Juvia closes her eyes as she enjoys the warm cup of tea in her hand. She's in the resting area with Erza and the others are still inside the tent. The news of victory chases her worries away as she knows it's only a matter of time for Meredy's team to wipe out every last soldier from the enemy side. With Gray, Erza and Wendy inside the tent, talking about how well the battle was, Juvia decides to sneak out to feel the cool breeze the night has to offer. She heard from Wendy that Chelia of Lamia Scale had sacrificed all her magic power to defeat their enemy, it's sad to hear that as the pink head has so much potential, but they're in the midst of war, sacrificing and dying are something unavoidable.

The thought of dying scares Juvia, just like everybody else. She realizes how close to death she was this morning and she's grateful for Meredy to be there in time before the enemy could touch her. It was a frightful experience as she noticed the look on her darling face, it was one of those 'It's my fault' look whenever something bad happened to his friends and family. The grief of not be able to save his master, his father and Ultear has always been a part of his life. There were nights when she heard him screaming, thrashing on the bedsheet as those nightmares corroded his mind and body, leaving her to stay by his side as she whispered comforting words and lullaby to help her beloved regain his consciousness.

The bluenette is very happy and pleased when master Mavis placed her in the same team with Gray but as the battle goes on, she realizes that this may not be a good idea at all. She keeps on thinking of scenarios where she's unable to escape her fate and dies right in front of his eyes, she knows he will beat himself up for her death even if it's not his fault. Juvia shudders, it'll be better for both of them if she separates herself from Gray. He has suffered enough and she doesn't want her death to be a burden, her beloved needs to keep on living instead of blaming himself for something that he didn't do...

"What are you doing out here all by yourself?"

His voice snaps her out of the string of thoughts as she feels a warm cloth on her shoulder.

"Gray-sama?"

"Care to share your thought?"

"Oh, it's nothing. Juvia was just thinking about the battle this morning..." she bits her lower lips, hoping that he can't catch her lying again.

"Yeah, the enemy turned our weakness against us but we won anyway. Besides..." he looks at her "You do know that you're a terrible liar, right?"

Juvia flinches and lowers her head, escaping his intense stare. Is her lie that obvious? Or is she just too easy to read?

"I don't know what you're thinking in this little head of yours but..." poking her forehead with his fingers, Gray smirks "Get those thoughts out of it. We're going to win, just like we always do."

He said it as if it's a clear statement and it warms her heart. She nods, simply ignores the negative feelings inside her chest.

"I'll be by your side, Juvia." the bluenette blushes at his confession "All you need to do is to believe in me."

Yes, she needs to have fate in herself, she needs to believe that they will get through this. Right now, her gloomy thought is not appropriated as Juvia tells herself to stay strong. A strong arm wraps around her as Gray pulls the girl close to him as possible, enjoying the warmth of her body against his cold one. Juvia smiles and takes a sip of her tea, leaning more onto Gray as she rests her head on his shoulder, enjoying the fluffy feeling that steadily rises in her chest.

Little did they know, Wendy and Carla are right behind the bushes, blushing at the affection the young couple has for each other. The young dragon slayer takes a few glances at them, eventually lets out a small giggle as she studies the couple.

"Gray-san has finally found his peace, don't you think Carla?"

"Well, I wouldn't sure about that..." typical Carla and her perfectionist attitude "They haven't confessed to each other yet."

"That's true, but I think that they already know the answer..." Wendy looks at her partner "I'm happy for them."

*****************************************************************************

Something happened when they tried to bring a badly injured Erza back to the guild, a flash of red appeared and before they knew it, the environment around them changed drastically. Looking around, hoping to see familiar faces, Gray sighs in defeat as his call falls on deaf ears. Just where the hell are they?

"It's no good Gray-sama, I can't find Wendy and Carla anywhere."

"It's okay, I'll go and look for them next. You stay here and look after Erza."

"Okay."

This is bad, he can't recognize the area at all. What kind of game the enemy play this time? First, the sky starts glowing and now, the landscape has changed? Is this some kind of terraforming magic?

Calling out his junior's name, Gray looks around, trying to memorize as much of the surroundings as possible. He has to be extra careful, with this kind of deforming they can be anywhere, maybe even in the enemy's territory. With Erza is still injured, he and Juvia might not be able to fight against the mass number of the enemy and in the worst scenario is that they can be killed.

"Juvia, let's go. We need to keep moving, it's not safe here."

Carrying Erza on his back, Gray notices the weird look on the bluenette's face, very calm and very serious. She steps forward and looks straight at him in the eyes.

"Gray-sama, will you grant Juvia one wish?"

"Huh?" he wonders what is it this time.

"If...Juvia is unable to make it through this war, will Gray-sama promise that you will keep on living?"

"Juvia, we don't have time for this kind of joke." he replies, irritation starting to ris in his mind.

"And she's not joking either. Please...you have to promise that whatever happens to Juvia, you will keep on living. You will not beat yourself up, you will not live in regret, you will not live with the grief of not being able to save her. Will you promise that?"

The look on her eyes scares him as if she knows that she's going to die soon. Gray wants to fight back at her, saying how her wish is unreasonable and invalid but he can't bring himself to say such things. After a few minutes of awkward silence and staring contest between the two, Gray finally gives in and nods his head. Juvia smiles, hoping that he will keep his promise as that's the least she can do now.

"Can we go now?"

"Yes, Gray-sama."

They walk through many, many disturbing sights. Buildings and houses on the cliff of the mountain. Trees and plants falling onto the sea. Everything is wrong with Fiore's geographic shape. A rustling sound coming from the bushes startle both of them as Juvia and Gray step back in attacking position, ready to fire their magic if the enemy is coming towards them. Their worried expression soon fades away when they see some familiar faces. A man with pink hair and a scar on his face, a woman with blonde hair with honey brown eyes, and a flying blue cat.

"Gray! Juvia! And Erza too!"

"Natsu! Lucy! Happy!"

At least they're able to find some of their guildmates.

"We're on our way back to the guild." said Juvia.

"Us too." Lucy replies.

"But we don't know which direction we should go now." Gray sighs.

It's hard to recognize the area around them, even with Natsu's enhance smelling sense can't lead them to the guild anytime soon. As they are exchanging a few words, Lucy's eyes widen in horror at the object she sees above them. A giant eye...

"What the...?"

"An eye?"

"That thing is huge!"

So this is the enemy's magic after all...

"We have to go, the sooner we get to the guild, the better." said Gray as he takes his leave "Let's go!"

The group walks through the ruined city, looking around for enemies as well as their comrades. They walk through the night, with Natsu quietly asks about Juvia's condition. The fire dragon slayer doesn't want to scare or stress the blonde mage because only he and Gajeel with their two exceeds know about Juvia's life expectancy. Gray doesn't say anything, he doesn't want to mention it because even he can't promise that any one of them can get through the war. They haven't met all of the Spriggan 12 and some of them already gave Fairy Tail a hard time.

Juvia is behind them with Lucy, talking about the battle and giggling at the celestial mage's stories while they were gone to Hargeon Port. She senses Gray's worries and looks at him, a sigh escapes her lips as she begins to regret her decision of forcing the ice mage to make a promise with her. Juvia knows it hurts but she doesn't have any other choice. If she can erase herself from everyone's memory now, she will do it. Juvia understands the raven hair man very well, so much so that she has to force him into things like this. The battle against the Alvarez Empire is far from over and with everything that has happened up until now, it's hard for her to think whether or not she will die in this war.

"Don't worry, Gray. We will change her fate, nobody in Fairy Tail is going to die. Not on my watch." Natsu reassured the ice mage while stealing a glance at Juvia.

When the group reaches the top of the hill, Erza finally wakes up from her deep slumber. Everyone is tired and needs to rest in order to restore their magic power, the red-haired woman offer to guard them while all four mages fall asleep. Glancing at her guildmates, Erza smiles fondly, thinking how lucky they are to survive until now.

Only a few hours left before sunrise, Erza begins to wonder if this will be her last chance to see the sun rising from the mountains. Their guild was once a beautiful part of this heartwarming town yet now, it looks so cold and twisted. Fairy Tail guild, the heart of the town is now a ruined building, surrounded by enemies that threaten to destroy everything in their way. Such a sad sight...

"Rest well everyone, this might be our final dawn together."

"It won't!" said Natsu as he rises from his rest "We're not done yet."

"That's right! Let's go, Natsu!" said Lucy with eyes full of determination.

They're going to get back their guild, together. They will do it, for tomorrow's sake. Their house is very near now, they know it. Even with all these swarms of enemies, they will fight in order to get back Fairy Tail. Erza is quite concerned, they are outnumbered by the soldiers and they need a plan, a good one to execute. But even if they have one, it's hard to say if they can wipe out these soldiers with only six mages of Fairy Tail.

"No worries, Erza. We're not alone!" Natsu pats on her shoulder "We know that the others are coming, too."

Every single step will take them closer to the guild, they'll advance until the others arrive. First master Mavis is waiting for them at the guildhall and they have to come to her, fast. Never before has Natsu and everyone feel this much confident for a battle...

"Let's go! Back to our guild!"

The mages advance towards the enemy's troops, firing all of the magic power at them to clear the path. Yes, they are outnumbered, but the determination and passion of returning to the guild have fueled their strength, giving them the power to push away all obstacles. Wendy, Carla, master Makarov and everyone else soon arrive on the battlefield, sending fears to the soldiers. How can such a small group of people outpowered them like that, it's insane.

They keep on advancing, blow away anyone who dares to stand in their way. Almost everyone is here, Yukino, Sorano, the Strauss siblings, etc. With Gildarts, Cana's father, handling God Serena, all Fairy Tail members proceed to push forward to the guild building.

Gray looks back over his shoulder, smiling when he sees Juvia is right behind him. The bluenette, just like everyone else, is thrilled with excitement. The thought of having her right next to him is a great feeling. She's here with her friends, her comrades, her family and she's safe. That's the most important thing for him right now.

"Fire Dragon Roar!"

Flames emitted from Natsu's mouth as he tried to burn down the enemy, however, before it even hits the soldiers, the flame turns into ice.

"The hell are you doing, Gray?"

"It wasn't me!" he replies, scanning through the battlefield "This coldness..."

"Oh god...so cold..." both girls groan as they grit their teeth "My body is going numb..."

"BURN UP!!!"

Natsu's flame turns solid ice immediately and just seconds after that, he too, along with Juvia and Lucy, are frozen solid. Gray's eyes widen, calling out his comrade as someone slowly walks towards him.

The Spriggan 12 Winter General, Invel Yura has arrived.

Before Gray can even send out his ice, he is hit by Invel's magic, causing his side to freeze much to his surprise. The coldness of Invel's magic starts to effect on Gray's body as the ice mage can feel his body goes numb, he...an ice mage...actually feels cold?

He needs to find a way to get his comrade out of that solid ice. If normal ice can't work on Invel then the power he inherited from his father, Ice Devil Slayer magic, might work...

"Ice Devil: Zero Long Sword!"

A slash across the stomach sends chills to Invel, his opponent has Devil Slayer Magic, something that will eventually corrupt his mind and eventually, 'demonize' the host... Invel smirks to himself, it seems like he has found the perfect opponent to defeat E.N.D...

Gray attacks him again, this time fail as the general stops his magic, releasing his power to create a big blizzard on the battlefield.

"You can be a part of us, young man. The devil slayer magic that you are wielding and its darkness will consume you. You probably don't realize now but your heart is close to turning dark."

"Spare me your nonsense."

"The darkness inside of you is close to being released. That magic will consume your heart, your body, your soul and eventually, YOU will eventually turn into a demon."

"Shut up with your crap!" Gray snaps back, hand curls into a fist "I don't care about the 'good guy' label, if it means to protect our guild, I'll gladly turn evil or whatsoever."

Praises are shouted out by his comrade as Natsu's finally able to melt the ice. Juvia looks at Gray, worries fill her blue orbs. The bluenette can sense it, something is not going to end well in this battle...

A giant figure walks towards them and snatches Lucy, Natsu and Happy. Two members of the Spriggan 12 at the same time? Brandish just cast a bored look at the situation and leaves with the other three mages while Juvia and Gray try to catch up with the green-haired woman.

"Not so fast..."

An ice collar wrap around their necks with a chain between them. The two mages look at each other, horror fills their eyes as their consciousness is fading away.

"This is Ice Lock, a spell used to constrain a person's mind and make them my puppet. Right now, you both will fight to the death, regardless of how you want." Invel smirks "Your chains won't come off until one of you is dead."

No...This can't be happening...I promise to protect Juvia...

Gray-sama...Juvia can never hurt you...

Invel looks at his puppet with a sinister smile, his plan is starting to come in place. The moment he knows Gray can use Devil Slayer Magic, he has set up a plan to release that dark soul of the ice mage, making him the ultimate weapon to defeat E.N.D

Yes, the moment Gray kills his comrade with his own hand, the darkness that he's desperate tries to lock away will awaken. The person who will defeat E.N.D is no longer his Majesty, that person will be Gray Fullbuster...