Lucy sniffed as she walked along the canal, blinking rapidly. She couldn't let herself cry. Crying was for the weak. She had cried so many times before; she was so weak. Maybe that's why Natsu-

"No," she said to herself. "Don't think about him."

Even as she told herself this, more tears gathered in her eyes. She could barely see; all she could make out were blurs.

"You've got to stop, Lucy," she muttered to herself. "No good will come...will come from..." She could no longer keep her tears in, they streamed down her face. She began to run blindly, hoping she didn't fall into the canal. Suddenly, she ran into something solid and fell backwards. She began to yell, but cut herself off as she felt a strong arm grab her by the waist to keep her from falling.

"Lucy?"

She looked up through her bangs at the person standing before her. It was Gray.

She righted herself, still keeping her head down, and Gray retracted his arm.

"Geez, Lucy, you almost sent us both into the water. Shouldn't you watch where you're going?" Gray said as he scratched his head.

Lucy stared at his shoes. "I..I'm sorry...I'll see you later then." With that, Lucy ran around him and attempted to continue on. She would have succeeded, but Gray caught her arm with one of his large, calloused hands.

"Lucy," he said again, his voice softer this time. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Lucy responded sounding forced.

"Are-are you sure?"

"Please, Gray," Lucy whimpered. "Please, let me go."

"Not until you tell me what's wrong."

Lucy turned towards him and finally looked at him directly, her face still covered with rivulets of tears.

"What the-" Gray balked and finally released her arm. Not a moment after, Lucy was running again. She could hear the sound of him running after her. She still couldn't see anything. Now she was feeling light-headed. She slowed down a bit involuntarily and swayed a little. Now there were black spots swimming around in front of her. She tried to walk forward but failed and began to fall to the side. Shouldn't I have hit the ground by now? With that last groggy thought, she succumbed to the darkness.

Mmm, cinnamon...

Lucy slowly regained awareness. She could tell she was laying on something comfortable, and there was something fuzzy on top of her. She tried to open her eyes, only to discover that they felt terribly heavy. She forced her hand up, which felt just as heavy as her eyes did, and rubbed her eyes. Then she slowly opened them.

She sat up and looked around, taking in her surroundings. She was in a bedroom. The walls were painted a deep shade of blue that matched the fluffy blanket on top of her. The bed, dresser, and other furnishings were black. There were various articles of male clothing littering the floor and the surface of the dresser, and the black door was cracked open. She could hear the rattle of pans and the open and shut of an oven door from somewhere beyond there.

She looked down at herself. She was still in her clothes from before, though they looked a bit wrinkled. She slowly got out of the bed, as every one of her muscles ached.

Where on Earth am I?

She approached the door and crept outside. Now she was in a hallway. She followed the scent of cinnamon and found herself in the doorway of a kitchen. Inside the kitchen, facing away from her, was a shirtless Gray. He was bent over something on the counter that she couldn't see.

She coughed quietly to alert him of her presence. He whirled around.

"Lucy!" he said worriedly, walking over to where she stood. "What the hell happened to you?"

"What the hell happened to your shirt?" she retorted.

Gray looked down at himself. "What? When did that happen?!" His eyes darted around the kitchen, finally landing on a crumpled shirt on the floor. "Whoops." He trotted over and put it back on. "Anyway," he said, looking at Lucy once again. "What's going on?"

What was going on? She mentally went through everything that had happened that day. Then 'it' came back to her. She moaned and fresh tears sprang to her eyes. Her knees began to shake. "I...I'm fine."

He looked at her dubiously. "Seriously? You expect me to believe that after what happened?" She fell to the floor and began to cry. He regarded her for a minute and then picked her up princess-style. Her arms latched around his neck, and she sobbed into his chest, which was somehow shirtless again. He carried he into his sitting room. When he began to put her down on the couch, her arms tightened around him, so he sat down on the couch with her in his lap. The pair sat like that for a while, Lucy sobbing while Gray simply held her. Eventually, Lucy's tears slowed down and she began to speak.

"It..it's just...Natsu's an idiot, y-you know?"

"Amen to that," Gray said quietly.

"I found h-him at the guild yesterday, and invited him to take a walk with me. I was trying to c-confess my f-feelings b-but Lisanna came out and y-yelled that she n-needed him. His face lit u-up and he told me that h-he had to g-go cause Lisanna n-needed him. I s-said that it was f-fine and he said that I was such a g-great friend to understand and that h-he was going...he going to...ask h-her out." At this last statement, Lucy's tears started afresh. Gray didn't know what to do, so her just kept sitting there, holding her. Gray didn't know how long they sat like that. He looked down, realizing that he no longer heard her crying. She had her eyes shut, and her breathing was slow and deep. She fell asleep! She cried herself to sleep. That bastard Natsu, he's such a moron, putting Lucy through this! As if she hasn't gone through enough already...

He stared at her for a few minutes more. She's really pretty, now that I think about it...moron, Natsu...

Gray slowly drifted off to sleep, arms still around the sleeping blonde.