A/N: Can I just say I start to hate my job? LOL. I was damn busy this week and I just recently had the chance to write. But seriously, why bother writing if I have to work? I think I'm going crazy, duh. e_e

Chapter 8

The next night Gray sneaked into the compound of Fairy Hills, making extremely sure that his magic is barely noticeable. Somehow he was thankful that he sneaked into Lucy's room a quite a number of times. This skill didn't come to handy too often. He chuckled inwardly at his contorted logic. Gray wasn't completely sure where to head to, but he did linger around the compound long to figure it out—mapping the places his other guildmates went to.

When he finally concluded which room might be Erza's, he carefully slipped in, and immediately positive it was Erza's by the amount of armors lined up across the room. He took a while to stare at the collections. Does all Fairy Hills room are this large? It was sure quite big for a single person to stay.

Stealthily Gray crept farther into the room, ignoring a bunch of undies placed at a corner openly. Seriously, this girl has no sense of decency. Gray's thought paused. Well, yeah. So ain't I, he rolled his eyes.

"What the hell—Gray!"

Gray spun, meeting with dark brown eyes looking at him in shock. "Hey, Erza—"

Gray didn't get the chance to finish his greetings. The next thing he knew, he was pushed into a small closet, locked tightly with just the minimal ray of light penetrating between the slid. He was about to knock the closet and shout out to Erza when he heard some voices.

"Is everything fine, Erza?"

It was Levy. Gray froze in spot. Okay, he totally forgot that girls love to gather and gossip.

"Yes, everything is fine," came Erza's voice. But Gray noticed how her voice trembled.

"You don't look good since you came back from the mission yesterday. Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm just tired. I had a lot of work lately," Erza reasoned.

There was a soft sigh. "I told you not to push yourself."

Gray furrowed his brows. Shit. That's Mira's voice. It had been one whole day, did no one knew about it yet? Among the girls, Lucy, Wendy and Juvia knew it already. So none of them spilled a word? Gray wasn't sure whether he should feel thankful over this.

There were a few more chatters ahead, then a few minutes later the voices became quiet. Gray heard the door being opened, and then a few moments later, he felt the closet open and he stumbled a bit from the restrictive compartment just to meet with a very angry Erza.

"So?" she folded her arms on her chest, eyes dangerously shimmering with wrath. "Did you think about any explanation regarding trespassing?"

Gray blanched. Uh, no. "I... Got lost?" he curved his lips in a nervous smile.

"In my room?" Erza huffed, rolling her eyes, successfully evaporated all the dark aura around her. "Do you really think I would buy that?"

Gray chuckled softly, straightening himself. "No, that was just on the spur of the moment."

Erza turned away, walking a few steps further as she sighed. "What do you want now, Gray?"

"Did the girls know?" he asked more politically than inquiry. He can already guess they don't anyway.

"No," her answer was to be expected. "I don't know. Lucy, Wendy and Juvia didn't make a fuss about it."

"We need to come up with the best way to tell them."

"Or maybe we don't have to. I can abort this pregnancy and keep this just among us."

Gray turned to her. "What?"

"I said, I can abort this pregnancy and keep this just—"

"I know what you said!" Gray cut her off. "I mean what the hell are you talking about?"

"We need to take care of this mistake, Gray!" Erza finally turned around, facing the raven haired man firmly.

Gray could see the determination in her eyes. Erza was never one who would falter anyway. But the fact that she did see that as a mistake still gave a turmoil in his heart.

"So that was just a mistake to you?" Gray baffled. "Nothing more?"

"What else then? How the hell are you gonna tell Juvia about this?" How the hell am I gonna tell Jellal about this?

"Juvia has nothing to do with this. Stop bringing her into the issue," Gray huffed, darting his eyes elsewhere, slightly annoyed.

Erza brought up a hand, massaging her temple as she closed her eyes. "I need to get some rest." And some distractions.

Gray sighed at that. "Erza, we're not going anywhere with this."

"Where do you expect us to go then?"

Gray kept silence. He was quite sure he had made himself clear a few times—well at least it was clear for him. But Erza wasn't a dense woman. Gray wasn't even sure whether she purposely pushed the subject aside, or she simply didn't want to understand. Either way, Gray was irritated. Doesn't his feelings matter at all?

"Do you expect us to continue as teammates?" Gray asked, masking his emotions he was so good at.

He saw Erza took a deep breath. "Yes."

Unconsciously Gray gritted his teeth, swallowing the lump he felt blocking his throat. He could feel something tearing inside him, and he wasn't sure what. The feeling of rejection that had slowly built up along with the time they spent together grew quite significantly increased. As if all the budding hopes that were not yet blossoming immediately wilted in the cold. God, this sucks. Is this what Juvia had to face every time?

"Fine. So this is your answer, huh," Gray said in hush whisper.

Erza lifted her gaze, taking in the sight of a devastated ice mage in front of her. Something fine inside her snapped at the sight. Part of her wanted to just wrap him in her warm embrace, just like she always did in the past when he was sad. But another part just won't let her move.

On the other hand, nothing really mattered to Gray anymore. Erza had flat out dictating her answer. And the world felt pitch black—not literally, but nothing seemed colorful in Gray's eyes.

Everything was gray.

"Well, I shall be going then," Gray chuckled awkwardly, eyes not quite meeting hers. His feet stumbled backwards a few steps, approaching the open window of Erza's room.

"Gray—"

Gray leapt into the darkest night.

It was a shitty night for Erza. She had been thoroughly exhausted, it was impossible for her to even sleep. Her limbs ached everywhere. By the time she walked into the guild the next morning, she almost dragged in some negative aura with her, making some of her guildmates flinched away.

"My, my, Erza. You looked like you didn't sleep the whole night," Mirajane greeted her with her usual warm smile.

"I didn't," Erza sighed, sitting on the stool.

"You didn't?" Mirajane blinked. "What did you do the whole night?"

"I don't know. I can't sleep!" Erza protested. "Is this how it is for being pr—"

Crap. She almost slipped. She saw Mirajane raise her brows when she paused.

"Pr—" Erza started to find a way to get out of this. "Princess."

"Princess?" Mirajane looked perplexed.

"Princess," Erza repeated, as if trying to convince herself. "Yes, princess. Like the fairy princess, you know."

Mirajane let out a soft chuckle. "You're being really weird, Erza."

"Yeah, my hormones are on the ride," she agreed, grumbling a bit.

"Is it the time of the month?" Mirajane asked. Her hands were working as usual while her eyes fixed on the Titania.

I wish. "Whatever you wanna say," Erza's voice sounded gloomy. "I wanna go on a mission. Is there a light one but I can still kick some ass?"

Mirajane paused, pursing her lips as she gave a think. "If you just want to kill some time, we have an escort mission of a valuable thing. Are you going with your team?"

"No. I'll be going alone."

"It's just a royal vase. You think you can handle it?"

"Who do you think I am?"

"The Titania, yes," Mirajane said in certainty. "But the oh-so-great Titania is currently looking so miserable for lacking sleep and I'm not going to let you off looking like that."

Erza groaned scornfully. "Mira, I'm perfectly fine, okay! Besides, I don't want some ruckus happen in my mission which I want to relax."

Mirajane furrowed her brows. Oh yes, Natsu has tendency to destroy things. And then the barmaid snapped her fingers happily, as if she just discovered wonders. "That's right. I'll just ask Gray to go with you! He has less tendencies to destroy things when Natsu isn't around!"

Erza sputtered. What the hell! So much of a solution, Mira. "I said I'm fine by my own!"

"Ah, Gray, we were just talking about you," Mira's expression changed into a cheerful one.

Erza froze in devastation.

"Morning, Mira," Gray smiled a bit as he smiled at the bartender.

"Good morning, Gray-sama!" and Juvia suddenly came into view.

Erza saw how Gray's lips curved into a soft smile as he gazed towards the water mage. "Morning, Juvia."

"Oh my, you're being all lovey dovey early in the morning," Mirajane teased, to which Gray blushed heavily.

"We're not!" the raven haired guy protested.

"We are?" Juvia cupped her cheeks, swirling around in her bubbly happiness.

Gray sighed. "Look what you have done to her. Stop putting weird ideas in her head."

Mirajane chuckled lightly. "On the other note, so you have any plans for today, Gray? Erza wanted to take a mission and I'm not letting her off alone looking miserable. If you're free, can you go with her?"

"I said, I'll be fine, damn it!" Erza stood, lightly slamming the counter.

"Eh?" Gray turned to Erza who wasn't even facing him since his arrival. "Well, what kind of mission."

"Nothing," Erza huffed.

Mirajane didn't really listen to Erza's objection. "She hasn't decided but she wanted a kick ass mission so I suggested the easiest one of escorting some valuable thing."

"Mira, I said I can go alone." Erza's voice was dangerously low. The tone that would have made the entire guild scrambled in line when they heard it, but that voice did not even flinch the take-over mage.

"So what do you say, Gray?" the smile on the silver haired beauty still irritated Erza.

Gray stared at Erza's back for a while. "I'll consider."

Erza was putting away some confidential files at the second floor, locking the drawer securely. It was almost noon and she still failed to convince Mira about her mission. She closed her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose lightly. She could still feel the throbbing feel inside her head. And her temper definitely was not helping. Somehow, she felt her temper worsened since she got pregnant—aside from being tired that is. Wendy said that pregnant ladies are different from one another. She might not get that shitty morning sickness, but the headache and fatigue definitely weren't any pleasant either.

"So? Are you explaining why you are risking yourself to go for a mission at that current state?"

Erza whisked, meeting a pair of dark blue eyes. She almost rolled her eyes at the sight of the ice mage.

"What the hell do you want? You're not supposed to be here in the confidential room."

"What the hell do I want?" Gray scoffed. "You were the one insisting to endanger yourself."

"Are you looking down at me?" Erza squinted.

"You know that's not true," Gray shook his head. In fact, he knew exactly what Erza is capable with. "But you're not in any condition to fight. At least not in this few days."

Erza placed her hands on her hips, looking intimidating towards her teammate. "Look, this is none of your business. Why don't you go entertain your girlfriend rather than pestering me about useless things like this, for all I care."

Gray unconsciously gritted his teeth. Something inside him snapped a bit. "Listen, Erza," he started low. "I don't care and I don't mind if you decide to abort the pregnancy. But you are pregnant of my child and as long as your still carry the baby, I still have the right to care about the baby's well-being, you got that?"

Erza would have snapped. After all, she did plan to abort the pregnancy. In her eyes, this baby was a drunken mistake—that was all. They could have gotten away without anyone knowing. But she didn't have the leisure for that. There was a sudden clutter, loudly sounding at the exit of the room. And for a second, Erza thought her life had ended.

There stood Mirajane, with a shock written all over her face, eyes widened in surprise with a tray fell and sprang on the floor forgotten.

"M—Mira," Erza stuttered.

"Erza, y-you're pregnant?" Mirajane's voice was trembling. "Of Gray's child?"

Gray's eyes widened a bit, unable to say anything at the moment. He didn't expect Mirajane to be there. The last time he checked, he and Erza were definitely alone.

"It's—" Mirajane stumbled a few steps backwards in attempt to recover her shock, bringing herself past out of the door in the process. And that's when she recognized another person outside the room, looking horrified. Mirajane gasped audibly. "J-Juvia."

Gray's head snapped. What? Is Juvia here?"

The blunette had the horrified look that Mirajane was almost sure she had also overheard the same conversation. Her face mixed of hurt and confusion. "J-Juvia was just... Looking for Gray-sama."

Mirajane extended her hand trying to reach the broken hearted girl. "J-Juvia—"

But she couldn't. Right at that moment, Juvia's feet shuffled a bit, and she ran away from the room, leaping towards the stairs to go downward.

Gray shouldn't have bothered. After all, it was Juvia. She should know sooner or later. But even so she was his friend. And he never once told her clearly about how he felt. He felt like a shitty friend. Or rather—he didn't even deserve to call himself as a friend. And this kind of revelation was definitely not the right way for it. He cursed under his breath.

"Juvia, wait—" he trudged past Erza and Mirajane, grimacing as he bumped against Erza's shoulder. He paused for a while, before leaping to catch up with the water mage.

Erza stood there, biting her lips as she watched Gray disappearing from her sight. She felt something recoil in her stomach. She just didn't want to figure what that was all about.

A/N: Haha, sorry, there won't be anything like Erza hiding her child somewhere. Besides, people already knew she's pregnant. And thank you for those who reviewed and supported me through this, I really appreciate them, really; bella-romeo, scarletmage, VK, thundergodlaxus, TheDelta724, Cristel, Medelie and Clovergirl100.