Hey everyone! So this story is based sometime before the Tartarus arc but after the Grand Magic Games arc. Hope you like it! :)
Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or any of its characters
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Gray swore under his breath, blinking droplets of blood out of his eyes and glaring across the clearing at his enemy. It was a large man, at least twice Gray's size, and he had a pretty unique magic that appeared to give him the ability to teleport short distances. Not to mention the man was quite skilled with the two large swords he held in either hand. It was becoming quite annoying.
"Ice make... lance!" The lances shot out at the man but he disappeared from sight, reappearing behind Gray and slashing the ice mage's back with both his swords. Gray couldn't hold back the cry of pain. This guy was definitely harder to beat than he had thought. But he had to do this, the rest of the team was counting on him to win this fight.
Gray gathered magic in his hands and formed his ice Excalibur before charging at the large man. Their sword met and Gray could feel the man's strength about to overpower him right before he was sent flying through the stone wall behind him.
His whole body ached and he could feel blood pooling under him. His gazed was unfocused as he tried to push himself back to his feet. The man slunk toward him, a malicious sneer twisting his face.
Then a ball of fire collided with the man's side and sent him tumbling. Seconds later Natsu's face appeared in his vision.
"Gray, are you okay?" he asked, a layer of concern covering the anger burning in his eyes.
"I'm fine flamebrain, I was just about to take care of this bastard when you showed up," Gray growled. No way he was going to let Natsu show him up. Gray staggered to his feet, ignoring Natsu's hand held out to help. Natsu shot him an unreadable look as they stood side by side, ready to face the guy.
"You're gonna regret that," he spat, wiping a trail of blood off his chin.
"Heh, you're the one who'll be sorry," Natsu smirked, slamming his flame-covered fists together. Though he could feel his strength fading, Gray also gathered magic in his hands, ready to attack. The man charged and Gray barely had time to move out of the way before the man went barreling past the two mages.
He felt pain shoot through his body at the sudden movement and a short gasp escaped his mouth. He could feel Natsu's eyes on him.
"I'm fine," he growled out, sending the fire mage a quick glare, only to see Natsu running at him.
"Wha-" he flew back a few feet at the impact.
"What the hell are... you..." he stared wide eyed at Natsu, who had been impaled through the stomach by one of their enemy's large swords. The fire mage's fists lit up and, with the close distance the man had no time to dodge the attack. He went down in seconds. Natsu also went down, collapsing to his knees.
"Natsu!" Gray staggered over to his friend.
"This is nothing," Natsu smirked weakly grabbing the hilt of the blade tightly in both hands. Natsu screamed, pulling the blade out of his abdomen, blood flowing out everywhere.
"You idiot, you just made it worse!" Gray snapped, quickly beginning to apply pressure to the dragonslayer's back to stop the bleeding.
"I'm not... going to walk... around with a sword in me," Natsu panted, pressing his own hands to the front of his wound.
"Shit... we have to find Wendy," Gray frowned.
"Can you stand?" he asked.
"Of course I can. What about you Ice Princess," Natsu smirked. Gray scowled, struggling to his feet, then helping up. The fire mage could stand seemingly just fine, but to Gray's it felt like the whole room was tilting. Then before he knew it everything went dark
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Gray slowly blinked open his eyes to see a bright white light shining into his eyes. He turned his head away from it to see the white walls of the room he was in. By the smell of chemicals, he assumed that he must be in a hospital.
"Finally awake Ice Princes," he turned his head to the sound of the voice to see Natsu smirking down at him.
"How... long?" he managed to rasp out. His throat felt so dry.
"Only a day. The doctors said you lost a lot of blood."
"Oh... what about you?" he asked, managing to push himself into a sitting position.
"I just had to let those bastard stitch me up," he said with a cringe. Gray knew that Natsu wasn't a big fan of needles.
"Well, I'll go tell everyone else you're awake," Natsu said before running out the room. Gray sighed, fisting the bed sheets at his side. He was weak again. He was always so damn weak. He hated it so much, the way he always needed someone else to protect him. And because of that Natsu got hurt; he could have even died...
At that moment the whole team came into the room and he had to force a smile. He talked with them though he wasn't listening to the conversation much as he really wasn't in the mood to talk.
"They said that you could go once you woke up. Do you feel okay?" Lucy asked.
"Yeah... I'm fine," he pushed himself off the bed and managed to stand without swaying. He wasn't really in pain, though he was a bit dizzy. The doctors must have given him some kind of pain killer.
"You shouldn't do any missions for a while," Erza advised, scanning him with concerned eyes.
"Yeah, I know," he sighed. Her eyes lingered on him for a bit longer before they all left the room and then the hospital. Thankfully on the train ride back to the guild no one tried to talk to him, which gave him the silence he wanted. He even managed to push the thoughts of all that had happened from his mind, at least until they got back to Magnolia.
Gray got off the train with everyone else and they all parted ways. Once they were out of sight Gray got back on the train, which was heading to Mount Hakobe. He needed somewhere to sort out his thoughts, and he always found it easier when he was somewhere cold. Thankfully Mount Hakobe was only a thirty minute train ride away. Once he arrived it was pretty easy to make it to the small cave at the top of the mountain where he sat and thought.
He really was weak, and felt like he usually ended up bringing the team down. They were all getting stronger seemingly each day and he hadn't changed much. It was his fault that Natsu had gotten hurt and could have died. It was because he was too weak to defend himself.
It felt like some kind of sick pattern to him, because it was the same reason he'd lost everyone else important to him. His parents, Ur, Ultear... all of them had died because he was too weak to defend himself. Gray slammed his fist into the ground. He hated to be so weak, hated it more than anything else in the world.
He couldn't stay, not with Fairy Tail. Not when his presence only got people hurt. He needed to get stronger. Maybe then he would allow himself to come back. But for now he had to go, before someone else got hurt because of him.
