"You okay?" Levy gasped when she heard his voice in her eyes ear.

"G-Gajeel!" She practically jumped, banging her chin on the table from it suddenly losing the support of her book.

"Jeez, be careful, shrimp!" Gajeel saw her skin flush pink, making his throat parch, but he decided to ignore it.

"Sorry..." she rubs her chin from the pain, "I was lost in thought."

"About what?" He asked and she laid her head against the table.

"Well..." she remembered back to what Kuro said earlier.

"The Red Queen is looking into the prophecy." Kuro chuckles, "The infamous Citizen V."

Gildarts choked on his drink and Zeref's eyes narrowed, "Are you certain?"

"Absolutely. The former mistress went on and on about it." Kuro nods, sniffing Levy's blue locks.

"I'm confused..." Levy pushed Kuro off of her, "What is Citizen V?"

"Not what, but who." Gildarts corrects her.

"Citizen V, a half-human, half-vampire child, born between the light and the darkness from both worlds. While it is half-human and half-vampire, it is stronger than either combined. I can see why he would be afraid of Citizen V." Zeref explains, sitting back into his chair.

"With that kind of power, this white knight could overthrow the Red Queen and even dispel the darkness reeking from-" Kuro is cut off from feeling a dark aura seep into the room.

"I wouldn't finish that sentence if I were you." Zeref's dark eyes pierced him like knives.

"Whatever the White Queen wishes." Kuro sticks out his tongue playfully.

"A species of vampire and human... But isn't that impossible? I read through all the book here on vampire anatomy and cross breeds and even when a vampire and human mate, there are never any mixes. Usually, the child is born a vampire and on rare occasions, it is born a human, but never a mix." Levy argues.

"The mating of vampires and humans nowadays is illegal because of the threat of Citizen V. As the story goes, the child can either bring prosperity to the exorcists or towards the vampires. Exorcists in the past were afraid of this mix of the bloods and made a law. However, even behind closed doors, there had been one successful mix of both before... But that's a story to be told later." Gildarts brushes it off with a chuckle, grabbing his flask and drinking his liquor down.

"What?!" Levy shouts, jumping to grab her notepad, "You have to tell me everything!"

"It is not my story to tell. When the time comes, you'll know everything." Gildarts gives a cheeky smile before downing the contents of his flask once more.

"Zeref-san..." Levy tried to turn to him for answers.

"Levy, Gildarts is correct. You and the others will known in time about that child and about Citizen V. For now, that's not your problem." Zeref told her before a flash of pain was seen in his eyes and he began racing for the door soon afterwards.

"It truly was peculiar..." Levy tried to wrap her head around it.

"Ryos was telling me... You talked to Kuro?" Gajeel grabbed a chair and sat next to her.

"He told me a few things, a few unanswered and confusing things too..." she sighs, "I still can't understand what this Citizen V means..."

"Citizen V?" Gajeel asked, "Why does that..." he looks away, lost in thought, "Sound so familiar...?"

"Gajeel?" Levy saw such a serious look in his eyes.

"Nah, it's probably nothing." He brushes it off and walks out of the room.

She groans, lying her head against the table. This was all so confusing to her. She couldn't understand anything behind this child of prophecy, this alleged Citizen V. She researched this mysterious character as soon as she was able to infiltrate the guild's restricted library section. She did not find any new useful information to go on.

However, she did manage to find information on the other child that they had mentioned: the only successful mix yet.

The text itself only described the child of a secret love between a vampire of old and a young man, who was to inherit his clan name.

The strongest clan at the time.

"But that could be any of them. Unless..." she began to think and she picked another book off the shelf to research again.

________________________________________________

"Wow!"

Small flecks of white float through the air, the world sparkling behind these flurries.

"Isn't it beautiful?"

Her voice is soft, very calm and yet, cautious. Her long glistening white hair slightly blowing behind her and the blue orbs she had for eyes focused completely on the falling snow.

The small boy stood beside her with those dark curious eyes stood fixated on the snow.

"Gray..."

The boy responded to the call of his name.

"One day, I hope you get to leave this place and see the real snow outside."

He was confused. He knew that the wooden boards enclosing them inside was real. To him, this was his whole world.

What did she mean by that?

The boy stepped next to her, finding that he was once again twenty-two.

"What are you talking about? Who are you? Why do you keep appearing here and just confusing me?" He shouts, not being able to see her eyes, but instead feel a soft hand on his cheek.

"I'm sorry. It's all my fault. I didn't mean for it to be this way. I didn't mean to make you feel like this." She says softly, almost as if she were about to cry.

"I don't-"

"For now, you won't understand, Gray. Why I did what I did."

"But I don't even know who you are!"

"I did it because I love you."

"Who are you?!" He screams, seeing her white skin stained by such a red color.

Blood.

He covered his mouth in disgust, being able to smell the metallic scent coming off of it. He staggered away from her, away from her soft hands as he watched her bleed. Finally opening his eyes and coming to his senses, he saw where the bleeding was coming from.

The deep gash in her neck. He was surprised that she was still able to stand.

BA-BUM

He gripped at his chest, stumbling to a wall and falling to his knees. That metal scent was everywhere. He couldn't get it out of his senses.

"W-Why did this happen?" He looked up to see the boy, to see his younger self in front of her again, dark eyes widened in fear and he covered in blood.

"I'm so sorry, Gray. I'm so sorry, baby." She cried, her tears the same color as the red over them.

The boy seemed like he was about to say something when the white-haired woman came towards the Gray on the floor.

"I'm so sorry, Gray." She apologizes again and he could see them.

Her blood-covered fangs coming closer and closer towards him.

"Stop!" He screamed, trying to fight off her gentle embrace, "Get away! STOP IT!"

"You'll understand it all soon, Gray." Her fangs bit into his flesh, the sharp sting spreading though his body like a knife.

He's completely frozen.

"I love you."

He opened his eyes, finding the familiarity of his room instead of the one he was in before. He was breathing hard, unable to catch his breath at first. He had to calm down.

Wait. Why was he panicked to begin with? He grips at his head, trying to remember the dream he must've had.

He had nothing though. All he could remember was a blur of white hair and the smell of blood.

His stomach was twisting. He couldn't understand why those things made him feel so uneasy.

The knock on his door brought him back from his confusing thoughts.

"Gray? It's us." He heard Lucy's voice behind the door and he nods.

"Yeah, hold on." He readjusts himself, getting out of bed to pull on a tank top.

He steps up to the door, hesitating at first for some reason. It's just the girls, he told himself and he unlocks the door.

The door opens to find all three of his roommates in their pajamas (cause apparently tank tops and shorts can be considered pjs), concern written all over their faces.

"Sorry. Did I wake you guys?" He sheepishly rubs a hand on the back of his neck.

"Well, it's nightmare season, right?" Erza gives a blatant chuckle, which made him chuckle too.

He checks over at his bedroom clock on the nightstand to find it being almost two in the morning.

"Damn, I didn't think it'd be this early." He yawns.

"Was it Juvia or the white-haired woman?" Levy asks as the girls enter into his room.

This routine was normal for them. Whenever someone had a nightmare, the other three would usually know and go and comfort them. Then, it would end in all four of them sleeping in the same room in a calm, comforting manner. No other nightmare will occur after that.

This usually happens around what they personally called nightmare season, near when the accident first happened.

"I don't know... I can't really remember to be honest." Gray ruffles his dark and probably tangled hair.

"It couldn't have been Juvia. He wasn't moaning this time." Lucy giggles, causing Gray to flush a bit and the rest of the girls to join in the laughter.

"H-Hey! You're one to talk! Every time it's your Natsu dream, you-" she jumped to cover his mouth.

"You say another word and I'll make sure that tomorrow's lunch has tuna in it!" Lucy laughs a little evilly as Gray shouts.

"I hate tuna! Fuck you, Lucy!" Gray flips her off and she sticks her tongue out, doing the same thing back.

"Enough with the shenanigans! Get in the bed, the both of you! Why can't you two be sensible like Levy?" Erza commands, Lucy and Gray already seeing Levy curled in the middle of his mattress.

"So cute..." he smiles, seeing Lucy and Ezra climb in beside the sleeping blunette.

The ordeal would be the same. Levy and Lucy are the smallest so, naturally they would be in the middle. Erza cuddles next to Levy's backside and Lucy and Levy huddle close together.

Gray admires the sight of the girls slowly succumbing to sleep as he climbed in beside Lucy, wrapping a comforting arm around her waist and using his other arm as a pillow.

It might've been weird amongst most people for one guy to sleep in the same bed as three other girls, but they have been doing this for years now. They're practically family.

"Goodnight, Lu-chan." Levy whispers.

"Goodnight, Erza." Lucy giggles.

"Goodnight, Gray." Erza smiles.

"Goodnight, Lev." Gray yawns.

The sound of soft snores were the only sound that left in the room.

No nightmare would come to haunt them again tonight.
________________________________________________

The wind blows the curtains softly against the slightly opened window. The window itself began to miraculously open on its own, allowing two figures to enter in, their footsteps unheard.

"They really are amateurs if we were able to infiltrate their residence this easily." The girl quietly states as she began to inspect their target's home.

"Don't slip up, Celestia. This could either be the work of amateurs or this is a trap." The male said and she nods, the two splitting up to investigate.

"Here." He found one bedroom door open, finding all four of their targets sleeping peacefully inside.

"Such an interesting position to be in." She notes as she stood above the only male in the bed.

"Such a lucky situation." He smirks, his white eye mask almost unable to hide the glow of excitement in his eye as he stood above the redhead.

"Such an easy task to fulfill now, White." She looks up to see him, their eyes equally red.

"Such is indeed, Celestia." He smirks, grabbing an ivory blade off his belt and raising it above the snoring redhead.

"To fulfilling our mission." He says.

"To fulfilling our mission..." she grabs a blade similar to his off her belt and raising it above the dark-haired male.

Just as they were about to strike, they both sensed another presence in the room.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." They both jumped back from the bed, seeing a barrier of salt around the bed that would've burned them if they fulfilled their attack.

"Holy salt. How did we-" the boy is knocked to the ground by someone, his eyes flaring just as red as his own.

Tackling his attacker down, White grabbed at his dark hair, forcing his face to the ground.

"You're one of us! Why are you protecting them?!" White was confused, lifting up the boy's head to smash it against the ground again.

"I'm not like you... Then again, you're not like them either..." he could hear him chuckle and White realized another presence in the room just as he was hit with a fist of shadow.

His cheek slightly bruised, White looked up to see the boy he tackled down stand up, wiping the blood dripping down his nose away. His eyes were red, determined, something White was familiar with, but couldn't put his finger on. He watched as the dark-haired vampire grabbed a tazer off his belt, pulling the gun over his head.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are, Kuro." He heard him whisper before pulling the trigger and sending an electric shock throughout his body.

White thought he was crazy when he saw the vampire stumble, but still standing as he dropped the tazer to the ground.

Celestia ran over to his side, helping him up when they both saw the dark-haired man stand up perfectly straight, his hair rising to reveal scars on the half of his face that he covered up.

White knew these scars. He knew them more anyone. After all, he gave him one of those scars.

"The executioner of the bloody Red Queen has returned!" He saw him laugh maniacally, twirling around a scythe made out of his own mangled shadow, "I am Kuro, the executioner!"

Kuro turned his head slightly to see the salt barrier protecting the four sleeping in bed.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. So, that's what you were after. You wanted to harm my Alice." He chuckles, his dark shadow spreading across the floor, "Darling, broken-hearted Alice and her just-as-broken friends. Those poor bastards... You're here on behalf of the Red Queen too, aren't cha? How bout you two take off those masks and we have a nice little chat?"

"The fuck is wrong with you?" White curses.

"What's wrong with me?" Kuro's red eyes widened, his smirk spreading like the Cheshire Cat, "What's wrong with me, you ask? You know, I've been wondering that for years! After all, I was born from the white rabbit's despair. He may not remember what happened that day, but I certainly do."

"What are you talking about?" Celestia was now demanding answers.

"Why should I tell you shit? After all, you won't be living long enough for answers." He giggles, his face flushing and the darkness enveloping them into a whole new fighting arena, "Cause I'm now going to kill you!"