Gray felt suffocated with the formal clothes he was wearing. Dammit, he was a man who was raised in the cold, what the hell his counselors were thinking when they said that he needed to wear three layers of clothing? Seriously, he could go out without a shirt on and be fine with it.

But no, he was getting married.

Okay, people called engagement, but he didn't buy it; they were going to sign a paper and they were going to live together as husband and wife, so it was a marriage.

A full marriage.

The Duke groaned and took of his outside coat so he could breathe easier. He was going to get married to a woman he never saw in his life and he was going to go to the end with it! Gray snorted. Maybe he was a little bit crazy after all. Maybe he shouldn't be the Duke because he was insane. Good plan!

Yeah, he scoffed, as if there were someone else to take the Duchy from him.

No, not anymore. The lands were his and his only. And with the lands, the people who lived there were also his responsibility and he had a duty to the King and to his family to be the best caretaker as possible to the precious gifts his grandfather left for him.

He snorted again. The old man sure wasn't too fond of him, at first only letting Gray live in the Castle because he couldn't have the people thinking he didn't care about his own grandson. People said the Duke loved his daughter too much and couldn't bear seeing Gray all the time as a reminder she was gone. They weren't the best of friends but Gray had learned a lot from the old man and they made their peace when his time came. Wanting or not, Gray, after quite a mess, was nominated the next Duke, much to his despair, since he grew up away from Avalanche Castle until he lost his parents.

Everything was freaking scary when he first came to that place, and yet, at that point of his life he couldn't see himself doing nothing other than be the Duke. Gray Fullbuster was a man of word, and he swore to be the Duke until the day he died and if he needed to marry a complete stranger to continue to be one, so be it.

Sighing, Gray turned around in direction of the door when he heard a knock.

"Come in." He straightened himself and put his icy façade.

The first thing he saw was the pink hair and he relaxed when he took a look at the person who just entered the room.

"Hey, Icy Brain." The man greeted, entering the room without any shyness. "Loke said it is time for you to take your ass to the chapel. The priest and the judge are waiting."

"Crap." Gray didn't even remember to fight the pink haired man as he always did out of instinct. He was getting married! The man that promised himself that would never do that. But then, he became a Duke and everything changed. "Crap, Natsu. I'm getting married to someone I never met before."

"That sucks." The other man nodded while reaching for the table where Gray's breakfast was intact and putting a pancake inside his mouth. "If you don't want to, don't marry her." Natsu said with his mouth full.

"I can't. My grandfather made it official. The family's honor is at stake." Gray said grabbing his coat.

"That complicates things." The pink haired man shrugged. If anyone knew about honor, was Natsu Dragneel. His foster father, Igneel was a knight for the King and he taught everything about the court to his son: he taught about fighting, about proper manners (that Natsu barely used) and mostly important he taught the boy about always fulfill his promises and about his honor; until the day he died protecting the King.

"Yeah." Gray put his coat on. "Besides, it's even worse for this Juvia woman I am marrying." He sighed. "At least I am in my house. She had to leave everything she knew behind her."

"Maybe she thinks of it as an adventure. Lucy did." Natsu shrugged and Gray stared at him with despise.

"I don't think the Rain Woman thinks this is an adventure."

"Well, you need to decide what you're doing because the ceremony is going to happen in about half an hour." The pink haired man said, now drinking the wine that was meant for the Duke.

Gray sighed and took his coat again, putting it back on.

"I'll do what my grandfather promised. If this marriage breaks, it'll not come from my side. Let's go."

#

After staring at herself for ten minutes, Juvia couldn't stop walking from one side to another in her room. She was going to get married. Married.

"You are making me sick. Stop it." The man who was leaning on the wall said, rolling his red eyes.

"Juvia is nervous, Gajeel-kun." The Marchioness said, turning around to her friend. "What if he's... mean to Juvia?" She asked, concerned. "What if he is a bad guy?"

"You should've run last night when you had the chance." Gajeel raised an eyebrow when the Marchioness frowned in confusion. "What? Did you really think that I didn't see you leave last night? I hoped that you finally grew the balls to run away from this marriage, but you came back. Stupid." The man shook his head slightly in disapproval.

"Juvia should've realized that you were awake." She sighed. "You can predict her moves like no one, Gajeel-kun."

"It's because you can be predictable sometimes. And other times, I don't even know you." Gajeel shrugged. "You can be a puzzle."

"Cannot!" She exclaimed.

"Can too."

"Cannot!"

"Can too!"

Juvia laughed and her friend smirked; he had taken a little bit of her anxiety, making her laugh. Of course, she understood why people were afraid of him; long dark hair, red eyes and piercings in his face weren't exactly the friendliest looks, but she knew better; how his heart was full of kindness for the people he let in.

She was lucky to be one of those people.

"Gajeel-kun... did you apologize to that girl? The one you scared at the port?" Juvia asked softly. She knew that the guilt was eating him up. It was his job to protect her, but to tackle a person who wasn't a threat was not part of it. And the Marchioness knew him enough to know that he only attacked with a reason.

"Didn't see her." He shrugged again. "And even if I do..."

"You will apologize." Juvia said firmly.

"I am not going to apologize for doing my job!" The man said stubbornly.

"Then don't: apologize for scaring her." Juvia stepped closer to her best friend. "We are going to stay here for a long time, Gajeel-kun." She took his hand with hers. "It can be our chance to be... different." She smiled softly. "Maybe this marriage can be what we both need to reinvent ourselves."

"Don't think so." Gajeel scoffed but didn't move his hand from hers. Juvia was the only person in his life, aside from his father Metalicana, to touch him with kindness and she couldn't do often enough, but when she did, his heart would always get overwhelmed with happiness. "You will have a castle to run and will pop up about fifteen kids and I'll be with the guards, patrolling during the coldest nights."

"You will not." It was her time to roll the eyes in a very un-lady like manner. "This is the biggest Duchy of Fiore. Juvia is certain that there must be someone here for you!"

"I don't need someone." He almost moaned in pain. He could already see Juvia trying to set him up with someone as soon as she got bored with her new life. "I just need myself."

"Liar, liar, pants on fire." She sang song and then hugged him. "Even if you don't need Juvia, you'll always have her." She kissed his cheek for his annoyance and let him go, returning to her place before the mirror. "Gajeel-kun will always be Juvia's best friend even if he doesn't want to."

She checked her appearance again, not that her light blue dress was any different from before she stepped out of her spot in front of the mirror, she was looking at her every angle. The dress had some white sparkles, making Juvia glow a little. Her hair was in the usual curls by the end of it, and she was using some pinkish lipstick.

While she was looking at herself, Gajeel stared at her. He knew some parts of Porla's plans and it wasn't good and Juvia was still naïve enough to think that the older man was after the best interests of her March, but he didn't. And Gajeel needed to be the one to protect her from Master Jose when the time came.

He didn't know this future husband of hers or how many men he had under his orders, but if this Duke even dared to make Juvia unhappy, he would pay the consequences. People didn't mess with the only person he ever cared and got away with it. Gajeel would raise hell to prevent her from getting hurt. And it would be even worse if she actually got hurt.

If such a thing ever happened, none would be safe from his wrath.

A knock came from the door and Juvia said "Come in", turning around to face the orange haired man she met when arrived.

"It's time, Marchioness." Loke smiled and opened the door further, showing her the way.

It was in motion.

#

The private office of the Duke of Winter was a very big place, as it was all the rooms in Avalanche Castle. It had windows which went from the ceiling to the ground, letting the light come in, in contrast with the darkness of the wall, which were covered with some old rugs which had some pretty awful drawings of dragons, lamias and fairies.

Gray hated those rugs, but at the moment, he was pretty much focused on them, while the people around him were talking while waiting his bride to come and realize the marriage ceremony. For royalty, there were two weddings: the first one was the real one, both groom and bride would sign the papers and would start to live together but would call it 'engagement'. The second part of it, was the Outside Wedding, as people called.

The Outside Wedding was a big festival where the commoners could see the ceremony, making the bond between man and woman unbreakable. Besides, the common people loved to see the royals from all over the Kingdom.

"Gray?" A woman's voice woke the Duke from his daydreaming. He was actually looking at the walls and imagining what would be the chances of a fairy to beat a lamia. Yes, he was that focused on getting married.

"Yes, Erza?" He responded, shaking his head and focusing his eyes on the red-haired woman, now in front of him. She had red straight hair with bangs that fell into her left eye. She was wearing a dark armor, since she was the Weapons Master from Avalanche Castle. And she was also one of Gray's oldest friends.

"It's time." She said kindly, which was rare: Erza Scarlet was one fierce woman most of the times.

He groaned but went to stand close to his desk, where an old man, the judge, was holding a quill, waiting for the formalities to be done. In the room, were also Jose Porle and a few of his men, the priest, Natsu Dragneel and his wife, Lucy by his side, an old woman and Erza.

The door opened and Loke appeared first, then a big dark haired man who stayed by the door, looking very pissed. Gray really needed to know who that was.

"I present you: Juvia Lockser, The Marchioness of Rain."

When the woman stepped in the room, Gray frowned and whispered to himself: "What the...?"