She had tossed and turned all night in, unable to fall asleep, and contemplating whether or not she should sneak out during the night or first thing in the morning. However, her decision was decided for her after she fell asleep due to an extremely exhausting day. She slept in Gray's bed, like he had originally planned, and somehow he also went to sleep on the couch.

She awoke to a piercingly shrill voice demanding to be let in. "Natsu, Gray! Wake up! Open the door!" She yelled, rapping forcefully on the door, no doubt waking their neighbors up as well. However, the two beasts that slept there were still sound asleep.

As the voice continued to nag for a good five minutes, Juvia decided to get up. Her hair was a mess, sprawling out in every direction, one of her socks was kicked off, and there were several wrinkles in her dress. She grasped for her knife, hiding it up her sleeve, in case it was anyone suspicious. She crept down the hallway passing by Natsu's room, noting the loud snores coming from behind the closed door. She was surprised he hadn't woken up yet. As she walked into the living room she was even more surprised that Gray hadn't woken up either, considering how much closer to the front door than she was.

At the door, the voice continued to beat against the wood, "I know you guys are in there! Let me i-," she was cut off by Juvia abruptly opening the door, an early morning scowl apparent on her face.

Juvia glared at the woman before her, already disliking her. Her bright blonde hair and overly perky face glowed in contrast to the rundown walls behind her.

The woman stared for a moment, he eyes widening and her mouth dropping before she smiled. "Sorry, sorry! I didn't realize they had company!" She rubbed the back of her head awkwardly. Juvia didn't reply as she stared down the blonde, face unmoving. The girl took this moment to look at the other in front of her, "Wow! Did Gray finally get a girlfriend or something?"

Juvia's cheeks flushed red. "Eh?!"

"Yeah I didn't think so; you're way too hot for him," she giggled behind her hand, and Juvia continued to stare at her in awe. "By the way, I'm Lucy, a friend of Natsu and Gray's."

She stuck out her hand for a handshake, and Juvia felt obligated to take it. She slid her knife up her sleeve and shook Lucy's hand. "Juvia," she replied coldly.

"Do you mind if I come in?" she bubbled, withdrawing her hand. Juvia wondered to herself why Lucy was asking Juvia, since she obviously didn't live here, but she didn't voice her curiosity. She stepped aside, clearing the way for the blonde to walk in. She loudly closed the door behind her upon seeing the slumbering man lazily sprawled out on the couch.

"Gray! Wake up you lazy idiot! Did you not hear me at the door?!" she scolded as she stomped towards him. He yawned and turned over into the cushions of the couch in response. "Don't you dare ignore me! You're the one who told me to wake you guys up this early!" He grumbled something incoherent, angering her further. She kicked the couch repeatedly until he slowly rose up. His hair was equally as messy as Juvia's, and for some reason almost all of his clothes were missing.

"Alright, alright I'm up," he groggily mumbled.

"Good," Lucy turned to stomp down to Natsu's room; Juvia could hear her ranting and lecturing the half-asleep man about how lazy and irresponsible he was.

As Juvia stood in the kitchen, she realized her chance to sneak out before anyone woke up was over.

Gray turned his head, "Oh, Juvia," he commented, suddenly noticing her.

"Juvia was just leaving," she muttered, shifting her gaze to break their eye contact.

"This early?" he blurted. He had been thinking all night of all the things he wanted to ask and talk to her about.

Juvia nodded in response, making her way into the room down the hallway to get her shoes. Gray stayed put on the couch and contemplated on what to say. As she passed by Natsu's door, she heard Lucy continuously nagging him.

After she slipped on her shoes, she strode back to the living room, and Gray continued to stare at her.

"Are you going back to Fairy Tail?" he shot, standing up from the couch.

Juvia noticed that he was only wearing his boxers, but ignored the lack of clothing. "Yes," she lied, knowing that she couldn't return after completely failing a mission.

Before Gray could ask any more questions, she was already half way out the door.

"Goodbye," she chimed as she closed the door behind her. For a moment, Gray continued to stare at the door, surprised that she left so early. It's probably for the best, he sighed inwardly.

Lucy and Natsu walked around the corner, Lucy looking very irritated and Natsu spilling drool out the side of his mouth.

"Ah, where did Juvia go?" Lucy queried.

"She left."

Lucy thought about questioning him further, but as she noted that he looked rather upset, she decided not to pry.

"…So why did you guys want me to wake you up this early?" Lucy asked, changing the subject.

"We have a job," Gray replied, slipping on some pants and a coat, "and there's no alarm clock louder than you."

As Juvia roamed aimlessly around Magnolia, she pondered on what she should do. Juvia can't return to Fairy Tail, and if she does, they will just send another person to kill Gray.

She cursed herself for actually caring about him living or not. She knew that he was destined to die somewhere in the back of her mind; but she knew she couldn't be the one to do it.

Maybe if Juvia explains the situation… she sighed. She would need a while before she could think of a decent plan. Maybe Juvia could pretend like she killed Gray!

She shook her head at herself, knowing that the entire situation was hopeless.

Juvia attempted to distract herself with the town and all the people running around joyfully. Juvia wishes her life was this carefree, she thought, noting the children playing in the streets.

She turned her head to watch them run down the street, and she noticed two familiar figures advancing her way. Juvia quickly jumped behind a corner, and peeped her head to confirm the two men. Juvia should have known they would be around town, she scolded.

"Jeez I am not looking forward to dealing with this guy," Natsu complained.

"Stop whining," Gray threatened back, shoving his hands in his pockets as the two trudged down the road.

"Someone's in a bad mood!" the pink-haired man teased, "Are you mad because that girl left?"

"Shut up!" Gray hadn't told Natsu about the events of last night, and didn't plan to. However, he didn't enjoy letting Natsu think that she had ditched him for other reasons.

Nearby, ears perked up at the mention of herself. Juvia wondered why Gray hadn't told Natsu about her, but she forgot the thought as the voices inched closer. She hid herself in the shadow of the building as she watched the two pass by.

"Anyway," Natsu started, "do you really think this will work? I hear this guy is pretty smart; and strong too…"

"Who knows," Gray scoffed, obviously still bitter about their previous conversation.

As the two sauntered by the area where Juvia was hiding, she slyly followed behind them, curious as to what they were talking about. She kept her distance to make sure they didn't notice her.

"Wah! He's going to kill us," Natsu whined. Gray ignored the comment, and closed his eyes in irritation.

Juvia listened in carefully, trying to figure out who they were concerned about. However, their conversation stopped as all three of them heard a shriek in the distance.

"Stop it!" the voice cried. Juvia looked as to where the voice was coming from, and found it coming from a small girl. She was surrounded by three large men, who were trying to grab the bags of food she was carrying. "Stop! I paid for those!" Tears started to form at the corners of her eyes.

"Come on little girl, if you hand over the food maybe we won't take you with us," one of the men smirked. Juvia twisted her face into a look of disgust; she utterly despised men who picked on young girls. She was about to go defend her when Gray went running up to the men.

"Step away," he growled, "and maybe I won't kill you."

"Eh?" another one of the men called, "just what are you going to do?" The three of them joined together to laugh.

Before they could say anything else, one of the men was flipped onto the ground. Juvia covered her mouth partly in shock, and partly to keep herself from saying anything.

Gray turned to another one of the men and kicked him square in the face, causing his nose to bleed. The last of the three men took off running in the opposite direction.

Gray scoffed as he watched the coward scurry down the street, but instead of following him he knelt down to the near crying girl.

"Are you ok?" he asked in a surprisingly soft voice.

The girl sniffled, "Yes, thank you."

"What's your name?" Gray asked as he helped her pick up the contents of her bags that had been dropped to the ground somewhere amidst the chaos.

"Wendy," she smiled, "and yours?"

"Gray," he grinned back as he stood up, "well, see you around!" He turned around to jog back to Natsu who was impatiently waiting.

"You're too nice for your own good," Natsu taunted.

"Shut up," Gray rolled his eyes, as they began to travel again.

All the while Juvia was completely blown away with how kind he had been. However, she pushed it to the back of her mind as she continued to follow the two men to their destination.

"Here we are," Gray confirmed as the two stepped up the abandoned warehouse. Juvia wasn't far behind, and she still went unnoticed by the oblivious men.

Natsu nervously crossed his arms as Gray knocked on the door.

After a moment, an extremely tall orange-haired man answered the door.

"Gildarts!" Gray faked a smile, "So nice to see you again."

The man scoffed and jerked his head, signaling the two to come in. They disappeared behind the door, leaving Juvia alone in her thoughts.

Did he say Gildarts? Gildarts Clive? She shook her head, that couldn't have possibly been that Gildarts. She didn't get a good look at the one they called Gildarts, but she figured there was no way that the most infamous drug dealer in Fiore could be in here, in Magnolia, of all places…

AN: I'm so sorry this took so long! I've been really busy lately ;-;

Also, thank you for all the sweet reviews! You're too nice :)

I hope you enjoy the chapter!