The stars that night were blazing overhead, so bright and clear you could see the Milky Way. Natsu and Lucy were walking underneath that magnificent sky, along the row of life boats, still giddy over the party and singing a little song.

"Come Josephine in my flying machine,

And it's up she goes! Up she goes!

In the air she goes. Where? There she goes!"

Then they broke down laughing, not stopping until they reached the first class entrance. Though Lucy wasn't ready to go in just yet. she wanted to take a moment to really at the starry night.

"Isn't it magnificent?" She admired. "So grand and endless."

"Yeah." Natsu agreed. "My brother would have loved this. Astrology was one of his favorite hobbies."

"My mother loved it too." She started to lean over the rail for a better view. "I remember how she used to take me outside on warm Summer nights when the sky was clear and we'd play a game where we'd see who could pick out the most constellations first. Mother would always let me win."

"Zeref tried to teach me about all the constellations and how a star was formed but I was more fascinated with the look. The patterns, the way they all lined up together. I wanted to see them the way Van Gogh did."

"My father always said Van Gogh was a mad man."

"Nah, he just had a lot of issues and no one to help him out. Poor guy, his art was really the only thing that could give him peace and happiness. Something I can relate to you all too well."

"You know I really do think that it's incredible how artists like you can see so many things from a different perspective. Like the way you look at the sky. It makes you realize how big everything else in the world is, doesn't it? I mean my people think they're giants on the earth but compared to the stars, they're just as small everybody else is in the world."

Natsu leaned at the rail next to her, his hand just touching hers. It was the slightest contact imaginable, and all either one of them could feel was that square inch of skin where their hands were touching.

"I've known I was small my entire life." Natsu said to her. "That can happen when most people in your life think you're no better than a gutter rat. But I don't mind, at least gutter rats are honest."

"You're not a gutter rat." She defended.

"Well I know of hundreds who would beg to disagree. Your fiance being one of them."

Lucy sighed.

"I apologize for Dan's behavior. Unfortunately he lives in his own little world where his opinion and views are the only ones that matter, and that being rich means he can say and do as he pleases."

"What's this guy's deal anyway? You think with all that money he could afford some manners and decency."

"Dan is a man who always gets what he wants. Ever since he was a child, his family denied him nothing, never opposed him, and never taught him about limitations and respect."

"So basically he's never heard the word no?"

"Pretty much."

"Sounds like a ticking time bomb to me. What happens when someone finally does say no? Cause it's bound to happen sooner or later. Will he explode?"

"Maybe."

She looked back up at the stars, wanting to forget her wretched intended for just a little bit longer. Suddenly a stream of light shot across the the dark sky.

"Look! A shooting star!" Lucy pointed out.

"Whoa! That was long one!" Natsu said observantly. "You know Zeref used to say that whenever you saw one, it was a soul going to heaven."

"Really? I like that." She smiled. "Aren't we supposed to wish on it?"

"That's what I've heard but I don't really make wishes anymore. Every wish I ever made never came true."

"Well I always wish. Wishes are pretty much the only thing I can call my own. The only thing I can have a say in. Even if they never come true, at least it's something of my choosing. No one can decide what I wish for except for me."

Lucy closed her eyes and made a wish. She wished with all her heart and soul. She wished for all the things she yearned for but would always be denied.

She looked back and now they very close together. Natsu looked at her longingly, it would be so easy move another couple of inches, to kiss her. Lucy seemed to be thinking the same thing. Unfortunately the moment was ruined when Lucy spotted Bloodman spying on them from a nearby corner, prompting her to pull away.

"Is something wrong?" Natsu asked noticing the change in her mood.

"Everything's fine. I'm just tired." She answered. "It's late and I really should be getting to bed."

"Alright. One thing though."

"Yes?"

"What did you wish for?"

"Can't tell you that."

"Why not?"

"Cause if you tell someone your wish it won't come true. But here's a hint, it's something I can't have."

She smiled at him sadly, he gave her the same kind of smile.

"Goodnight Natsu, and thank you."

She left the rail and hurried through the first class entrance. Natsu watched her until she was gone and the whole time he couldn't help but think that she was very much like a star. Bright and shining, lighting up the darkest night. But sometimes stars can fade and he began to worry that she would fade very soon.

Gray was walking Juvia back to her cabin, her heart soaring after tonight's events. She couldn't believe all that she just did. She had gotten a first class makeover, went to a first class dinner, sang in front of a whole crowd of people, and through it all had been in the company of a young gentleman. Never ever in her wildest dreams did she ever picture such incredible things happening to her.

"I forgot how much I love to sing for other people. I don't do it very often."

"Oh? How come?" Gray asked.

"Well I'm a busy woman, I don't have a lot of time. I have a very strict schedule, my days are all planned out. I get up in the morning at dawn, I prepare breakfast, after that there's cleaning the house, washing the windows, sweeping and scrubbing the floors, fixing lunch, the mending, the sewing, the laundry, cooking dinner, washing the dishes, the ironing, waxing, cleaning the chimney, and then it's off to bed."

"Wow. Well no one can say you've never worked a day in your life. What do you do for fun?"

"I don't have time for fun. I have to take care of the house and my brother, and see to the demands of my stepmother."

"I see and what does she do?"

"Oh she gives me, a lowly, dirty, little nobody, a home when no one else will." She said with a slight sarcastic attitude. "She could have easily sent me and my brother to the workhouse after our father died but instead she chose to look after us as if we were her very own, and the least we could do to repay her for her compassion is to wait on her hand and foot."

"Oh yes that's very reasonable." He replied in the same slightly sarcastic tone.

"But she is right about one thing. No one else in the world will want anything to do with me. I'm poor and uneducated. I can't find work for myself, I'm too stupid."

"You're not stupid."

"Oh yes I am." She sighed. "I never went to school you see. How could I possibly find work without schooling?"

"That doesn't mean you're stupid or that you don't have something useful. I mean, come on you were amazing back there. The way you could sing, it was unlike anything I've ever heard."

"Thank you but singing won't keep a roof over my head and food on the table."

"Maybe it could. Your brother is trying to become a musician for a living, why don't you try to become a singer?"

"Cause I'm not good enough."

"How do you know? Have you ever tried?"

"What's the point? I'll only fail."

"You won't know that for sure until you try."

"And what makes you think anyone will give me a chance? I mean look at me. I'm an immigrant without a penny to her name or an important family. I'm at the bottom of the heap. And..." She look downward at her feet. "Take away this dress and make up, I'm not very pretty."

"That's not true." Gray said. "When I first saw you in your cabin the other night I thought you were the most beautiful woman in the whole world."

She looked up suddenly, her cheeks bright pink. His cheeks turned pink too and for a moment there was nothing but silence between them. The two of them, unsure of what to say to the other. Then he smiled at her and reached out.

"Do you want to dance with me?"

"What?"

"Do you want to dance with me?"

"Now?"

"Mm-hmm." He nodded.

"Here?"

"Mm-hmm." He nodded.

There was a moment of hesitation, but she put her hand in his.

"Sure. But we don't have any music."

"We'll make some."

He placed his free hand gently on her hip and stared down at her, eyes full of wonder. They moved together in sync.

"Bum-bum." Gray sang, recalling an old song he used to hear on the radio growing up. "Bum-bum. Bu-dum."

"You're a terrible singer." Juvia giggled. "But it is a lovely song."

Gray's hands were shaking and he was sure that his palms were moist. But Juvia didn't seem to notice. She just looked at him those gentle, tender blue eyes of hers. She seemed to be looking at him with a curious fascination which made him feel both nervous and thrilled simultaneously.

He felt her lean into increasingly advanced twists and turns, all the while keeping in perfect time. He spun her around and dipped her. They stopped and as he was looking into her eyes and holding her warm hand, something hit him like an arrow to the heart.

They danced all the way to her cabin, laughing and humming until it was time to bid each other farewell.

"I really did have a wonderful time." She told him. "Thank you for this night, I'll never forget it for as long as I live."

Her hands reached for the back of her neck and un-clasped the chain of the necklace. With the blue diamond in hand, she attempted to return it to Gray but he just gently closed her fingers around it.

"No, keep it." He said.

"Oh I couldn't." She shook her head.

"Yes you can. What good is a necklace to a gentleman?" He said. "Besides it matches your eyes."

Juvia smiled at him touched and then clutched the heart of the ocean close to her own heart.

"Thank you."

"Goodnight Juvia."

"Goodnight Gray."

He kissed her hand again and she went inside her cabin, slowly closing the door. Alone at last, she let out a smitten sigh.

"So this is love." She thought