Hey Guys! Thanks for the reviews TaylorRose16, Bubblycutie and Awesomenessdude and Thunder Explosion. You have no idea how much reviews mean to me. They're like little hugs! Also, props to everyone who followed and favourited, means a lot guys!
Two Things:
1. Remember, this takes place inside Gray's head. Thus, grammar issues such as "Natsu and Me" instead of "Natsu and I" are simply how Gray thinks. He doesn't seem like the kind of guy to care about that kind of stuff to me.
2. Can you spot the One Piece references? They're pretty obvious, if you follow the series haha.
Thanks and Enjoy!

"God I hate trains," Natsu whimpered.

I looked down at him. Usually, I could respect the dragon-slayer's disposition; his strength, his mental fortitude and most of all, his determination.
Most of the time.

"Get out of the gutter dude,"

I said, looking around bashfully at onlookers who were all glaring at Natsu. I smiled apologetically at a woman who was passing by. She turned her curious daughter away and hurried off in the opposite direction. It was totally Natsu's fault.

Once the fire mage had recovered from his transport-induced nausea, he leaped up and exclaimed, in an excited, relieved voice, "I'm all fired up!"
I just looked at him. Happy responded with his usual "Aye sir!" and I just shook my head.

"Where's this mansion?" I asked, looking around the train station for a map or something. The town was about an hours train ride from Magnolia, sheltered underneath the shadow of Mount Hakobe. I hadn't actually visited the place before, which was odd as I was relatively familiar with the towns near Magnolia. I noticed a large, embossed signpost on the platform that read:

HIKEN, TOWN OF THE MOUNTAIN'S FIRE.

"Town of the Mountain's Fire huh?" I muttered to myself.

"I dunno where the mansion is," said Natsu helpfully after a few moments of severe internal contemplation. I sighed and approached a young man waiting on the station. He wore a plain brown suit and looked slightly intimidated as we approached him, even more so as he noticed the guild emblem on Natsu's bare shoulder.

"Excuse me sir, would you have any idea where we could find the…" I glanced down at the job poster in my hand. "er… Enkai Mansion?"

The man looked slightly confused but answered me.
"Straight up the main road, there's a big sign that points up the mountain. It's about a twenty minute walk from there." He paused for a moment before saying quietly, "Don't know why you'd want to go there, but it's your funeral."

A chill went up my spine as he said that. It was becoming quite a common sensation. I contemplated asking the man why he said that, but decided against it. Usually, whatever normal people saw as scary or dangerous, we wizards saw as target practice.

Or maybe punching bags. I hoped there was something to let loose on in the mansion. I had steam I needed to blow off. I thanked the man and Natsu, Happy and I trooped out of the station and onto the main road, where we set up a steady pace, keeping an eye out for the sign pointing to the enigmatic Enkai Mansion.

"You all good dude?" asked Natsu as we walked. His voice sounded concerned, which was quite odd. It wasn't that the fire mage was insensitive, but he definitely had difficulty in noticing when people weren't okay. I was okay though.

I think.

"I… Yeah, I'm good," I said back to him after a moments hesitation. Happy leaped off of Natsu's shoulder and hovered about a foot from my face, moving steadily back in pace with me.

"No he isn't Natsu. He hesitated," I sent a flourish of ice shards at the little cat and he skittered away back to Natsu.

"I… Nah, I don't think I am okay," I said to them, gesturing up to the right. Ahead of us, a battered, beaten sign read:

Enkai Mansion - 20 Minutes

We started up an uneven gravel path about the width of five people walking shoulder to shoulder. Natsu stayed quiet, waiting for me to explain.
I was going to tell him about the dreams but instead I sighed and said mournfully, "It's Juvia."

The dragon slayer blinked at me and nodded slowly, keeping pace with me despite my longer legs. I had gotten a lot taller over the last year and had grown about half a foot from Natsu's shaggy rose coloured mop. He hadn't liked that one bit.

"It's… Well, I dunno what I'm doing man," I started, before the words just came tumbling out. I had no idea where it was coming from, but the speech seemed almost pre-written as I blurted.

"I didn't really pay attention to her when she first joined the guild but, as we became closer, I began to like her. I like her hair, her voice, the way she talks about herself in third person, her eyes…"

I stopped, reddening slightly.

"I know I only have to snap my fingers and she'll come running, which makes me feel terrible. I think I like her Natsu but after the way I've been treating her, do I really deserve someone like that?"

I stopped speaking and just looked at my feet, concentrating on the walk and trying not to think about it. I hadn't actually done much internal monologuing on the subject of Juvia so I wasn't sure where the outburst had come from. It certainly wasn't on the top of my list of priorities and if I was going to talk to anyone about it, why had I chosen Natsu?

The dragon slayer remained quiet for a little while before grabbing me by the arm. I looked at him sharply, which was a bad idea as the next thing he did was to slap me as hard as he could. I was so surprised by the attack that I tripped over my own feet and sprawled into the dirt.

"Dude!" I said, angrily getting to my feet and snarling at him.

He didn't look angry, just annoyed.

"You're an idiot."

I glared at him and brushed the dirt from my long white duster, before continuing up the road. As we walked, the shadow of an enormous began to rise in the distance, gothic columns reaching up into the clear sky. Natsu walked on behind me, beginning to speak.

"You have the opportunity to have one of the most beautiful girls I've ever met with you, and you're overcomplicating it in your head. You like her, she likes you. Ask the girl out you idiot,"

I stayed silent. He was right. Of course he was, but it wasn't as easy as simply asking her out. Maybe wait a couple of months. I muddled with the idea for a few seconds before nodding and grunting an affirmative and approaching the mansion.

Now, Fairy Tail is a pretty decent sized guild. It's never had an issue with hosting it's many members and it's always been an impressive sight in the Magnolia skyline.
Enkai Mansion was bigger.It rose and rose into the sky, standing strong in the powerful mountain winds. I gulped.

"Woah," said the dragon slayer, whistling.

"Kind of looks like the Tower of Heaven doesn't it?" said Happy, hopping down from Natsu's shoulder and staring up at the huge stone doors.

I felt a chill and held my coat tighter around me. Something was off about the building. I could admire the complicated architecture and even found some of the turrets and pillars pretty, in a morbid kind of way. It didn't feel sinister, but it was definitely… wrong. Like that feeling you get when you enter an empty house. You know that there is no one home. That it's abandoned. It was pretty, silent and lifeless. The Enkai Mansion had all the beauty of a corpse, dressed nicely and made-up to look nice as it sunk below the earth.

"You wanna knock?"

I raised an eyebrow at the dragon-slayer, who to this day denies the fact that he was wetting himself. I snorted, ignoring my own pressing fear and slammed the door knocker hard against the doors. They boomed, once, twice, three times, before a heavy quiet pressed in on us.
The doors opened. More gulping ensued.

A man stood in the door. He had one of those ageless faces, anywhere between 25 and 50. He had long black hair held back in a ponytail and sharp, glaring eyebrows over two haunting, almost black eyes. He was garbed in a flowing cape, black with red trimmings and wore a black suit to match underneath. He smiled at us. It wasn't a real smile, there was no joy inside it. It was just a formality. Nothing more.

"Ah. Gray Fullbuster and Natsu Dragneel. I was expecting you." He gestured for us to enter. We did so, coming into a gaping entrance hall with equally Gothic decorations and a huge, black steel chandelier. I blinked at the man as he shut the door behind us.

"How did you know our names?"

"I watched you at the Grand Magic Games. Very impressive show, I must say." His voice was weird. I think he had an accent, but for the life of me I can't remember what kind. His words were clipped but perfectly easy to understand.

"So sorry," he said, bowing slightly, "I forgot to introduce myself. I am Count Vladish Tepei."

I shook his hand and immediately felt the surge of some kind of energy. It was magic, but I couldn't tell what kind. After a split second, it was gone. I watched Natsu as the dragon slayer too shook the Count's hand.

He didn't do anything. He smiled politely and returned his hands back to his pockets. Dragon slayers have amazingly accurate senses. They can track people using their scent, see further than most people, hear noises usually silent to human ears and generally notice things that normal humans don't. Not only that, they're very sensitive to magical energies. Veils, enchantments, illusions, a dragon slayer over any other mage has more of a chance to sense any kind of magical skullduggery. I stared at Natsu for a few seconds before I smiled awkwardly at the Count. He nodded at me and began to show us around the house. I was right. It was big. As far as I could tell, the guy had no staff. No cleaners, no cooks, nothing. Didn't seem to be anyone else in the house either. He had so much space he wasn't using. I'm pretty sure he could have given every homeless person in Fiore a place to sleep, to times over!

"What's the issue sir?" Natsu asked, with an uncharacteristic politeness. The Count nodded and began to explain as he showed us around the many rooms.

"I'm afraid the building is haunted. I've been attacked numerous times by furious spirits." Natsu and I both looked surprised as I asked.

"What do the spirits look like?"

"Warriors. Ancient Fioran by the looks of it. They're transparent, but they seem to have no trouble interacting with physical objects."

That was weird. I wasn't particularly familiar with Ectomancy, the study of speaking to the dead and raising ghosts. It was a difficult and dangerous magic to perform and above all, it was creepy as hell. The Magic Council frowned upon. What is dead should stay that way. Anyway, the weird thing about that was how the spirits were able to manipulate their surroundings so well. It sounded almost like…

"Do you have enemies, Count Vladish?" I inquired, taking a seat in his sitting room. He bade us wait and fetched several cups of tea.

On the sly, I extended my senses to check for poisons or enchantments in or on the tea. It wasn't evil tea though. Just Earl Grey.

"Not as such. I tend to keep myself to myself."

"Are you sure? Because what you're describing sounds a lot more like a magical construct than anything else. Either that or…"

I shivered and didn't finish my sentence. Either that or the spirits in this house were so powerful that they could manifest physical forms at will.

"Don't know why you'd want to go up there, but it's your funeral."

I really hoped not.

After a private deliberation, Natsu and I decided to stay the night. According to the Dracula wannabe, the spirits only showed themselves at night. Happy wasn't too, well, happy about that decision and neither was I to be frank, but it was our only option.

Also, money.

100,000 Jewels was rent money. Plain and simple.

We asked for a shared room. NOT because I didn't like sleeping alone, but because if something jumped us in the middle of the night, we could back each other up. Natsu and I blanched as the Count showed us the only shared room in the house, which had in it a king sized bed…

Nothing else.
I sighed. I really hoped Natsu didn't snore.

He did snore. He snored a lot. Despite Happy's initial fear, he also was sound asleep, making cute little purring sounds and muttering something about fish. I punched the dragon slayer again and again but he didn't shut up, so I decided to go for a walk. I'd told Natsu about my suspicions of Count Mysterious but he'd shrugged it off. He'd said that if he couldn't sense anything untoward about the guy, then nothing was wrong. Ego, thy name is dragon slayer.

I wandered about the house, wearing nothing but trousers. I was surprised that the chill hadn't come back to me in the house, because I felt like my usual self. Cocky, extremely handsome and a low-key nudist.

It was about midnight when I found myself in the entrance hall we had first been in. It was probably cold, but I didn't feel it. I admired the moonlight glancing off the mirrors and paintings and began to dream of having a house of my own like this one day. Servants to satisfy my every need, a chef to cook me the tastiest food he could and a whole wardrobe of clothes I would eventually take off in public. Shared with a beautiful wife, Juvia... I cut myself off in the thought process. I was feeling on form and didn't want to bring myself down about the water mage. Stretching, I made my way to the kitchens to see if I could grab a snack. The Count had retired to his chambers early, leaving me and Natsu to feed ourselves in the town below. We never got time to explore before we decided to hit the hay. As I wandered, a few things caught my eye. Little things. Things I wouldn't usually be suspicious about. Something wasn't right about the house, I knew it.

I found the kitchen. Or rather, what would have been the kitchen. Only, there was nothing kitchen like in it. Yeah, there was a stove and a sink. I kettle for tea and a display case of china plates and cups. My heart began to leap in my chest. I opened a few, beautiful white drawers and found nothing. No utensils, no pots or pans, nothing. Rushing over to the pantry, my thoughts began to race in different directions. There was nothing in the pantry. Cobwebs lined the shelves and a rat skittered by. No food.

Nothing.

It hadn't been used for some time.

I made my way back out to the entrance hall and the one thing that had been pressing in the back of my head burst forth like a volcano.
There were no fucking curtains in the whole house. Not in our room, not in the sitting room, not in the entrance hall.

Curtains.

Every house has curtains.

Every inhabited house that is.

No curtains. No food. No furnishings, apart from paintings and mirrors that I now realized weren't actually there.

Illusions.

Mavis damn it.

I extended my senses further and the entire house melted away from me. No paintings or mirrors. The staircase was battered and broken, the walls lined with holes and cobwebs. The floor was bare, cold concrete. The entire house was gutted, abandoned. It had taken a simple illusion to trick Natsu and I into seeing a beautiful mansion.

Nobody lived here.

As I felt danger approach, I let out a single scream.

"NATSU!"

A flash of purple light.

Then nothing.

Horrible, cold, nothing.

"It's your funeral."
Well shit.