But I am certain that I can create a cure for this and unlike Jellal's descent, yours appears to be a slow process so we might be able to cure you before things get really bad."

"What should I do?"

"Nothing. You do absolutely nothing. You go home and stay out of sight until the cure is finished."

"I can't just do that."

"You must. Any added stress or extreme emotion may speed up the process because it'll put you in survival mode and that's typically when animals acting fully on instinct alone."

"But what if someone needs help?"

"Natsu will handle it I'm sure. In fact I'm going call him right now and tell him all of this. You just go home and stay calm, that'll stall the transformation."

"How long will it take you to make this cure?"

"I can't say but I'll be as quick as I can. I promise."

But her words brought no assurance or comfort. It only made him so much more afraid. But he calmly left the office and went to do as Erza had instructed. She then grabbed the phone and quickly called Natsu to inform him of what she had discovered. Upon hearing this he became just as afraid as Gray was.

"Are you saying that he's turning into a monster?" He asked over the phone.

"Possibly but I'm already working on a cure but until it's ready I need your help. Gray has to stall this process for as long as he can and the best way to do that is for him to not experience any extreme emotion like stress or anger. This means that you'll have to be a solo hero for awhile, can you handle that?"

"Sure. Of course. Not a problem. But what is he going to do?"

"I told him to stay home and to remain calm until the cure is ready. But part of me fears he might be a little stubborn so would you occasionally check on him? Just to make sure that he's staying calm and to give me any updates on his transformation?"

"I'm on my way to my last class for the day. As soon as it's over I'll head right over to his room."

"Good. Call me after you've seen him."

"Okay."

She hung up and proceeded to work on the cure but about an hour later a thought occurred to her. One that made her think that maybe in this situation she should take extra precaution.

"If Gray mutates completely before the cure is finished and if the results of the mutation are as extreme as these say they are then I'm going to need an expert on predators to stop him." She grabbed her phone again and quickly made another call. "Hello Jellal? It's Erza, listen I need you to come over right away. It's an emergency."