Gajeel was at a loss.

It had only been a week after returning Fairy tail to the number one guild in Fiore and he was already facing something much more dangerous and terrifying than any dragon...

A crying and hysterical Juvia Lockser.

She had just...Well, lets back track and watch the memory.

Gajeel sat straight up in his bed, Pantherlily almost rolling off the side towards the floor from the sudden action. His now wide awake red irises quickly landed on the front door where a loud banging continued.

He raised a studded, non-existent eyebrow with a scowl. Who was crazy enough to bang on his door in the middle of the night?

After grumbling and placing a still sleeping Lily back on the bed, Grumpy Gajeel stomped to the door and flung it open. "What the he-" He stopped dead in his sentence to stare down at the obviously frantic and scared women in front of him. "Juvia..." He managed to whisper before he took in her appearance.

She was huffing and sweating like she had just ran a marathon, and with the fact that she was wearing her pajamas, he guessed that she had ran from Fairy Hills, which might as well be a marathon since he lived on the other side of the city. She was shaking, her knees buckling together. Then their was the look in her eyes. She wasn't even looking at him, just around the area as if something was going to jump out and get her. She was terrified.

His instincts quickly took a hold of him as he grabbed her shoulders, making her look at him. "Oi! What's wrong?!" He would be lying if he said he wasn't alarmed. He had never seen her in such a state. Ever.

She looked into his eyes and whatever she was holding back seemed to brake completely. She threw her arms around him, almost knocking him over, and started crying hysterically into his shoulder.

Gajeel was at a loss.

She had never cried this much. Sure, he had known the Gloomy Rain Woman, but that version locked everything inside, never showing any kind of emotion. She would show nothing to anyone. He had only seen her cry once, and that was after Bora brutally dumped her and she thought she was alone. He happened to be behind one of the trees watching, and to this day regrets not going after him and beating him until he can't speak again...Or walk...Or breathe...

After getting over his shock he, quite awkwardly, started to pat her back and head in an attempt to calm her down. That's when it started pouring outside. He frowned deeper than usual. What had gotten her so riled up?

Lily had woken up from Juvia's cries and decided to watch from the safe station of the bed. The Exceed knew that he would only be in the way if he tried to help consult her. But he was still very worried. Over the months Lily had taken quite a liking to the usually happy Water Mage. She seemed to be the only one other than him and Levy to be able to get Gajeel to laugh. Lily respected her strength and became very worried at seeing her so...broken.

When she had stopped sobbing, Gajeel gently pushed her to where he could look at her face. The Iron Dragon Slayer was never one to show his emotions, but he couldn't help but let the worry show on his face as he got a closer look at her. She was paler than usual and had dark bags under her eyes. She looked tired, like she hadn't slept in a couple of days.

He swallowed the lump in his throat and spoke as gently as he could manage, which was pretty soft, almost surprising himself. "Juvia...You need to tell me what's wrong." She sniffled a couple times before nodding, trying to whip the tears from her eyes, but failing as they fell like the rain outside.

"J-Juvia..Juvia just keeps s-seeing it..." Her eyes opened in horror. That made him feel like cringing. The look didn't suit her face at all. He much preferred her happy smile. He still kept his straight face, trying, and failing, to keep it from looking upset. "W-What do ya keep seeing?" He couldn't even keep from stuttering. Man that was lame, but most of him didn't care at the moment.

She put her hands on her head, arms shaking as she looked forward with wide eyes, not really looking at anything or anyone. "I-It was Juvia's fault...A-All her fault that h-he.." She covered a hand over her mouth to keep from choking on a sob.

Gajeel shook her shoulders lightly. "What Juvia? Who?" He needed an answer out of her if he was going to help her.

She suddenly gripped his upper arms tightly, locking terror-filled eyes to his red ones. "Gray! He died because I wasn't paying attention! That vision is all I see Gajeel! Every time I close my eyes I see t-that image...I can't take it anymore!"

He was stunned silent. She had never had that look before. Never that voice before. She had even stopped speaking in third person. Even stopped using honorifics. Seeing the shook and confusion in his eyes she continued, her hands dropping from his arms and instead wrapped around herself. "On that day he died. If I try to sleep, I-I see it Gajeel..." More tears filled her eyes. "I can't take it anymore..."

Taking a deep breathe, that he ignored the shake in, he gently pulled her in for a hug. Though awkward, Juvia was calming down and after what felt like hours she had fallen asleep. So he picked her up and laid her on the couch, then put a blanket around her finally somewhat peaceful form.

He took one final glance at her before sitting on the bed next to his cat with a deep sigh, mumbling. "I would rather fight Acnologia than go through that again..." Lily would have laughed if the mood were right, but instead put a paw on his friend's arm in comfort. "You did well. Hopefully she'll sleep until morning." The cat glanced out the front door, which was still open, and noticed that the rain had stopped.

Gajeel nodded, looking over at the sleeping woman. He was still in shock that she could even hold such an expression. He sighed and laid down on the bed. "I'll talk to Levy tomorrow and see if she can tell me what ta do..." Lily noted that his voice was more defeated than reluctant and smiled softly. "That's a good plan."

The next morning the Iron Dragon Slayer got up early to get to the guild hall. He glanced back at Lily who said he would stay put with Juvia. The Water Mage miraculously stayed asleep for the entire night and didn't look like she would wake up any time soon.

So after taking one last glance behind him, Gajeel started walking towards Fairy Tail. Letting his mind try to gather everything that had happened the night before in detail, only to swallow hard at the memory. His pace quickened. He had to do something.

At the pace he was going, the rough man was at the guild in record time, kicking the doors open and stomping towards the library, ignoring all the stares (especially the demon barmaid's) and slamming the door behind him. Yes, he knew that gossip would spread like Natsu's destruction, but the Iron Eater didn't care at the moment. His best friend had scared the crap out of him last night and he was going to do something about it.

"Oi Shrimp!" He called into the room. After hearing a mumbled reply, he quickly walked around some piles of books to find the small woman reading while sitting cross-legged on the floor. Ignoring the fact that her piles of books were taller than she was, he walked over and roughly sat down next to her, one knee up to rest his arm on.

Not even glancing away from her book she spoke. "Visits are unusual. What is it?" He stayed quiet for a moment before sighing and running a hand through his black mane. "You're a girl, right?"

She glanced away from her book to give him the 'you're stupid' look, then returned to reading. Just because she was flat didn't mean he had to point it out. "Gajeel, if you are going to interrupt me just to ask me stupid questions, please don't bother me." His eye twitched. This wasn't going as smoothly as he had planned. Then again, this was Gajeel we were writing about, 'smooth' isn't really listed as one of his character traits.

"That's not what I meant! I was gonna say that since you're a girl that you must know how to deal with one..." He sighed. "..who's cryin'." He had grunted the last bit, but knew that she had heard him when she closed her book and set it in front of them.

She gave him a suspicious side glance. "Gajeel Redfox, did you make some poor girl cry?" He quickly snapped his head to her with a raised fist, annoyance countering her disbelief. "I wasn't the one that made 'er cry!" He sighed again at her clearly unconvinced "MmHmm"

"It-It's Juvia..." She blinked up at him but then her face turned serious, waiting for him to continue. She knew very well how close the two were and his sudden worry didn't seem to surprise her.

"She ran to my apartment and woke me up in the middle of the night last night. Said that she keeps seein' the stripper die every time she tries to sleep and last night...She couldn't seem to take it anymore..." He looked at the floor, slightly embarrassed and awkward that he had to share how he was feeling. "I've...I have never seen her cry so much..."

Silence filled the room and Levy looked forward in sad thought. "At Fairy Hills...She has been looking tired since we got back. I thought that we all were, but she seems to be worse than the rest of us. She hasn't been to the guild in a few days ether, but I-I didn't think it was that bad..." After another minute she continued with a determined look. "I think that the best thing to do is to talk to Gray about it."

He groaned and she almost laughed. "Oh come on, Gray is a pretty good guy, and he's also close to Juvia." Her smile faltered slightly in seriousness. "If she's in that state because of a vision of Gray, then Gray is probably the only one that can really help her." He wasn't going to lie about the fact that it hurt a little to hear that the stripper could help and he couldn't, but on the bright side...

He stood up and ruffled her blue hair lightly before taking a few steps forward, cracking a few knuckles with a smirk on his face. "If he can help, I better go give him a talkin' to."

As he left the room with some kind of dark aura following him, Levy sat there and wondered if Gray was going to live past today. She sighed. "Yeah, cause that will help poor Ju-chan..."

Gajeel again slammed the library door behind him, this time coming out of it. The guild was still chattering and drinking and coming and going, but you could see that they were glancing at the Dragon Slayer curiously or knowingly.

Ignoring them, he went straight to Mirajane, smacking his hands on the bar counter in front of her. She didn't even flinch and smiled way to warmly. "What can I do for you Gajeel?"

His eye twitched at the look in her kind eyes, but he asked what he wanted anyways. "Barmaid! Have you seen the stripper anywhere?" Not even flinching at his normal harsh tone, she innocently put a finger to her chin in thought. "Hmm, He was here yesterday, so he should be-" She stopped to look at the guild doors and smiled again. "There he is."

He looked behind him and smirked. "GeeHee." This was just too perfect. So with a quick "Thanks" over his shoulder, Gajeel headed straight towards the Ice Mage.

Gray expects a lot of weird things to happen when he enters the guild. Natsu chasing Lucy around trying to start a fight? Yes. Erza randomly dressing up as a chef and helping Mira around the kitchen? Yes. Gajeel Redfox running up to him and forcing him out of the guild faster than he could grunt? No, that was not on his mental list.

After they were a little ways away from the guild, Gajeel stopped and let go of the obviously confused Ice Mage. "Dude, what is your problem!?"

Gajeel only looked down at him with a wicked smirk on his face, cracking his knuckles. "Look here..." His voice was darker than normal and Gray stopped to listen, not really intimidated, but wondered what the man wanted from him. They have barely shared a conversation before. "I'm gonna talk, Fullbuster, and you're gonna listen. Do I make myself clear?"

Gray blinked at him a bit nervously. Normally, Gray wouldn't feel that way but there was some kind of darkness in the Dragon Slayer's tone that made him understand that Gajeel wasn't in the mood to negotiate. So he nodded to him.

Gajeel's smirk faded into a face of seriousness. "Good, cause I was gonna have ta kill ya if you didn't." Gray's eye twitched in annoyance. "What is this all about?"

The taller man looked down at him, his stare intensely looking into the eyes of the Ice Mage in front of him. "It's Juvia." Gajeel could see Gray suddenly become worried. "Is she alright? I haven't seen her around lately."

Gajeel crossed his arms and closed his eyes. "She's not wounded or injured, but she is definitely not okay." When Gray didn't comment, he continued, opening his red eyes to look into Gray's dark ones seriously. Though he hates to repeat himself, Gajeel found this situation to important not to.

"She ran to my apartment in the middle of the night last night. She said that she's been havin' nightmares about you dying during the battle against the dragons." Gray's eyes widened, but stayed silent as the man continued. "She looks like she hasn't slept in a few days. Turns out that she can't even close her eyes without seeing you...Well, at any rate, to say 'she was a mess' is a big understatement. She..." His voice trailed off before he could swallow and keep taking, his eyes glancing down at the ground as he spoke. "She was braking Gray. After what felt like forever, I was able to calm her down enough to where she could fall asleep. She was still sleeping on my couch when I left this morning. Lily is there with her in case she wakes up but..." The older man grit his teeth and clenched his fists. "But I can't do anythin' about it. Your the one she kept seein' die, so it would be best if you talked to her about it."

Gray locked eyes with him for a third time and saw the silent helplessness in them. The Ice Mage was just a little bit stunned. He looked up to Juvia's strength and being told that she was braking because of a vision of him was something he wasn't sure what to do about. Gajeel was clearly being reluctant about telling him about this, but it was his way of asking for help and Gray knew it. So after clearing his throat, he gave his response. "I don't know what I can do, but Juvia is my friend. I'm going to try and help her. I'll try and talk to her."

Gajeel stared down and held his eyes for a moment, scanning them before nodding. "It will be best not to alarm her after she wakes up. I'd rather let 'er sleep as long as she can. I can head back to keep an eye on 'er until she wakes up. When she does, I'll send Lily to get you." Gray nodded. "You're right, it's best that we let her rest if she's not doin' well. I'll stay at the guild until Pantherlily comes to get me."

Gajeel sighed, something between relief and disappointment in his tone as he spoke. "Man, I was so lookin' forward to beating you up too." Gray's scared brow twitched in annoyance. "Huh?" Gajeel smirked, turning to walk away. "Nothin' lover boy." Gray only glared at the older man until he stopped suddenly.

Gray raised a brow but quickly noticed the change in the atmosphere and his body automatically tensed in response, as if bracing itself. Gajeel turned his head to look at him. A dark and protective glare that Gray has never seen on the Iron Dragon Slayer's face before. "I'm only gonna say this once so ya better listen good..." His deep rusty voice was as dark as his glare, and it made the hairs on the back of Gray's neck stand on end. "If you hurt Juvia any more than you already have, I'm not holding back when I beat you to a bloody pulp." With that, he swiftly left, leaving Gray there to stare after him and gulp.

When Gajeel came to his front door, he hesitated before turning the doorknob and opening it. It only took a second before his cat came to sit on his shoulder and give him the report. "You don't have to worry so much, she's been asleep the whole time, hasn't moved an inch." Gajeel frowned and shut the door. Only his cat would know that he hesitated to open it. But then again, that was one of the reasons he loved the little guy so much. Then the whack to his head came. "Don't call me little."

The Dragon Slayer sighed, use to his cat reading him like one of Levy's books, before walking towards the bed. As soon as he sat down however, the Water Mage shot up in a sitting position on the couch to stare at him. He stared back. "Mornin'." He offered before she blinked. Then she rubbed her eyes and blinked at him again.

After a moment, she tilted her head to the side. "Did Juvia sleep over at Gajeel-kun's house?" He was somewhat relieved that she was talking normally again, but he frowned at the fact that she didn't seem to remember the night before. So he nodded. "Ya kinda woke me up in the middle of the night and freaked out on me, remember?" She blinked at him again before realization seemed to hit her as she gasped.

She started moving her hands as she spoke, flailing on his couch. "J-Juvia is so sorry! She wasn't thinking straight last night, and, and..." He sighed, not knowing what he was going to do with her. "I know."

She went quiet and stopped flailing, instead holding her hands nervously in her lap and looking at him from the corner of her eye. "T-Thank you for being there...Juvia must have been a pain..." He rolled his eyes, expecting as much from her. "Nah. You did scare the crap out of me though."

He heard a faint "sorry" and turned to his cat, whispering in his ear. Though a bit surprised, Lily nodded and after giving Juvia a small smile, he went out the open window.

Gajeel stood up from the bed and gave her his signature laugh. "Geehee, If you really feel that bad, you can make me somethin' ta eat." He knew that she was going to blame herself unless she did something for him. She looked up with a smile and nodded happily. He could only raise a brow with amusement and silent gladness that she was smiling again.

So now he was sitting at a small table in the corner of the room as she was cooking across from him in his very small kitchen. He was still amazed that she could take his iron and put in food as if it belonged in it. Not to mention that he didn't have much food to begin with, so for her to make him a whole meal was pretty impressive.

As she finished laying out the meal in front of him, he could only whistle. Breakfast was laid out before him. Scrambled eggs, toast, pancakes, and even some juice he didn't know he had, all filled with his favorite metal of course. As he started eating, she sat done in the other chair and smiled as he scarfed it down like an animal.

If this were a year ago, he wouldn't go near her food, afraid that the moving lifeform would jump out and eat him instead, but over time and practice, she had become quite the cook.

Not long after he had finished eating, there was a knock on the door. She blinked up at him as he stood. "Oh? Gajeel-kun has company?" Her voice was curious, but he could hear the tease in it to. "Ah, shut it." He mumbled as he went to the door. "It's for you anyway."

She blinked in confusion before the door opened. Then she saw the figure standing there and her eyes widened to an unreasonable size. "G-Gray-sama..."

When Gajeel had opened the door, Lily flew and landed on his shoulder. Gajeel nodded for him to come inside. Gray stepped in quite awkwardly and looked back at the man and his cat. "Could you give us a minute..?" Gajeel rolled his eyes before turning to step out of his own home. "Whatever makes ya feel better princess, I'll still be able to hear ya anyways." With that he shut the door behind him and leaned on it with his arms crossed, his Exceed mimicking his position on his shoulder.

"Juvia...Gajeel told me that you were having some nightmares...and thought that it would be best if I talked to you about it." Gray sounded hesitant, but also determined to try and help.

A moment of silence fell before she answered.

"Juvia has...But it's nothing for Gray-sama to worry about-" He cut her off. "Don't give me that Juvia, I'm worried. Gajeel even gave me the 'overprotective big brother' speak." Gajeel swore, if he made her cry again, he was as good as dead.

Another minute of silence before Gray sighed. "I just need you to know that I'm right here. I'm not dead Juvia, and I'm not going anywhere. Not for a long time." Gajeel heard Juvia sniff and his finger twitched, suddenly having the urge to brake the door down and beat the Ice Mage until he was black and blue, but Pantherlily put a paw on his shoulder in a way that said 'wait'. Lily was there to keep him from doing something stupid.

"But Juvia...it was Juvia's fault. An-And it was so real..." There was some kind of motion and he could barely hear Gray as he whispered. "It's alright now, see? I'm very alive. Not dead. Though I have a feeling if you start crying because of me, your brother is gonna kill me." Well, at least he knows it. Gajeel thought as Juvia giggled at his comment.

With a sigh, the Iron Dragon Slayer started to walk away. Pantherlily glanced back behind him to the door that was growing in distance before looking back at his friend. "Are you sure you want to leave them?" Gajeel nodded. "He knows his place and she seems to be fine. I've been way to stressed and need to go on a mission so I can pound someone's face in." Lily smiled and relaxed. "Thus another good plan. That makes it two in a row Gajeel. I'm very proud." Gajeel would had hit his cat if he didn't love him so much, and instead quickened his pace towards the guild while ignoring him.

When he came to the request board, one word quickly caught his attention. That same dark aura came as he smirked down at the request paper evilly. "GeeHee." He went straight to Mira, who took the paper as Lily raised a brow at Gajeel. She too raised a brow with a small smile. "It's unusual for you to take a job with such little pay. Why the sudden interest?" She was very curious by the fact that he seemed so eager to go.

"It's more of a personal gain." Was all he said and she shared a confused expression with Lily before approving the job. As soon as she did, he was out the door.

Lily was right on his heels and looked over his partner with concern. "What's so special about this job, Gajeel?" Gajeel's grin got wider as he handed his cat the paper. Lily scanned it and raised a brow. "We have to catch this 'Bora' character?" Gajeel nodded and cracked his knuckles. "That's right, and I've gotta beat the crap out of 'im."

The name suddenly rang a bell in Lily's head as he briefly remembered Gajeel talking about how he wanted to beat him to a pulp. A smile came to the Exceed's face when he remembered the reason.

Gajeel would really do anything when it came to his best friend.