Author's Note: HawkofNavarre's NaLu one-shot, "Minutes", really inspired this piece, so at least some of the credit goes to her (I kind of...Used her idea of Boy leaving Girl. I don't own that either. I suggest you read her story as well, by the way). I also thank everyone on YouTube for making all of those lovely Grayza videos; they inspired me as well. (I apologize if the characters are out of character. I haven't written Fairy Tail in a long time. That's why it's short!) I'm considering making a chaptered story for these two, if a good idea comes to me...
Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.
They'd always been like that. Ever since that day — that day when she'd realized that she loved him. Its lingering effects still stood; she slept soundly at night with him beside her, the covers light and airy overtop of her in the sweetly chilled wind. She loved that iciness, the soft snow that billowed around the sides of her face as she awoke every morning. The dusting of stardust on her pillow soothed her, washed away any lingering binds of nightmares past. But when she'd woken up that morning, the snow hadn't had the same effect on her.
She'd known he was leaving.
Now, as she lingered in the doorway to the bedroom they shared, the light dusting of snow didn't touch her. Her eyes were focused on the shape in front of her. The shape that packed the pieces of her heart into his own; intent on leaving her. For how long, she didn't know. And for what reason was an unknown and unnecessary fact. She wouldn't lose him, that much she knew.
"Gray! Think for a second!" Erza shouted, taking a few armored steps. The ice mage didn't even look up. Her heart ripped apart. "Please, don't leave Fairy Tail behind, me behind." His silence continued, as he stood at the open window, watching the shifting snow. "Gray!"
He didn't reply, much to Erza's anger. Her temper rose, a bright crimson rune brightening the serene white room with anger and anguish. She wanted him to answer her, to break and crumble like the brittle ice of his previous words to her heartbeats ago. His lingering goodbye touched her lips, unbearably sweet, yet bitterly cold in the same moment. Her fingers clenched onto a familiar shape — a rod of scarlet power, her power. If he wouldn't answer her, she'd force him to.
"Do you intend to walk across this threshold without a word?" she demanded, lifting the blade up to be level with his heart, through his shoulder. "Gray?" Her eyes darkened at the silence, the wind ruffling her scarlet tresses with icy kisses. She clenched her eyes shut tightly, her right arm trembling. "Please. Answer me."
Gentle footsteps lightly tapped the wooden floor as the sound of her quivering voice breached the distance between them. A soft, frosty hand lowered her sword, her fingers unclenching the fading blade to brush along the warmth of his palm. Soft yellow light blew from her body, her armor dancing through the air to join the swirling snowflakes his advance had carried along with him. His arms wrapped around her, cradling her delicately. The floor touched her knees, as he held her against him, Erza's tears falling into his embrace.
"Why…won't you answer me?" Erza asked softly, her voice muffled by the soft fabric of his white shirt. His breath blew across the side of her neck, sweet and warm.
"Because there's nothing to say," he replied, holding her closer. "Ultear told me that there might be a way to revive Ul, and I'm going to find it."
"Take me with you," Erza answered, resting her forehead on his. "I'll protect you."
"Erza," he started, his tone tender and gentle, "this is something I have to do on my own. I owe Ul that much."
Erza hung her head against his. "I know. But I still want to help you."
"Thank you," he murmured, taking her face into his hands as softly as the whispers of the snowflakes billowing into the room through the window. "I'll come back, Erza. I promise."
Their lips touched, and though they didn't say it to each other, they knew that they loved each other. Erza could hear it in every beat of his heart against hers. She could feel it in every soft breath that billowed across her forehead, ruffling her crimson bangs. His touch, though icy, threaded across her thin white shirt and lustrous scarlet hair, as the sun fell into the depths of her eyes once more.
Erza blinked open quiet amber eyes, and yawned delicately, holding one hand over her mouth as she rolled over to be face to face with the open window chilling the air around her. Under the covers, it was warm enough, but the room's temperature had dropped considerably. A soft snow-dusted breeze blew through the room through the open window, bringing in a gentle white light. Feathery powder ruffled her scarlet hair as she propped herself up onto one elbow, glancing around the room. It was empty, and out of touch, and cold.
The cold reminded her of him, her departed ice mage. Though, as she reached around the hollow side of the bed from underneath the covers, she found a patch of cold powder. With alarm, she flipped the covers back, heedless of her lack of clothes and leaned forward, squinting at what surprised her. Snow. Serene white snow — the gentleness that he'd told her he always saw when he looked into her amber eyes. Frosted autumn leaves dappled the surface of the covers as she shifted — the color of her irises, bright and purged of pain and agony.
The luster of the frosted leaves sparkled through the powdery snow within the palms of the leaves, painting the room in all of the luminous colors of the rainbow. The prisms danced within the wind, soft lights that could only be Gray's ice magic flickering across the walls in the faint sunlight. The snow was falling again, the tender flakes brushing the stray tears that fell from her face. His final goodbye was this.
The promise he'd left behind.
Erza smiled through her tears, and wrapped her arms around the leaves and soft powder of snow, holding them close. They smelled of winter, and magic, and light. And as she cried, the faint sunlight caught the hope in the rain that fell from her smiling face. He would return to her — his promise ensured that he'd return to her safely. She nodded, and smiled into the sleeves of white snow in her arms — she would wait. For however long it took.