Chapter 1

Disclaimer ~ I do not own Fairy Tail

Natsu's return to consciousness was slow going. Her head felt like it was stuffed full of cotton and her entire body felt stiff. At first, she thought she was waking up after a huge fight but it didn't feel quite the same. For one, there wasn't any lingering pains from still healing wounds. Or the headache that comes with Erza inflicted knockouts. Lord knows she was intimately familiar with that feeling. Her head did feel a little fuzzy though, and her body felt hot, which was weird for the fire user. Ever since she started training her magic, Natsu didn't feel the heat like other people.

Not to mention, Natsu had been holding off taking missions outside of Magnolia in order to stay close to the guild. For the last two weeks, the most challenging mission she had done was babysitting for a few days. The S-Class trials were approaching and the pinkette didn't want to risk being unable to participate because she was away on a mission and wouldn't be back in time.

Natsu managed to force her eyes open, only to slam them shit again as the light assaulted her sensitive eyes. She groaned lowly and tried to turn her head away from where the light was. As she did this, she felt a cloth slide off her forehead. Why was that there?

"Finally awake Flame Brain?" Gray's voice sounded from nearby. Natsu turned her head in the direction of the sound but didn't open her eyes.

"Gray?" she croaked our. Her voice was hoarse and talking seemed to aggravate her sore throat, which she didn't even know she had until just now. She heard Gray moving around the room for a minute before returning to her side.

"I closed all the curtains and turned off the lights. You can open your eyes now," Gray said softly. Natsu cautiously opened her eyes and was relieved that the minimal lighting in the room didn't hurt. Gray was over to her left and his steady hands helped her to sit up properly. Once propped up by pillows and leaning against the headboard, Natsu looked around the room properly. Why was she in the guild infirmary? She couldn't remember doing anything that would land her here.

"Here. Drink," Gray ordered as he handed her a glass of water. Natsu's hands shook but she managed to avoid spilling anything. The water felt like the most wonderful thing in the world to her throat. Naturally it was gone way too soon.

"Thanks," Natsu said, letting Gray take the now empty glass from her.

"Feeling any better?" Gray asked. He took a seat in the chair next to Natsu's bed.

"A little," Natsu answered honestly. Her head had cleared up some and her throat didn't feel nearly as scratchy anymore. "What happened?"

"You collapsed with a high fever two days ago. Gajeel said it was some sort of coming of age thing for dragon slayers. It'll be a few more days before it's fully run it's course," Gray explained. Natsu frowned.

"What about the exams?" she asked. Gray shook his head.

"They already left."

"But...you're still here?" Natsu said in confusion. Gray chuckled at her tone (or was it expression?) before explaining.

"It didn't feel right to take the exams if I couldn't kick your ass in them Flame Brain. It's not your fault you got sick with some weird dragon slayer biology thing," Gray said smirking.

"Ice Princess," was Natsu's instinctive response, though she did smile slightly at Gray's words. She probably would have done the same thing had their situations been reversed. Gray and Natsu had always been rivals. Competing against each other in various competitions and fights since they were kids. If it was Gray that had gotten sick, Natsu wouldn't have felt right taking the exams without him either.

Gray chuckled again before placing his hand on her forehead. The cold feeling of his skin had Natsu sighing happily and leaning into the touch.

"You still have a bit of a fever," Gray said. He went to remove his hand but a sigh from Natsu had him replacing it with a sigh. If the sigh was more fond than annoyed, well, it wasn't like there was anyone around to witness it.

Natsu yawned widely and felt her eyes beginning to close against her will.

"Go back to sleep Flame Brain. You'll want to be back at full steam when everyone comes back," Gray said. He saw Natsu give a small nod before sleep finally claimed her. Gray smiled. Unlike normal, Natsu was well behaved and docile when she got sick. It was kind of...cute. Not that Gray would ever admit that out loud.

Gray stood and repositioned Natsu so that she was laying down again. He grabbed the discarded rag from the bed and dipped it into the bowl of cold water. After wringing out the excess water, he placed the cloth back on Natsu's forehead. Gray took a moment to observe the sleeping girl. He shook his head fondly. Only Natsu could get sick just before an important event like the S-Class exams.

Gray gave Natsu one last glance before leaving in search of Kinana and some food for when Natsu next woke. If he knew his teammate (which he did, probably better than he knows himself) then Natsu would be starving the next time she woke up.

They could always compete in the exams next year after all.

And done! As you may have noticed, this is a rewrite of Seven Year Journey. I decided to rewrite the story for a few reasons. Partly to make it better, and partly because I've confused myself too much with the levels and evaluation thing from the other version. In this one, I hope to make it flow a bit better. Plus there's a few things I thought of that I decided I could add in, so that's a whole chapter or two before the training starts entirely. By that time, I should have things a bit more figured out for what I want to do. Don't worry though, my overall plot is going to stay the same. Just a few small/big differences that I thought would make the fic better.

Just like before, everything until this point is the same as canon. The first two chapters will be mostly the same, with a few additions to make it longer. Chapter 3 is where I made the first major difference from the old one, even though it didn't really effect the plot at all. From how I have the fic planned, with my original version it would have made things a lot more complicated, especially around the GMGs. At the very least, it's still early enough in the fic that you guys don't have to worry much about the changes to the future chapters, cause you still haven't read them.

Anyway, I already have the rewrites done for chapters 2 and 3 as well. All I have left to do is type them up and post them. I'll try to have that done today but I'm also watching the FT anime as I work so theres no guarantee that I won't get distracted and just watch that all day~

I hope everyone likes this new version of Seven Year Journey! Please continue to Review, Follow, and Favorite this fic! I'll see you all soon with the next update!