Natsu's POV:

Gray was acting weird during our fight yesterday... I thought as I scarfed down my breakfast. Maybe he's not feeling well... can ice wizards get colds?

"Natsu?" Happy asked, "Is something wrong? You look really distracted."

"Not really," I sighed quietly, "It's just, I'm a bit worried about Gray -- it's not normal for him to turn down a fight. Especially not a fight from me. There has to be something wrong."

"Why don't you check up on him? We could go to the guild and ask Mira is she's seen him."

"Alright," I agreed.

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~One Walk To The Guild Later~

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"Hey, Natsu, what can I get you?" Mira smiled when she saw me.

"I was wondering if you had seen Gray today? I had something to ask him," I explained.

"Hmm.." Mirajane thought for a moment, "I don't think he came in today. You could always check his house."

"Oh, yeah, I could do that."

"So we get to go to Gray's house?" Happy asked excitedly.

"Yup," I smiled in return.

We turned to leave the guild before Carla stepped into Happy's path. "Where are you guys going?" She asked in her annoying, bossy voice.

"We're going to Gray's house," Happy smiled as he answered the she-cat's question, "Do you and Wendy wanna come?"

"No," she crossed her arms, "I'm going to the park today while Wendy has her play date with Romeo. *sighs*. And I can't believe I'm saying this, b-but... could you come with me? I don't wanna be lonely." The white exeed said timidly as a slight blush rose to her cheeks.

Happy's beady eyes widened and he turned to me, "See ya, Natsu," he said as he flew away with the still blushing Carla, "Good luck with Gray." And they left... great. Glad Happy is always by my side.

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~~~~ONE WALK TO GRAY'S HOUSE LATER~~~~

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Gray's POV:

I sighed and threw on some clothes; a t-shirt and jeans were good enough. I glanced out the window and saw that there was freshly fallen snow on the ground. Winter; my favourite time of the year. But not today. Today was a dark day.

I slipped on my shoes and stepped outside. I took a cold breath, filling my lungs with the icy air. It felt so good that for a moment, I closed my eyes and indulged in the sensation.

There's nothing I needed to do today, so I figured I'd just walk around. There's no point in just sitting around doing nothing, after all...

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Natsu's POV:

There he is! I thought as I spotted Gray walking out of his house, Weird... he's wearing clothes. Right as I was about to walk up to him, I noticed Gray sigh. He looked up to the sky, then continued walking away from his house. At that moment, I made a split second decision to follow him. I ducked behind a convienently placed bush and began my pursuit to figure out where Gray was going.

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A few hours of walking later

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Seriously?! He's been walking around all day! My legs felt numb, and I was starting to get cold. I was getting cold!! And the worst part was, I still had no idea what was wrong with Gray...

Eventually, Gray finally came to a stop. He sat down on a bench and leaned back a bit. I shuffled forwards a bit, trying to keep quiet.

I watched him for a while, his expression unchanging. His eyes were stone-cold. Seriously... what's wrong with him? Just as I thought that, I noticed the slightest bit of water build up at the bottom of Gray's eyes. In moments, they welled up so much that the fluid started to roll down his cheeks.

"Gray?!" I accidentally exclaimed loudly, and the ice mage rose to his feet in surprise.

"What are you doing here, fire breather?!" He gritted his teeth and yelled.

"I was just checking on you," I said in a careful tone-- I don't want to upset him, "What's the matter with you? Why are you acting like this today?"

Gray hesitated. He sat back down on the bench and shoved his hands into his pockets.

"Don't worry about it," he sighed, "It's my problem-- not yours, I can't deal with it myself." Gray bit his lip and looked away from me. We stood in silence for a while before he spoke up again.

"Today was the day Ul died..."