Disclaimer:I do not own Fairy Tail or any of its characters. All rights go to Hiro Mashima respectively.

A few days later, a few of the guild members gathered to speak of a worrying matter.

"Something needs to be done," Erza announced, not wasting any time. Her all-business demeanor frightened the rest of the guild enough to take the volume down a few notches. It gave the group freedom to speak normally.

"Is Juvia-san going to be okay?" Wendy asked. She was fidgeting a little, her worry clear in her body language. Unfortunately, her restlessness was bothering Charle, whom Wendy was holding at the moment.

"She's an adult," Charle said. "She can make her own decisions." Contrary to her words, Charle was, in fact, concerned about Juvia. So far, no visions of the future had appeared yet. But the water mage's behaviour was worrisome. Especially after she had ran away from Gray.

"There must be some way we can help, right?" Lisanna asked. She was eager to help her friends. Juvia was no exception.

"Of course," Erza said, "As soon as we figure out what needs to be done." Her fist thudded into her open palm, back straightening at the prospect of a new challenge.

"It would've been much easier if Gray hadn't been such a wimp and ran after Juvia," Natsu said, crossing his arms as he provoked the one next to him.

The comment did not escape the ice mage. "What'd you say, flame brain?"

Elfman agreed, exclaiming that, "Letting loved ones go is not man!" just as a fight broke out. His comment was met with a kick to the stomach and a cry of, "It's not like that!" from Gray. The group seemed ready to disperse.

"Um, maybe we shouldn't rush into this," Lucy said, laughing nervously as she narrowly missed a flying fist. Everyone had completely veered off the problem at hand. "Guys?"

For the next few days, Juvia had barely any time to even catch her breath. Everyone seemed very keen on coming to visit her, reasons still unclear. Even Gray came, much to Juvia's dismay. Intent keeping him safe, she made sure to apologize quickly before slamming the door in his face. He was surprised, to say the least.

Erza had probably come the most out of them all. Every time Juvia would get up to do something—make coffee, have a bath, even ready herself for bed—Erza was knocking on her door, prepared to help. Finally, when Juvia was brought out of her shower to answer the door, she'd asked Erza politely, but firmly, what the hell was going on. Erza, in turn, surprised Juvia with her answer.

"Juvia, no matter what, we're here for you," she'd said, a sad smile on her face, "Fairy Tail is not a guild that lets its members suffer by themselves. We've all been through a lot—experiencing pain and sadness. But we're a family, and we make sure that no one has to bear the weight of their mistakes alone." Her eyes reflected a deep melancholy, her smile turned slightly bitter from the memory of her own experiences. "Because it's a lot worse when you're alone."

The moment had been ruined, unfortunately, by Erza wrapping an arm around Juvia to bring her close. She'd been wearing her armor at the time, which resulted in a small bruise on Juvia's forehead and burning eyes.

But the tears in her eyes weren't just from the shock of pain on her head. Even though Juvia knew that Erza didn't understand what exactly was happening, she'd felt comforted by the fact that her friend cared. It was a lot more than Juvia could ever ask for, and she'd been tempted to tell Erza everything that had been happening. But the bump to her head had been enough to knock some sense back into her. Her friends had been protecting her all this time, and now it was her turn to do the same.

And that's why she made sure to turn down every person who came to her door. Juvia wouldn't let her friends get hurt just because she couldn't control herself.

Munching on one of the cookies Wendy gave her, Juvia made sure to keep her eyes off the clock as the hours grew later and later. This was usually how her evenings passed by. She would pace around her apartment, pyjamas already on, and an alarm clock set to wake her up early if her nightmares got too out of hand. More than once, Juvia had awoken from something horrible, only to find herself reaching for her door or already sprawled out in the hallway.

The sleepwalking scared her enough to keep her doors locked while she slept. Just because no one had discovered her yet didn't mean that nobody would. Besides, whatever her subconscious had been doing while she was under couldn't have been anything good.

It occurred to Juvia to move out of Fairy Hills more than once. She'd been on the lookout for other apartments, but her shortage of money—thanks to her exhaustion, missions were sort of impossible to complete—was very limiting. Juvia's savings had already been more than half gone to pay off her rent and food.

Not that she ate much anyway. Her fatigue affected her appetite enough to make her skip most of her meals each week—which only drained her energy more. Every passing day, Juvia found herself in a downward spiral with no way out.

Juvia knew that she couldn't handle everything herself. She wasn't stupid—going through everything headstrong and on her own was not going to solve anything. But she couldn't help but be reluctant about asking for help from her friends. Juvia didn't doubt their strength—they proved themselves more times than she could count—but her nightmares were more than a little unpredictable. If they were to be put in danger because of her, Juvia would never be able to forgive herself.

That's why she was determined to leave them out of this. Juvia could find someone else. There were thousands (probably more, actually) of mages in Fiore. She was sure there was someone out there who could help her.

And that, unfortunately, was probably Juvia's worst mistake.