By sundown the stage was all set up perfectly. The puppets and silhouettes were ready, as was the background, and the music. All that was needed now were some candles to use as spot light. Jellal had to go buy some from a shop just down the street from the fair, he left Shagotte to keep an eye on the children while he was gone. Gray and Juvia were sitting on the stage, eagerly waiting for his return so they could see the show. Juvia loved her brother's stories almost more than anything, because imagination was the only way she could see now. She would always listen so intently to his words and picture each detail in her mind.

"I wonder what's taking him so long." Gray thought out loud. "People are going to start arriving here soon and I doubt they'll be patient."

"Is there anyone out there right now?"

"Just people passing by." Then Gray saw the among them was a pretty young woman who was carrying a basket flowers. Roses to be exact. Yellow ones, pink ones, red ones, and of course white ones. An idea occurred to him. "Wait here Juvia."

He stepped down from the stage and approached the woman.

"Hello there." She greeted him kindly. "Would you like a flower?"

"Yes please." He said. "A white one."

She handed him the prettiest white rose in her basket.

"Thank you." He said.

Gray hurried back to the stage and sat next to Juvia.

"I've got something for you." He told her.

"What is it?" She asked.

"Give me your hand."

He carefully guided her fingers on to the parts of the stem that didn't have thorns, she could recognize what the flower was but tracing the stem with her finger and smelling the petals's perfume.

"It's a rose." She said.

"A white one. You said that they were your favorite."

"You remembered." She said looking at him touched. "Ouch!"

"What?"

"I think I pricked my finger on a thorn."

Gray took her hand into both of his and saw a tiny drop of blood drip from her finger.

"You did." He said, pulling out a handkerchief and using it to bind her minor wound. "I don't know why you like these flowers so much. Yes they're pretty but they're painful if you don't hold them right."

"I love them because they're in my favorite story."

"Oh yeah. I forgot, the beast wanted to kill Beauty's father over a rose. That's kind of morbid don't you think?"

"I like to think that the rose was magic and that's why the beast was so mad."

"Magic? How?"

"We'll maybe the roses acted as a form of hour glass. What if the beast had until all the roses in his garden died to break the curse? If they wilted away before he found love then he'd be a beast forever. And when the merchant plucked that one rose, he shorted the beast's time and that's why he was so furious."

"Okay that does make his reaction more understandable."

"And I also like to pretend that Beauty didn't know that the beast would die if she never came back. Because that kind of makes her come off as little dim when her sisters trick her into staying longer."

"Not to mention I don't think the beast letting her go home for just a week counts as setting her free. Do you?"

"Not really. Ooo! I have a wonderful idea. Until Jellal comes back, why don't we tell our own story of Beauty and the Beast. Just for fun?"

"I don't know Juvia. You know I'm not big on love stories."

"Please? If we don't then we'll just have to keep sitting here and doing nothing."

"Good point. Alright, let's do it."

"Yay!" She cheered.

Gray grabbed the puppets and began to do their own take on the classic fairy tale.

"I am a handsome prince." Gray acted out with a prince puppet. "And I live in a castle and I'm loved by everyone. Too much by everyone, one day a wicked witch decided she wanted to marry me but because she was wicked I refused."

"But she thought you rejected her because she was ugly so she turned you into a hideous beast." Juvia said moving a witch puppet.

Gray then spun around the stage, pretending to be transformed and he flipped the prince puppet into a beast puppet.

"Oh no! Now I am ugly and everyone hates me for it!" Gray cried.

"But if you can win the love a beautiful woman before all the roses in your garden wilt away, then you'll become a prince again." Juvia said holding up a rose he gave her. Next she grabbed a maiden puppet. "I am Beauty, I am the most beautiful woman in the whole world and every man wants to marry me but only because I'm so beautiful. They don't like everything else about me. They think it's weird that I like to play with animals and read books and make music."

"I don't remember that in the story." Gray said.

"I made it up. I always wondered, if Beauty was so beautiful why wasn't she married yet? Then I thought maybe a lot of boys wanted to marry her but not because they loved her." She then moved her puppet. "I want true love. I want to marry someone who likes me for me."

"I do." Gray made his puppet say. "I know I am ugly, but I like animals, reading, and music too. And while I do like that you're beautiful, I also like that you are kind and funny."

Juvia giggled.

"Gray they haven't met yet."

"Oh yeah, sorry."

The two were having so much fun that they didn't notice the crowd of people gradually building, taking an interest in what they thought was the show that they had been promised.

"No one has ever been as kind to me as you have Beauty." Gray said through his puppet. "If anyone else saw that I had cut myself, they would have ignored me and thought that I deserved it. They would have never taken care of me like you have."

"Well you're my friend." Juvia made her puppet say. "You read me stories and play music for me. No other man has ever done that."

"You think I am a man?"

"Of course."

"I don't look like a man."

"But you act like a perfect gentleman."

The audience liked what they saw. They thought the way the children behaved was adorable and the new editions they made to the story were very nice.

"Beauty!" Gray grunted out, over-dramatizing the death scene. "Where are you? I'm... dying... I'm... bleurgh."

He dropped to the stage.

"Beast! Oh, Beast!" Juvia pretended to cry. "Oh, Beast! I am too late. Oh how could you not tell me that you'd die if I did not return? If you'd only told me I'd have never gone away. Oh my dear Beast, I love you."

She made her puppet kiss Gray's. He quickly sat up and flipped the beast puppet back into a prince puppet.

"Don't cry Beauty, I am alive!" He cheered. "Oh Beauty never did I dream that I would hear you say those words. Only those three words could ever free me from the witch's curse. My dear Beauty I love you."

They made the prince puppet and the maiden puppet kiss.

"Mwah mwah mwah mwah mwah mwah mwah!" They said.

"Yuck." Gray said. "Did we really have to do the kissing part?"

"Yes, all the best love stories have a kiss in them." Juvia said. "Oh I simply adore this story. It's one of my two favorites."

"What's your other favorite?"

"The one where a prince found me in the snow." She sighed dreamily making Gray blush.

"Well I..." He chuckled nervously. "I'd like to be a prince. Actually I'd like to be a lord and wake up in a real palace."

"You're nothing like a lord." She laughed. "Dear Prince Gray I love you."

"Juvia! I told you not to do that!"

"Oh stop being so difficult, and dance with me."

She took his hands into her own.

"Oh no." He protested. "I don't dance."

"Not even just this once? Not even just for me?"

So of course, Gray caved in. The boy and girl held hands and spun each other around and around on stage, laughing and smiling. Suddenly there came a burst of applause and cheers, causing the children to come to a complete stop. That was the exact moment Jellal finally came back with the candles. The man was in a terrible panic, the line at the shop was dreadfully long and the streets were crowded, he was sure that by now it was too late to put on a show. But imagine his surprise to find an audience clapping for his sister and her friend on stage.

"That was spectacular!" One man said. "Who would have thought that two children could be so talented?"

"That little girl is just precious. The prettiest one I've ever seen." A woman said.

"And the boy is really good at getting to character." Her husband added. "He keeps his face covered to really sell the beast's self-loathing."

"But I think it was their dynamic that was the most impressive." Another woman said.

Then much to Jellal's amazement, coins started to fly. Every audience member was tossing coins onto the stage. Mostly farthings but there was a good number of shillings in there too. Jellal quickly went on stage to collect all the money.

"Thank you, thank you! You're a magnificent crowd! Yes!" He said.

"What's happening Jellal?" Juvia asked him.

"You two are stars."

After the fair had ended and everyone had gone home, Jellal asked Gray and Juvia if they would be interested in participating in his shows from now on. Juvia happily accepted, but Gray was not sure yet. As much as he enjoyed putting on that little number with her, he had always tried his best to avoid gaining a lot of attention. Because should that scarf he wore ever fall in front of all those people, they would turn on him and treated him like some worthless animal. But on the other hand, they had made more money today than they ever had. at least since he had met Jellal. If they continued to make that amount, then maybe they could have a better life. Maybe even one like the rich noblemen and lords.

"No one would ever laugh or scream at me again if I was that rich." He thought, laying awake in bed that night. "Everyone would finally treat me like I was a person."

Just as he was finally stating to doze off, he heard the floor creak. Gray sat up quickly in bed and that's when he saw that Juvia had entered his room. She was standing by the window, wearing her white nightgown, bathed in the moonlight. In that moment, Gray couldn't even think. He was stricken still and speechless because in his eyes, she was a vision. He had never seen anything so beautiful in his entire life. She was like an angel with gossamer wings.

"Are you awake Gray?" She asked, snapping him out of his trance.

"What are you doing up?" He asked when his senses returned.

"Can I sleep with you tonight?" She asked him.

"Why?"

"Because I had a bad dream."

"So sleep with Jellal."

"It was about you."

Gray then got out of bed and guided Juvia over to lay down next to him on his mattress. She was so close, holding on to him for dear life.

"I didn't think blind people could dream." He said.

"I can remember when I used to see Gray. That's how I can dream."

"What did you dream about?"

"I dreamed that you were gone. I had my sight back and I was so excited to finally see your face, but I couldn't find you and then Jellal told me that you had left and that you were never coming back. It was terrible."

"It was only a dream."

"But that might happen one day. Not my sight coming back but you going away for good. I couldn't bear that. I am only happy when you're near me."

Her hands moved to touch his face but he stopped her, keeping her fingers interlaced with his. This girl never ceased to amaze him. The way she just devoted herself to him the very instant she learned of the good dead he did for her, she would forever view him as her friend, her guide, her support, and she prayed that someday, her husband.

"If that's how you feel." Gray said. "Then let's swear to never to be apart."

"Do you mean it?"

"I do."

She smiled and nuzzled against him, he held her, and for a moment neither one of them could have asked for more. Gray and Juvia were united, and these two suffering hearts adored each other. Never wanting there to ever be any distance between them ever so long as they lived.