With Great Power Comes Great Responsibilty

Chapter 57

For the next two weeks Gray stayed in his dorm room and avoided any kind of activity or interaction that could possibly cause him to have a high level of stress. He called in sick for his classes and work, told his aunt that he was too busy with work and classes to see her, he and Lyon weren't exactly on speaking terms at the moment, and he didn't perform any acts of heroism. He didn't like lying and sitting around doing nothing but Erza had him convinced that it was for the best and Natsu always assured him that he had the hero business under control so all Gray had to do was keep calm and that's what he did. He kept his emotions in check, was always relaxed, and didn't let anything upset him too bad.

However staying calm only slowed down the transformation not stop it. Three days after his last visit with Erza he noticed more hair or rather fur growing on his arms and legs, then all of his teeth became razor sharp and fang-like, followed by more and more animal urges started to invade his mind. He craved fresh meat almost every hour and at night he felt the desire to go stalk some sort of prey, only through sheer will power did he prevent himself from giving into these urges. But it frightened him to think of what would happen once these new urges became too powerful for his will to resist.

"Your boss has you on another late night case again?" Ur asked Gray over the phone after he had given her another excuse for not coming over.

"Yeah uh...Blue Tiger hasn't really been showing himself a lot lately and Mr. Redfox is suspicious. Thinks he might be up to something illegal so he wants me to go out tonight and find him."

"Gray you wouldn't be lying to me would you?"

"What? No." He squeaked.

"Yes you are you little fibber. I can hear it in your voice. You're just like your mother, lying always made her so guilty that her voice would go high. What's really going on?"

"I...I can't talk about it."

"Why not?"

"It's private."

"Gray are you in some kind of trouble?"

"No Aunt Ur."

"Then why are you lying to me and keeping secrets? Most people don't do that unless they're in some kind of trouble."

"Aunt Ur I really can't explain it to you. Can't you just believe me when I say that nothing's wrong?"

"I would if you hadn't of tried to lie to me. I want answers young man. Now."

Gray felt himself start to be come anxious as he listened to her voice become stern. If he kept talking to her like this it would send his stress rising.

"I'm sorry Aunt Ur but I gotta go."

"Gray Fullbuster don't you dare hang up on me! If you do I'm covering over there!"

Unfortunately Gray had no choice but to hang up and he couldn't stay here if she was coming over. She would notice the fur, the teeth, and the claws in a heartbeat. So he put on his jacket, his sunglasses, and his gloves, and then left his dorm room to go see Erza. He would ask her if he could stay at her place until he was cured. He was just about to call Natsu and let him know about his temporary living arrangements when he heard a familiar sweet voice call out,

"Gray!"

He turned around to see Juvia walking toward him. His stress level went up an inch. He couldn't be around her. Not when he was like this.

"Oh...Hi Juvia."

"There you are, I've been looking everywhere for you." She said. "People told me that you were either at work or taking late night classes or in your dorm room but you weren't in any of those places. Anyway I need to talk to you about something."

"Juvia now is not-"

"I'm so sorry about what happened Lyon."

"Excuse me?"

"I heard some students on campus say that they heard you and Lyon fighting with each other a couple weeks ago. I was afraid this would happen."

"What do you mean?"

"Well awhile back Lyon was trying to convince me to give him another chance at being my boyfriend but I told him I just couldn't go out with him and I let it slip that we briefly dated and now he blames you for me turning him down. I'm so very sorry. It's all my fault. I kept it a secret from him because I was worried it would ruin your friendship but that just made it worse."

"Hey, hey, it's not your fault that he can't take rejection."

"But I shouldn't have lead him on."

"But you didn't. Since the beginning you were straight with him about how you really felt. You didn't do anything wrong."

"Then why do I feel like I did?"

"In my opinion it's because you're a kind person and kind people usually blame themselves for everything. But I promise you that whatever happens between me and Lyon, you're not to blame."

She smiled at him, looking comforted.

"Why are you always so good to me?"

"What are you talking about?" Gray asked.

"Lyon was so angry with me when I came clean about our short get together and he takes it out on you. You're suffering the consequences of my actions. If I hadn't of been so secretive or let my big mouth talk without my head, you and Lyon wouldn't be so upset with each other. You should be more mad at me then he is. But you're not. You're still so nice and caring toward me. I don't understand why."

She looked away from him and down at her feet. He could sense how ashamed and guilty she felt. How dare Lyon make her feel bad about herself like this and how dare he make her come off as some manipulative tramp. She wasn't anything like that. In his eyes she was an angel who's only flaw was probably being too selfless. Too selfless and too beautiful.

For a moment he just stared at her. His rising stress was replaced by rising desire. Desire for the gentle young woman with equally gentle blue eyes. His gloved hand unconsciously extended a finger to her chin and moved her face to his. Her guilt-ridden expression turned to a confused one as she wondered what the dark haired young man was trying to do. She wanted to question his actions but at the moment she had forgotten how to speak.

Gray's urges spiked again and they were drawing him to Juvia. Insisting him that he do something to her. Something that briefly clouded his reason and moved him to lean in close. His lips were just centimeters from hers when the sound of nearby car horn in traffic snapped him out of it. His desire quickly reverted back into stress when he realized what he was about to do. He moved away from Juvia.

"I...I'm sorry." He told her. "I don't know what came over me."

"Gray are you alright?" She asked with concern. "You're trembling."

"Am I?" He looked down at his hands to see that they were indeed shaking rapidly.

"Yes and your sweating like crazy. Are you getting sick? Take off your glasses. I want to have a look at you."

"No!" He said desperately. "No I'm fine!"

"You don't look fine. In fact I think you might be burning up."

"Look it's nothing for you to worry about. I'm on my way over to my aunt's right now so if I am getting sick then she'll be able to take care of me."

"Do you want me to walk with you down there?"

"No. No that's alright."

"Gray I'm not sure if I want you to go off by yourself when you're like this."

"Juvia I really appreciate your concern but I've been through way worse situations than this. Trust me."

"O...Okay." She said not entirely convinced. "And you're sure that you don't feel sick or anything?"

"Positive."

Juvia's intuition told her that he wasn't being truthful but she didn't want to give off the impression that she was a meddler. So in the end she let him leave but that didn't necessarily mean she wouldn't check up on him later.