Red streaks of sunlight splayed onto her face, showing the remnants of a late afternoon. "Mm.." Lucy hummed aloud. Rubbing her eyes, she slowly wakes up from her mini beauty sleep. "What time is it?" she asked, talking to no one in particular. She glanced at the clock. "3:50," she yawned. Waiit.. what?

.

.

.

3:50?!

"AHHH! BAKA BAKA BAKA!" she shouted. Suddenly, everything was crashing down on her as she remembered the events earlier: how numb she felt once Natsu's and Lisanna's relationship was official, being rejected by Natsu, and how she was supposed to be at a certain train station 10 minutes from now. With Gray. A dog's bark responded to the sudden noise in the distance. After shedding a few stray tears, brief moments of collecting herself and rushing to get her things packed and ready for the mission, she broke off into a full sprint towards the Magnolia train station.

"Over here, Lucy! I didn't know you could be such a slow poke!" he shouted, waving his arm to show his presence. He chuckled at the comical sight before him as she frantically ran towards him with as much speed as she could muster.

"I'm here," she managed out.

"Well, good timing, we were just about to board the train," he replied, eyes shining in amusement. Lucy smiled, nodding in response. As they boarded the train, each sat opposite each other and remained in comfortable silence. Once the train started moving, Gray finally decided that it was the right time to discuss about Natsu with his friend. "So, about you and Natsu.." Gray started.

"E-eh? What about me and Natsu?" she asked.

"Well, ever since he asked Lisanna out, you've been acting pretty strange lately, and you know.. you could always relate to a friend to talk it out..?" he scratched his head, thinking hard on how to approach without offending her.

She huffed stubbornly. "Well, it's not like I'm jealous or anything like that.. nope! Can we talk about something else now, please? Mm, let's talk about.. cows! Look, Gray! Brown cows," she pointed out the window, where there was indeed a group of brown and white cows. "I've never seen one of those before, only those stereotypical black and white cows."

"…" he sweat-dropped. "Okay."

They fell silent again. A part of her was chewing at her insides as she resisted the urge to tell him what was bothering her. She sighed, then huffed, then sighed again. It was Gray's turn to sigh this time. "What is it Lucy?"

"I, don't know actually," her mind was jumbled up from over-thinking it. He sighed again.

"It's pretty obvious, you know. The fact that you like Natsu," he stated aloud, hoping to knock back some sense into her. She stuttered.

"W-what? I don't like him! We're just really close friends, and I intend for it to stay that way," her eyes betraying her thoughts. She turned away in hopes that he could not see her current expression. "And besides, he's with Lisanna already, it's not like it'll make any difference." She whispered the last part, but knew it was loud enough for the ice-make mage to hear. He 'tsked' at this.

"No Lucy, it does make a difference, you just have to confront him and tell him how you feel. If you don't I will tell him for you," he told her. "It's better off to do it now than to look back and think what could have happened."

She looked up at him with hopeful eyes, "You really think so?"

"Well, I'm not some kind of philosopher, but I'll promise you that." Her eyes brightened, secretly noting to herself that she would help him at his time of need as he had just done for her now.

"Thanks Gray!" she stumbled off her seat to hug him.

"Yeah, don't mention it," he mumbled. The rest of the train ride went smoothly, and they have finally arrived at their destination, in which seemed like a desolated area filled with dirt and tumbleweeds.

Lucy sighed happily, feeling in higher spirits. Though, something seemed off. She shrugged it off as they came to the only stable building in town and hastily knocked on the door. Gray noticed the eerie feeling forming inside his stomach as they waited for someone to answer it. No answer.

"U-uh, they're probably not home, we should find a nearby town and come back another tiiiiiiiAHHHH!" Lucy screamed. Gray, now fully alert, quickly looks in Lucy's direction and saw a bunch of mages surrounding them.

"What the hell?" he shouted, hands joining to prepare his attack. Lucy reached for her keys. Wait.. her keys! What, what the hell? Didn't she bring th-? Oh, CRAP. SHE LEFT THEM IN THE BATHROOM. Wait 'til Aquarius hears this..

"Now now, no need to get feisty on me. So I've heard lots of things about you. I assume you are from the infamous guild, Fairy Tail, hmm?" a slightly short and slim man took a small step towards the two mages. He had cold blue eyes and black hair, similar to that of Gray but more intimidating and less muscular. Gray and Lucy gave off menacing glares, not liking the vibe that the man was giving off to them, the other mages surrounding the man feeling no different. "Oh? No answer, huh? Well, we will have to do something about that won't we?" His hands motioned for one of the mages to come forward. Before both mages could react, there were separated at once.

"Gray!"

"Lucy!"

Two groups formed a small circle around each of them and started tying them up in what seemed to be magical ropes. Before they could, Gray managed to freeze the ground beneath him and freeze their legs with it. He broke free and ran in Lucy's direction. He saw her, fighting with all her might, and realized she had forgotten her keys. Idiot! He continued running towards her and Lucy noticed out of the corner of her eye. "Gray, we're getting nowhere with this!" As she said that, a mage attempted to tie her up again but just faced the harsh blow of her Lucy kick. "There's too many of them.. leave me Gray! I'll be okay! Come back with more help!" she pleaded, knowing that it would be hard for him to just leave her in this situation.

"Dammit!" he shouted angrily as the other group of mages started to break free from the ice. He just didn't see any other choice. "I'm sorry Lucy," he whispered. And with that, he ran off towards the direction of Magnolia.