Title: Mirrors

Summary: People tend to see others' imperfections when they mirror their own. When a new girl joins the guild, Gray can't put his finger on what it is about her that despises him, that is, until he realizes what he's looking at.

Notes: This is just my take on an alternative way that Gray and Erza first met. Strays a bit from canon.

Gray was an observer. He preferred to experience life on the sidelines, far enough to avoid the unnecessary trivialities of petty conversation but still close enough to take part in matters of what he viewed as being of the utmost importance.

If the tragedies of his childhood had taught him anything, it was that everything in life was fragile. It was all made of glass, able to be shattered by a mere fall and without any prior warning. It had taken two major losses before Gray had been able to see it and by the time he had arrived at Fairy Tail, his view on life had drastically changed.

Everything now was fragile and could disappear at any moment. Gray didn't need another reminder of that and nor did he want one, so he figured it would be best to avoid it altogether by keeping his distance. He'd stay away from the glass, far enough to avoid seeing anything too clearly but still close enough to know it was there.

That way, if anything did shatter he wouldn't know what he lost, thus sparing him from another traumatic heartbreak.

At first, Gray found it easy to ignore his new guildmates. They were strangers after all and being that he wasn't that good with words anyway, not having to talk to them came as more of a relief than anything. Some of them tried to engage in conversation with him but most quit their efforts after realizing they were just talking to themselves.

Of course, there were a few who continued in their pursuit to befriend him, notably that girl Cana. She was the only other child in the Fairy Tail guild when Gray arrived so he guessed he could see why she kept trying with him. He had to give her some credit though as she was persistent and as much as her overly charismatic nature clashed with his own offensive personality, she did somehow manage to get a bit closer to him than anyone else.

That didn't mean they were good friends though; he still distanced himself enough so that his view maintained some of its obscurity.

Aside from that, however, Gray found he actually preferred the solitude that came along with his partial isolation. Instead of actively taking part in things, he could just observe from the sidelines which gave him a whole different perspective. He learned a lot more just by listening to others' discussions rather than by engaging in them himself. He found this passive method to be a much more effective way of exploring his surroundings.

So when this new girl joined the guild, it was only a matter of time before he caught on to her daily attire of defensive armor. He soon learned that she practiced Requip and Sword Magic and for a moment, he let himself believe in the superficial logic behind it.

The new girl, Erza Scarlet, was an interesting character from what Gray had observed. She sat alone, trained alone, took jobs alone. He'd never seen her talk to anyone though it wasn't like she gave anyone a real chance. She spent practically every waking minute of her day either fulfilling a job or training. He tried to spar with her a few times, but she would quickly beat him and bring the fight to a close.

After a while, Gray realized her armor wasn't just a physical barrier but a figurative one too.

And for some reason, that angered him.

"Alright, Erza! Bring it on!" He was going to beat her this time, or at least drag it out a bit longer. "You're the one who's going down this time!"

He made a beeline towards the red haired mage sitting by the river. As always, a suit of armor adorned her body, its steel plates glistening under the Magnolia sun.

For a moment, he thought the look suited her.

But just for a moment.

"It's you again." Erza said, turning to face him. Gray froze as he caught sight of the tears streaming down her face. "What is it with you? Haven't you learned your lesson? Alright, give me your best shot."

As much as he hated her right now, Gray wasn't completely devoid of empathy. "Oh, well..."

"What's the matter? You're not chickening out, are you?"

The distant personality, the armor, and now the tears. He wanted to know why. "Tell me something; how come you're alone all the time?"

Her response came out in a whisper. "I just prefer to be alone because I get nervous around other people."

"Oh, yeah?" He was still missing something. "Well, you're alone now so why are you crying?"

Without waiting for a response, Gray walked over and sat down. This girl just didn't make sense and he couldn't shake off this feeling of anger he had for her behavior. He had asked her about the armor before, but she always managed to dodge his questions. She seemed to be giving him some clear answers now, so maybe he could test the waters a bit.

"And what's with the armor all the time? What are you trying to protect yourself from?"

To his surprise, however, she sat down next to him. "I could ask you the same thing."

"Huh?" He looked down only to see his nonexistent shirt. "What are you talking about? I'm not wearing any armor."

She laughed, a real, genuine laugh. It freaked him out a bit, but he liked it. He wondered how long it had been since she had done that.

"I didn't mean literally." She said, a smile still on her face. "I've noticed that you too have made a wall between yourself and everyone else. You're protecting yourself from something too, aren't you?"

As he looked at the requip mage, he realized what it was about her that angered him so much. He was looking through a mirror, scrutinizing the same flaws he refused to acknowledge in himself.

"Yeah," he said in defeat. "I guess I am."

She adorned herself in armor, he froze his heart. They both feared pain and heartbreak and he didn't have to know her past to know that. They both figured distancing themselves was the best way to move forward, but he hadn't realized how flawed that theory was until he saw it in someone else.

"Guess we're not so different after all. Maybe this is something we should work on together."

She laughed again and he wondered when the last time he did that was too. "Yeah, we should."

And he laughed with her.

I don't know, this just came to mind. I'm also just obsessed with the relationship between these two whether it's platonic or romantic. They just have so much in common with their pasts and personalities. I really wish it would have been explored more in the anime/manga, it has so much potential!

But since there's nothing I can do about that, writing fanfiction will have to suffice :)

Thanks for reading this silly thing and leave a review if you please! Have a lovely day!

-britishsconesahoy