Gray's POV

"Why did I have to go shopping with you two?" I asked caustically as Natsu and Happy showed off the truly ridiculous outfits they had found. Natsu was wearing a yellow pinstripe suit with a black shirt and quite honestly he looked like a rotten banana. Happy had found a matching yellow bowtie and he pulled it off only slightly better than Natsu.

"You'll probably end up buying just the pants if you try buying a suit by yourself," Natsu jeered at me. I felt my face contort into an angry mask and I shoved it into Natsu's as I felt my anger boil over in the way that only Natsu could make it.

"What are you trying to say, huh?" I growled.

"That you're a stripper, dummy!" Natsu said, pushing back against my forehead without fear.

"At least I know not to mix pink hair with a yellow suit," I snapped.

"Got a problem with my color choice?" Natsu growled angrily.

"You'd get thrown out of the party wearing a getup like that!" I mocked.

"You pickin' a fight?" Natsu growled, somewhat excitedly. A familiar heat flickered to life as flames leaped from Natsu's fingers. I took a step back and got into position to use my Ice Make magic.

"Bring it on, Firebrain."

"I'm all fired up, Ice Princess!" Natsu jeered, causing my teeth to grind painfully. At the very second we were about to attack each other though, I found myself encased in a shimmering box. Natsu, who had released a large jet of fire, found the flames turned back on him and he yelped in confusion as he jumped around in his box which was shining crazily.

I blinked rapidly at the unexpected interruption and then turned around. My eyes were met by a death glare that rivaled even Erza's and it felt like my stomach dropped into my intestines as Phaedra's whole body shook with silent rage and she glared furiously at Natsu and me in our makeshift light barrier cages.

"What. Do you think. You are doing?" Phaedra asked, her rage evident in the overly controlled and enunciated words that punched out towards us like spears. I swallowed quickly to try and get my composure back but Natsu beat me to it.

"What's the big deal, Phaedra? I was about to beat Droopy-Eyes over there to a pulp!" Natsu complained loudly. Phaedra turned her murderous expression fully on Natsu and squeezed one of her lifted hands partially closed. The large box enclosing Natsu suddenly shrank and Natsu yelped, finding himself forced into a space barely big enough for him to sit in.

"We are in a store filled with people who would like to do their shopping without having their clothes fried or frozen," Phaedra said through gritted teeth. Natsu's eyes widened as he looked at her through his light barrier cage. She turned her angry glare on me and I couldn't keep myself from gulping.

She really is as scary as Erza, I couldn't help but think as her icy blue eyes flashed with anger.

"You will stop this pointless squabbling and apologize to the store owner," she said slowly and forcefully. Natsu opened his mouth as if to argue but Phaedra once again shrunk her light barrier, causing his body to contort awkwardly in the small space and I heard him mumble in agreement. Phaedra turned her attention back to me and I instantly nodded in agreement, not wanting to incur the same punishment as Natsu.

The light barriers disappeared as suddenly as they appeared and Natsu fell to the ground with a yelp. Turning around I was surprised to see that a decent number of people had been watching our little display and looked extremely relieved. It didn't take long for the store owner to come forward to accept our apologies and then promptly ask us to leave. Although he offered Phaedra a coupon before leaving.

Natsu and I followed behind Phaedra as she stomped out of the store. I could hear Natsu muttering animatedly under his breath as he followed behind Phaedra but I ignored him for now and instead concentrated on the livid female walking in front of me. She had appeared out of nowhere and I honestly had never been so surprised to be cut off in the middle of a fight. Normally that was Erza's job and I would end up with a lump the size of an ostrich egg on my head. I had to admit, I much preferred Phaedra's intervention.... Although this silent treatment with her body language showing how angry she was was not exactly creating a comforting vibe.

"Hey," I called out, loud enough for her to hear but not so loud to catch anyone else's attention. Phaedra whipped around and lowered a glare filled with so much frustration and disgust my mouth momentarily forgot how to form words. Shaking my head quickly though I met her blue eyes and nodded my head in a kind of half bow.

"Thanks for stopping us," I muttered. Phaedra blinked mutely at me but Natsu was not so subtle in his reaction.

"Haaaah? What do you mean by that? You chickening out of a fight?" Natsu jeered angrily. I turned and scowled at him heavily.

"If we had fought there we would have ended up destroying the store and having to pay for everything!" I growled back at him. That shut him up and he had the decency to look somewhat contrite.

"Oh yah," he muttered. I heard Phaedra expel a sigh filled with frustration and I turned to see her shaking her head, her black bangs shifting gently across her forehead as she did so.

"If you can't act zivilized when you are together you shouldn't be shopping at the zame ztore!" She hissed angrily. I cocked my head at the odd accent that was much more pronounced now that she was angry and talking quickly. Before I could comment on it though, Phaedra turned her attention to Happy who had been walking unobtrusively along beside Natsu.

"Happy," she barked authoritatively.

"Aye, sir!" he responded immediately, seeming shocked to have been brought into this conversation.

"Take Natsu to buy a nice suit somewhere. Make sure it is black, blue, or grey. Do you understand?" Just like that, her accent was gone and I wondered why she tried to hide it so much. Happy immediately spread his wings and gave her a salute before picking up Natsu and beginning to fly him away from Phaedra and me.

"What's the big idea, Happy? You're supposed to be my partner!" Natsu yelled angrily as Happy flew him over the heads of the crowded Crocus streets.

"Phaedra is scary when she's angry," I heard Happy say in a quivering voice as he flew them away. Silently agreeing with the little cat I turned and for the first time realized that Phaedra was carrying a large shopping bag that seemed to be filled to bursting off her left arm.

"You found a dress?" I asked, unsure of what else to say. Phaedra rolled her eyes at me and then gestured with her chin towards the left.

"If you go down three streets and turn left you'll find another formal wear store. Get yourself something that won't be embarrassing," she ordered quietly before turning the opposite direction and beginning to walk away.

"Wait, where are you going?" I asked, quickly walking over to follow her. Phaedra furrowed her brow at me but stopped and crossed her arms, resting the bulging bag against her leg and side.

"To meet up with the others," she said after a momentary silence. I bit my tongue, feeling stupid for having attempted to hold a conversation with her. She had seemed to be loosening up a little bit earlier today, but apparently she was still mad about the whole almost-destroying-a-store thing.

"You didn't decide to come with us to try and 'pay me back' did you?" I asked. When she had started negotiating with Albert on our behalf and it was obvious she planned to join us I had immediately remembered back to her mentioning she felt she was in my debt. It made me feel weird to know that she felt some kind of obligation to pay me back for helping her back on the mountain.

"Would you stop that?" Phaedra suddenly snapped while glaring down at my stomach. I blinked in surprise and looked down, letting out a yell when I realized that I had nearly unbuttoned the last button of my shirt that I was wearing. Swearing quietly under my breath I swiftly fastened my buttons, cursing my treacherous fingers.

"And no. I paid my debt to you when I saved you from falling down the tunnel with Natsu and I," Phaedra said bluntly as I finished buttoning up the third to last button of my shirt. I blinked in surprise and then felt myself nodding slowly.

"Oh yah. I had forgotten about that." Being in a team, everyone always had everyone's back so I hadn't really given her pushing me to safety much of a second thought after finding out that she and Natsu had survived the fall unscathed.

"Now go buy a suit, unless you think you are incapable of choosing something acceptable?" Phaedra gave me a stony look and I felt a weird tug on my pride that made me straighten my spine a bit.

"Of course not..." I started to say defensively and Phaedra cut me off curtly.

"I'm glad to hear it," she said stiffly before turning and walking towards the square center where we had all decided to meet after our shopping was finished. Feeling like I had just lost a weird, silent battle I turned and walked swiftly to the formal-wear store Phaedra had told me about.

Phaedra's POV

I walked purposefully through the crowds of people, grateful for whatever unspoken thing that caused everyone in the street to make room for me as I stomped down the side of the street. The anger and disbelief I had felt when I had walked by the store window to see Natsu and Gray about to start one of their ridiculous squabbles still hadn't left me. An animalistic growl rumbled from my throat under my breath.

This is why I don't associate with men, I thought hostilely. That thought, however, instantly caused my feet to stop in their tracks as the empathetic eyes of a man I had not thought of in a long time surfaced in my mind. Slowly I reached up and rubbed my collarbone sadly and I let out my anger with a long sigh. I knew it wasn't fair of me to be so hard on Natsu and Gray just because they were a little immature. But I had trained myself for years to keep people at bay and to use my anger as a block from forming any relationships. However, if I was serious about helping Wendy's team with this job then I needed to decide the appropriate distance to keep and try to keep my anger in check.

After calming myself down and returning to my normally impassive state I squared my shoulders, shifted my heavy bag, and walked the short distance to the plaza square. It seemed I was the first one to be finished with my shopping so I sat down on the edge of an impressive fountain and set my bag onto the ground. It didn't take long for the other girls to walk into the square and they were quick to gush about the dresses they had found. Once the boys came back with their own clothes purchased Erza led us to a local carriage service.

"No! No vehicles!" Natsu yelled desperately as Erza walked purposefully towards the office building.

"We won't make it to Amaranth in time if we walk, Natsu. You'll just have to deal with it for half a day," Erza said with a bright smile. Natsu noticeably paled and when I glanced over at Wendy to ask what the big deal was I was surprised to see her grimacing as well.

"What's wrong?" I asked quietly. Wendy's head jerked up so she could look at me and she gave me a forced smile.

"Well, we don't know why, but Dragon Slayers all have a weakness to manmade transportation. It makes us really nauseous and we are essentially useless until we get back on solid ground," Wendy explained, seeming slightly embarrassed. I glanced over at Natsu, who was already clutching his stomach in preparation for the discomfort he was about to endure.

"I wish there was something I could do to help," I said with a small frown. Wendy's smile relaxed into a genuine one and she shook her head gently.

"It's alright. We can handle it, right, Natsu-san?" she asked, clenching her little fists in determination. Natsu frowned but nodded in agreement and I again wished I knew of something that could help with motion sickness.

The trip to Amaranth was cramped, and poor Wendy and Natsu were completely out of commission for the entire ride. I didn't really care about Natsu, but I was very concerned for Wendy and I tried to soothe her discomfort by leaning her against me and rubbing her back in consistent circles to try and provide a distracting motion. It didn't seem to help physically, but Wendy thanked me every half an hour or so, so I continued my steady rhythm faithfully. 

When we finally made it to Amaranth it was well past midnight. Luckily there was an inn that had a few open rooms. To my dismay, all five of us girls, including Shararu, ended up sharing a room. Lucy immediately claimed the bathroom when we dumped our things on the ground. Wendy was still woozy and unsteady on her feet so I helped her change into pajamas and she immediately collapsed into one of the two queen-sized beds. Shararu curled up next to her partner and the two were both asleep almost instantly.

"We're glad you decided to join us, Phaedra."

I stiffened in surprise, not having expected that Erza would start a conversation. Turning to look at her I watched as she carefully removed her armor and changed into a silky nightgown that I hadn't seen before.

"Honestly, I probably won't be much help," I muttered quietly as my doubts that had been increasing the closer we got to this place began bubbling up my throat and causing me to be more honest than I normally would be.

"You negotiated a larger reward for us if we complete the task, I'd say you've already been very helpful," Erza said with an encouraging smile. I met her gaze for a moment before I turned away and looked at the ground.

"It's selfish of me to stay," I breathed out quietly, wincing inwardly at my own weakness. For five years I had been diligent in not allowing anyone to get near me or to see my magic in any detail. But these infuriating people had somehow wormed their way into my protected heart and a realization dawned on me.

"But I wasn't ready to say goodbye," I admitted aloud as I glanced over at Wendy and Shararu curled up on one of the simple beds. Turning away from the sweet sight I was surprised to see that Erza was smiling gently at me with an open kindness that made a lump form in my throat.

"We are happy to have you around for as long as you want to be here," Erza said with a kind smile. To my shock, she reached out and took one of my gloved hands and squeezed it. I winced at the strength of her grip, but I couldn't help but squeeze back briefly. This feeling of acceptance was intoxicating and a sense of danger flared up around me as I wondered if I was fooling myself in even considering to open my heart to these crazy but kindhearted people.

Erza released my hand after a second and then walked over to lay in the other queen bed, gesturing for me to take the open spot with Wendy and Shararu. I carefully removed my cooling and heating lacrimas from the inside of my jacket before zipping it up firmly and placing them on the nightstand in between the two beds. Once that was done I carefully laid down on the bed beside Shararu so as not to disturb the two sleeping girls. After a few moment, I felt my eyes drift closed as the sound of the running shower lulled me to sleep.

A/N I tried really hard to make Gray more in character this chapter. Am I doing okay?