A/N: Ohh, another update, yes! Becoz I'm excited to write this chapter, LOL. This is one of the chapter I really wanted to write.

bella-romeo : Yes, I was laughing when I wrote that too. It was like Erza mocking Gray but Gray just couldn't prove himself. LOL XD

Raikiri80 : I KNOW RIGHT! Juvia is so damn adorable I just couldn't! I swear if she was real I'd squeeze her into a crushing hug and keep her as my dolly! How cute can she be? Oh my poor heart! *^* Ehem, pardon my fangirlishness. And thank you for your comment. I have the feelings that we kinda had the same thinking, even though I ship more pairings than you LOL. To be honest, this fic was written out of my frustration to those who claims GrayZa will never be canon. I call it frustration, becoz I know they wont read this anyway. Haha. But becoz I'm a weird shipper, I just wanna feel like even though JerZa and Gruvia are almost canon already, there are always two sides of a story. You know what I mean. :P
I'm very interested with these one-sided GrayZa you're talking about. If you dont mind, mind recommend them to me? :3

Chapter 3

As Gray had expected, their mission only took two days. By the time he knew it, he and Juvia are back at the Fairy Tail guild. And he still didn't have the courage to tell Juvia anything. Yet. Juvia had insisted to report the mission by herself. Gray figured she might wanted to compensate with her failed mission previously. So he let her be. Noticing none of his team was there, Gray decided to drop over Lucy's house. It's like their known meeting place.

Climbing through the window – no, he's not breaking in, what the hell are you thinking, it's just because the window was easier to open than her door, and Gray really dislikes complicated things – he sat on Lucy's sofa. The room was empty. Where the hell are them?

As if on cue, he suddenly heard a crushing noise in the bathroom – followed by a flying shampoo bottle. Gray's ears perked. Dashing into the bathroom, he saw Natsu, Lucy and Erza plus Happy naked inside the bathtub – fully naked. Oh hell, it would be a lie if he said he didn't like the scene. He's a guy, he would always love watching naked women – well, minus the naked Natsu, of course. And well, Happy was always naked anyway.

"What happened?" Gray faked surprise.

He heard Lucy yell louder, throwing a rubber duckling towards him. Gray stumbled back a bit when the duck hit his head.

"Get out of here, you bunch of perverts!" Lucy screamed in horror. Who wouldn't? She was enjoying a nice bath when Erza, Natsu and Happy intruded her house and decided to join her bathing. Lucy didn't want to admit that it had become like a ritual orgy between them. She wanted to keep her sanity. "And Gray, why the hell are you naked?!" she growled in frustration.

Gray looked down to realize he had stripped down to only his boxer. "Oh shit! I swear I was still fully clothed when I get back from the mission!"

There was a few more minutes of Lucy's horror screaming and yelling before she managed to grab a towel around her luscious body. Not that it do much to hide her cleavage and curves though.

"We need to draw a line for privacy," Lucy said when they were all sitting half naked – much to her dismay – in her room.

"Oh, Lucy. It's not something unusual. Just a few skin and touching is normal between us," Erza scoffed, but blushed soon after when she realized what she said. A few skin and touching. She stole a glance at Gray. It's hard to pretend it didn't happened. But Erza was determined to forget it.

"It's not normal!" Lucy shrieked. "At least not for me! And all of you, go get dressed!"

"I don't have a dress," Gray said nonchalantly. He kind of left it somewhere he thought.

"I don't wear one," was Happy's answer.

Natsu however, simply dropped the towel around his waist, picking his clothes piled on Lucy's bed and casually put it on.

"Not here!" Lucy smacked Natsu's head.

"Lucy, you're so fussy," Natsu whined.

"Aye." Happy replied.

"Don't give me an 'aye'!"

Erza on the other hand, simply dropped her towel as her body glowed before she requipped into her Heart Kruzz armor. Lucy facepalmed herself.

"Somehow, I'm glad Wendy isn't here," Lucy mumbled. "Why are you guys here, anyway?"

"Aren't you getting dressed, Lucy?" Natsu asked.

"Oh yes," Lucy quickly grabbed her dress and went in her bathroom, making sure she locked the door. She cursed at how much she was used to being half-naked with them, she even forgot to put a dress on herself. After properly putting on her tube dress and skirt, she joined her team again.

"Why do you have to change in there? It doesn't make any difference," Natsu complained.

"Besides, there's nothing to see," Happy added.

"Shut up! It's a common sense for girls to change in private!" Lucy scolded.

But she was quieted soon after when they noticed Erza's gloomy aura. "I'm a girl, too," Erza growled.

"Yes!" Lucy felt herself sweating. "Of course!"

"Anyway, why are you guys here?" Gray was the one breaking the awkwardness.

"Why are you even here?" Lucy glared at the ice mage.

"Right, Master just handed us a mission," Erza began, putting a piece of mission request on the table. "It's a group mission, so we had to go together. It's exterminating the dark guild called Black Urchins."

"Never heard of them before," Gray interrupted.

"They kinda worked underground," Erza answered. "It was still quite ambiguous at what their motives are, but we had to get them soon before they get out of hand."

"Got it!" Natsu nodded. "I just need to break their necks, right?"

"Shut up, Natsu," Lucy chucked his face. "So what is it these guys are after?"

"It's actually unclear yet. But since they worked so discretely, Master was worried of its connection with the Balam Alliance," Erza said. "But of course, nothing confirmed yet. Anyway, we'll depart in a week. I need to submit a plan form to the Master first." Erza stood up, ready to leave. "I'll explain everything to Wendy when I'm back at Fairy Hills. She really needs to be a little more sensitive and come to the meeting more often."

"This is not a meeting place! Don't teach her unnecessary things!" Lucy shrieked.

Of course, no one bothered though.

It was a full moon that night, beaming hauntingly against the terrain of Magnolia outskirt, casting enchanting shades of silver light and cobalt shadow. It was late enough that the residents of Magnolia had retreated for the night. The evening breeze made a soft rustle, disarraying the strands of his hair, illuminating the soft colored underneath the hood.

"Jellal," the familiar voice greeted him in hush voice.

He turned towards his childhood scarlet-haired friend, slowly approaching him in the shadow.

"Did you get the information gathered?" Erza asked.

Wasting no time, Jellal took out a few piece of papers and handed them into Erza's hands. "Dark Urchins," he started. "Based in Oak Town hidden in the underground of it's mountains. I managed to locate a few entrance, but I got lost in the mapping inside. The members weren't that much, but the lower level you get underground, the stronger they are. One thing I managed to confirm though, is that they had nothing to do with the Balam Alliance. They specialize in assassination though."

"I see," Erza gave a quick scan on the papers. "Thank you. This will be very helpful to us."

Jellal's eyes bored into Erza's for a while before darting up to the full moon. Sighing, he gently scratched the back of his head. "Actually, I wanted to take on this guild on my own. Do you have to do it with your guild?"

Erza gaped at him. "No, let us handle this. The Magic Council had their eyes on them, Fairy Tail can't let the council down."

Jellal stayed silence for a while before muttering. "I get it. Okay." He wouldn't tell Erza the unsettling feelings inside his heart. The Black Urchins was a dark assassination guild. It was the same as Trinity Raven. Jellal felt awfully acquinted with these types of dark guilds. Yes, he had taken down lots of dark guilds before and secretly handed them to the council, but assassination guilds are particularly the ones he despised – more like how he despised himself. But he could comprehend with Erza's reasoning. Fairy Tail is a legal guild with reputation. And he ain't going to break it.

"Jellal," Erza called, this time in a much softer voice, gaining Jellal's attention. She knew Jellal was having a thought. He wasn't that hard to read. But what he was thinking about; that she finds hard to predict.

"Yes?"

Erza bit her lower lip. She wasn't sure what to say herself. Should she ask about what he was thinking? Should she... confess what she did with Gray and ask for forgiveness? Erza's stomach churned at that thought. Jellal was like her prince on the white horse. When she was a child, she was caught as a slave. She had dreamt of a fairy tail ending more than anyone else. She was wishing she could be the helpless princess waiting for her knight in shining armor to release her from misery. When she first met Jellal, he shone so bright despite his slavery. He was born a natural leader. People just knew he was capable of leading them, and even Simon who slightly opposed to him had gladly followed his lead.

But the painful truth was; life is never a fairy tail.

She wasn't a helpless princess. She was the Titania. The woman that protected the Fairy Tail itself – ironically. And Jellal wasn't the knight of shining armor. He was an escaped prisoner, a wanted man by the Magic Council.

Nevertheless Erza wanted him more than any prince she dreamt of. He was her first love, her first memory, her first name. Even after Jellal was possessed, she never forgot her feelings for him. That's why she kept the name he gave her. She wanted the name to serve as the everlasting memory between them. Scarlet. She loved it. Just as much as she loved him.

No. She mentally shook her head. She loves him.

"Jellal! Mou..." their moment was interrupted with a whining Meredy. "Hurry up, we need to go. It's not safe here anymore!"

Erza saw Jellal tugged his cloak and recollected himself. "I'm coming, Meredy," he answered, turning slightly towards Erza. "See you again, Erza."

"Jellal, wait!" Erza called back, giving a sudden halt in Jellal's step.

There was a short silence between them. To be honest, Erza wasn't really sure why she called back. Perhaps she just wanted him to stay. Or perhaps she really did have something to say. Either way it didn't matter. She just wanted to take one final look into his eyes.

I love you. It was left unspoken on her lips. But she showed it in her pleading eyes. Please say you do too.

Erza wasn't sure if Jellal had understood her eyes. Those eyes had held so many emotions than she could ever imagined. Those eyes had bore the deaths of her friends, the suffers Jellal had shouldered, the misery in her life.

Jellal bowed slightly, avoiding anymore eye contact with her before leaving into the darkest night with Meredy. Erza stood there frustrated. It wasn't easy to meet Jellal. It was just a luck that she was assigned with the mission of a dark guild. She asked the Master to meet him in secret, since Crime Sorciere was more informed regarding dark guilds and would be of a help to them.

But she was insatiable. Or rather, it simply wasn't enough. She had held this feelings for almost 20 years. She had waited that long for him. And as much as she never wanted to, her heart felt tired of waiting.

Fate is a cruel thing. That thing just wouldn't let her feel happiness. It had stolen her happiness when she was caught as a slave, but Jellal had given her the light. She wanted freedom with him, to fall in love like a normal little girl and live happily. But fate had to steal that as well and made Jellal possessed. She had to leave him. It wasn't even a choice for her. Then when Jellal finally turned back to his old self, he was jailed – for life. Right after she vowed to start a new life with him too. Even if he escaped the prison, they wouldn't be able to live like a normal couple.

And she was exhausted of being pushed by fate. But she wanted to love him. She didn't want to stop. He was her tale, her first-love kids tale. If anything, he was a dream she wanted to come true. She refused to give up on this dream.

"Erza!" Natsu yelled. "Why the hell can't we go now? The earlier the better!"

"Shut up, Natsu!" she replied annoyingly. "Do you even understand the word strategy?" she was busy reading over Jellal's papers. It was perfectly written. She had schemed their entrance, and how they would proceed. The bad thing about underground bases was, their backs are exposed to danger. They had to go deeper for full infiltration, but in the same time, there was no way out either. If they were careless, it would be damned. Great strategy. As expected from a dark guild.

"I do know!" Natsu frowned. "It's how we punch and kick their asses till they can't fight anymore!"

Erza narrowed her eyes. "Forget I even said anything, Natsu. But just sit there quietly until I command the next move!" the raise in Erza's voice was enough to make Natsu squirmed.

"Aye!" Natsu pulled Happy to the corner of their guild.

Erza huffed, jotting down a few things on the paper.

"But this information is so damn detailed," Gray commented while reading one of the papers. "Where did you get these, Erza?"

Erza felt her heart quickened. She wasn't exactly sure why but she was a bit tad scared of Gray finding out she met Jellal in secret. It wasn't an unusual thing before – they did met a few times anyway – but it just felt different this time.

"I have some resources," Erza answered in a low voice.

Gray frowned a bit at that. Her voice is tiny. That was unusual.

"Were those the ones you got from your lovely Jellal?" Mira asked innocently, battling her eyelashes knowingly.

Count on Mira to spurt out things like that. Erza mentally facepalmed herself. She saw Gray's frown deepened. Was he pissed off? Was he mad at me meeting him? Then something just clicked her mind. Why was she even care? She and Jellal had nothing to do with Gray, why would he get mad anyway?

Gray's attention was back on the papers. Oh yeah, Jellal. It wasn't a secret that Erza had been meeting him in private. He knew it still all these times. But knowing it dead straight still didn't feel good. Gray knew Erza had always loved Jellal. But he thought after that eventful night he would have stood a little chance.

It wasn't really a good time for them to get together actually. If that fateful night never happen, Gray would have given up on Erza. He wasn't one who would give up without a fight though. He actually had it all planned. He knew Erza loved someone, so he never really tried anything when they were kids. When Jellal died, he wanted to pursue the Titania, but what he had miscalculated was Mystogun's appearance. There was no way in hell Gray would step in during that situation. It was dead clear Erza still loved Jellal, even if he was dead.

And to make matters worse, was during the Oracion Seis mission that they found out Jellal was alive – with his memories regained too. Gray had decided since then, that he would give up. He even thought about learning to reciprocate Juvia's feelings. That would be a lot easier. Then there came that night – the night that screamed the tension between him and Erza. As if it was even more impossible from them to act as just friends like how they used to for years.

Fate was mockering them.

And Gray won't give in to the likes of it. Never.

A/N: Jellal's part. LOL Too bad, actually Jellal is one of my most favorite male character in Fairy Tail. But I do think that, if Erza is really in love with Gray, the one that hold back her heart to Jellal is the fact that he was her first love, and she had waited so damn long for him. Every girls who believe in first love would want to get together and it would be very hard for them to move on. It was a bit of immature thinking but I can relate (becoz I am like that *blush*). And Erza, despite being an abnormal woman, she is a normal girl in every extent, if you know what I mean. LOL. So yeah, there goes this chapter.