I will do whatever it takes

Summary: gray will do anything for his friends even if it is going through endless torture and sufferings or even betray them.

Disclaimer: I don't own fairy tail. The great hiro mashima san does.

"I will do whatever it takes" gray said to a man who smirked. Gray had been recently getting threatening letters that were about his friends. He took them as a prank but one day when mira was attacked in the guild it was proven that they weren't simply any prank letters but were serious. He followed the instructions in one letter and came to this forest he is now in with this man who was one of the people who were sending the letters.

"okay, so first is you will have to get rid of those pests, the salamander and titania for my master's plan to be successful. I will tell you what to do afterwards just bring them to the hut there. " the man said. He was wearing a brown cloak on a green tunic kind of shirt with brown cargo pants and a pair of brown boots.

"what! But you said you will not touch them if I agree!" gray said as he started to accumulate magic power in his hands.

"control your anger ice mage or your friends will be the first ones to suffer. Do as I say or we will kill them." The man said as he disappeared in white mist. Gray just stood there as he regretted ever letting that man go without kicking him around. But he had no choice so he decided to form his plan.

Next day team Natsu were heading towards the place where the person who had sent the request probably was. They were roaming in the forest wandering in the search for the hut.

"when will we reach their" Natsu whined as he dragged his feet. They were walking continuously for nearly 8 hours and still haven't reached their destination. Erza found a small hut in the middle of the forest and motioned for everyone to come quickly.

"I think we should just head back" gray(his upper body clothes probably thrown somewhere) muttered as he glanced again at the wretched hut.

"we aren't going to back off now when we had reached such close to our destination." Natsu said as he entered the hut. It was small from both inside and outside. Just as all of them entered black shadows appeared out of nowhere. They started to wind up on everyone as all of them struggled against them except for gray who was left unscathed. He shooted shards of ice on the door just as he heard voices of something uprooting and white mist forming in the hut. He threw lucy and happy out of the hut like it would seem as if he had hit them. Both of them were thrown outside the hut just as it vanished altogether leaving happy and lucy alone in the forest.

"why did you do that ice prick!" Natsu yelled as he struggled against the shadows while gray stood emotionless when the shadows retreated and they were left in a room without any sign of the foliage they were in before.

"gray! What is all this about?!" erza asked in her 'I am super angry and wouldn't take a lie for an answer' voice. Gray still stood there deducing if to tell them or not when suddenly a man. The same man who had told him to bring them to the hut appeared from behind him.

"good work. But you will still get the punishment as you had let that celestial spirit wizard and exceed escape. Anyway both the salamander and titania are here so might as well show you both your new rooms." He said as he opened one gate and pushed both Natsu and erza through it as he ordered the others to bind them. Both of theirs hands and feet were locked to the wall with magic restricting shackles. They had long chains giving them free will to walk in the cell but not outside. Both of them were struggling but gray wasn't even twitching.

"gray I know you aren't doing it on your free will! But I will force you to spill out the truth! You bastardious ice popsicle!" Natsu yelled at gray just as the gate to the cells disappeared leaving gray alone with that man. The man smirked as he forced magic concealers on both of gray's wrists so he willn't try anything funny and took him to his master who was waiting for the ice mage.

They entered a big hall. On one side was sitting a man looking all mighty and things as he took in everything around him. He stood up just as his servant left, leaving the ice mage alone with his master to face his wrath alone.

"so you are the foolish ice mage he captured! Hmph, tell me what did you thought when you had let that girl and cat escape! Don't you know how much harm will it cause to my plan!" the man said as he beat gray up by kicking, punching him. After sometime when the hitting seized, gray was lying on the floor as he wasn't even to defend himself because if he did then his friends will suffer. He was left bleeding on the floor as the man smirked at his beaten form. His whole torso ached as a result of multiple fractured ribs. Suddenly a cloaked figure came, ignoring gray he kneeled in front of the man as he relayed his message.

"master the preparations for extracting the magic are all done" he said as he bowed and went back. The man took gray by his hair and forced him to an eye level. He smirked at the beaten mage who was the key to his plan so he willn't want to lose it. He dragged him to a room which was clearly humongous.

"now we shall start" he said as his servants removed the magic concealers and dragged gray to to the far off wall which had several marking engraved in it. They tied him to chains and raised till he was just hanging on the support of his arms several feet above the ground. He was now in between a place on the wall where all the markings seemed to meet. His head was downwards as his bangs covered his eyes.

"lets begin!" the master ordered just as several buttons and levers were pushed. There was an earthquake like feeling when the runes on the walls glowed a crimson shade of red and went towards gray's figure. Just as they started to go upon gray's body he screamed in pure agony as heat worse than inflicted by natsu's flames went through his whole body. His whole body seemed to be like thrown in a huge volcano. Suddenly the runes on his whole body started to turn white and glowed vibrantly. Like this the runes in the whole room turned white as gray's magic started to leave his body. He tried to stop it but just as it stopped the agony from before returned. But still he stopped the flow of magic out from his body. Seeing this the master became infuriated.

"you fool!" he screamed in rage as he suddenly threw a dagger which hit gray straight in his abdomen causing blood to spill out as he coughed up blood. He still held his power ignoring the pain from the runes and the stab wound which infuriated the master even more.

"increase the amount of power! If you don't want the salamander and titania to feel what you are then give in or else! Sullivan bring both of them here!" he ordered the man who had brought gray and his friends here. Gray allowed some of his power to escape till the half of the room glowed white like before but it was now taking more to make the whole runes in the room to be like before.

"no…n…no…ugh..you… .." gray said in pants and gasps as the pain went worse. Then the man appeared with Natsu and erza. Both of them were unconscious but held no sign of visible injuries. The master brought a sword to natsu's cheek and drew a fine line causing blood to seep out.

"stop….stop…!"gray said tiredly as he saw that filthy load of crap trying to injure his friends who were helpless and completely vulnerable. The master chuckled darkly as he saw the whole room turn white with gray's powers. His plan to resurrect zeref was going on smoothly. After 2 hours gray's magic power was nearly extinguished.

"stop. That's enough for today. Take both of them back to their cells." The master said as he went back to his room. Sullivan transferred both Natsu and erza to their cells with his teleportation magic. Gray was left hanging there alone as everyone else went away with him left hanging in that place only. Two guards were placed outside his cell.

~fairy tail~

"what! Juvia doesn't believe it! Gray sama, juvia's gray sama will never do this! There needs to be some reason behind it!" juvia said as she cried. Just one hour before lucy and happy had came with horrified looks and were more than exhausted. Both of them had just woken up and told everyone of how gray had seemed to betray them. Juvia was beyond shocked at this.

"we also don't want to believe it juvia but the proofs state otherwise." Mira said sympathetically as juvia cried while levy and lissana consoled her. Even gildarts, who had only returned today was also worried about what had happened to the strongest trio of team Natsu.

"laxus, gildarts, happy, lucy, gajeel, you all go in search of the three of them. Before taking any decision on is gray guilty or not I will like to have a talk about this with him. Now go and come with those brats" makarov said as the mentioned 5 departed. The others sat waiting for the outcome praying for their friend's safe come back.

~lucy and others~

"so where was the hut located lucy?" gildarts asked lucy as all of them headed towards where lucy told them to.

"it was right…here!" lucy said as she stopped just before the place where the hut was supposed to be. Gajeel sniffed the place out of his dragon instincts as both him and laxus grimaced at the darkness the place reeked of.

"it gives a real bad feeling" laxus said as he once again sniffed the place.

"it reeks of darkness" gajeel said as both of them faced the group once again.

"so where did they go?" gildarts asked lucy.

"they just disappeared out of thin air" she said as happy nodded in approval. Suddenly gajeel seemed to catch a whiff of something.

"hey I think I know where they are" he said as he smirked. The smell had seemed familiar to him and now he was fully confident about it.

"huh?" lucy asked in confusion.

"it is a smell of one of the phantom lord's elites. He was practically a zeref worshipper and I can never forget this feeling which always seemed to come out of him. I know his hide out so let's go" gajeel explained as everyone nodded and followed gajeel to a long journey.

~natsu and erza~

"hey erza, do you really think that ice block will betray us?" Natsu asked erza. He was fully opposing the idea of believing that gray was betraying him and the guild.

"seeing the circumstances, even if how much I don't want it to be true, I think he has betrayed us. But still the question of why remains unanswered so it isn't okay to deem him one." Erza said as Natsu continued to pace around in his cell. He suddenly came to the bars of the cell and tried to break them.

"aargh! Let me out! damn bastards!" he yelled as he tried to pry the cell open. Erza sighed at her friend's antics but was happy that he still haven't given up hope.

"Natsu! There is no use screaming so shut up and think of a plan to escape." Erza said as Natsu huffed and went back to sit on the bed provided in the cell. Suddenly he heard the door of the room containing the cells opened to reveal the man who had taken gray the last time they had seen him.

"hey! Bastard what did you intend to do?!" erza yelled at the man in fury as he took Natsu out of the cell then took her out also.

"I need you both to force the ice mage so you know we are going to use you both as a bait" he said as both of their's eyes widened. They walked through a maze of corridors until reaching in front of a big room which was separated by a big glass pane as a wall. There were several people there and several equipments. But the most shocking thing was that gray was there hung with two chains in mid air between some kind of runes. His head was faced downwards as his bangs covered his eyes. The runes were glowing red as they made their way on gray's body who seemed to try to suppress his power.

"if you don't do it then you know what will happen to these two helpless pests here!" the man who seemed to be the master mind yelled at gray. He looked up slightly to see Natsu and erza both looking at him in shock. Suddenly the red runes glowed more brightly as the power consumption capacity was increased by the man named Sullivan. He smirked as gray writhed in pain but still wasn't giving in so he used the tactic which gave the best results. He went towards Natsu and erza and unsheathed his sword. He raised it directly above natsu's heart as gray and erza watched in shock.

"n…no….s..stop…!" gray said between gasps and shaky breathes as he allowed his magic to be eaten by those filthy creature's runes. The whole room glowed like before, a delicate shade of blue and silver giving it the heavenly touch. The man smirked and sheathed his sword as the power was now supplied for their project.

"hey what the hell are you doing to him! Gray! Don't give in to their needs! Don't care about me and erza! Popsicle did you hear me! Stop this at once!" Natsu yelled as he tried to break out from the cloaked men's grasps. Erza was doing the same but it was pointless. They were useless at the moment as they watched their nakama feel all the pain, agony, and distrust. Gray was now probably thought as the traitor of the guild even if people didn't wanted to believe on it. Natsu and erza were angry beyond belief.

"your work is done now pests. Sullivan take them back." The master ordered as Sullivan teleported both of them back to their cells and chained them like before.

"what has that fool driven himself into! Did he wanted to die so badly! Didn't he knew that we would've done anything to protect the guild so he didn't had to give in to their threats!" Natsu fumed as he paced around in his cell.

"I think I now understand what probably is happening. Natsu do you remember how mira was attacked in the guild by some shadows. Gray was behaving peculiarly after that, I should've had asked him about it before. And also about lucy, he had thrown her and happy out of that damned hut on purpose so both of them can escape." Erza said as everything seemed to set in.

"but still he didn't have had to keep it all to himself."Natsu mumbled as he finally sat down after punching a big crater in the wall to release his anger.

Gray's both shoulders were broken by now with his whole body aching like hell. His five of the ribs were broken with 2 concussions and 4 stab wounds on his torso. There were multiple gashes and bruises on his body as a result of torture which came after he didn't have given in to their needs. He was still hanging mid air just as the master had decided that it was enough for today.

"see you tomorrow shitty ice mage" the master said as he smirked at gray who was still hanging. The markings were now off his body and were retreating back from where they came leaving the same burning sensation. He was just wishing for his friends to be safe and for that he had to do something to make them break out. but how was the question. He just stayed there hung in mid air thinking of ways his friends can escape.

~lucy and co.~

"so is it this building?" lucy asked gajeel who nodded. They were standing in front of a really big building which by gajeel, was the area where this joseph named guy did all his deeds. He was one of the people who wanted to resurrect zeref.

"how are we going to enter?" gildarts wondered when he saw a door at the far end of the wall. He went to check it to find it was left open.

"I think this will be our way to enter" he Said as he entered after him everybody else also followed him. Suddenly guards surrounded them and closed the door to their only escape.

"looks like other pests are also here. Well more toys to play with" the master named joseph came in front of the fairy tail lot. Suddenly one of the cloaked figure came.

"master joseph, he has woken up . the preparations are ready" he said and went back.

"looks like I have to go till then play with my army I have some important work with the ice mage" joseph said as he went away leaving behind hundreds of soldiers. Suddenly they were all left lying on the ground because of gildarts who had decided to end this in a wink of eye.

"oh my god, what just happened?" lucy said in astonishment as she has barely even seen gildarts even move from his place.

"we shouldn't waste our time and search for them." Gildarts said as all of them went inside the huge building.

~gray~

"oh, you are awake now ice mage. Well more of the pests have arrived so more fun in torturing them but if you don't want them to get beaten up then give me your power!" joseph said as the runes covered gray and glowed bright crimson red. Gray's magic was being sucked but still the runes were red like blood. His body was screaming in agony but he controlled and suppressed the scream to be emitted from his mouth. He stood up to all the pain and was adamnt on not giving them his whole power. Instead of remaining emotionless gray smirked at the furious face of the man as he knew the others will save both erza and Natsu and then he can self destruct himself taking the dark mages with him also.

"th..they…wi….will…win….y..you..da..damned..fool..!" gray said through his pain as the runes glowed more brighter causing him to scream in pure agony and pain. All of his wounds and gashes were reopening at the sudden moment. His shoulders were the worst as they were the only body part which took on all of his body weight and them being broken did no good either.

"shut up your mouth you brat! In the end only I will be the one who will come out at the winning position!" joseph said as gray writhed in pain.

~natsu and erza~

"hey erza I feel gajeel, laxus, lucy, gildarts and happy coming here!" Natsu exclaimed as he sensed his nakama coming. Erza also got up from her seat and looked towards the gate to see it being blown open just as the figures of their five friends emerged.

"Natsu! Erza! Are you both alright?!" lucy said as she frantically opened the door to erza's cell as laxus opened natsu's. happy went and hugged natsu's head as Natsu petted his head.

"we are alright but we have to help gray! He is probably dying right now!" Natsu said as he ran away in gray's direction while others followed him as erza explained everything.

"in truth gray had never betrayed the guild instead he had saved us all from a much worse tragedy. He has sacrificed himself for our well being and now he will probably be on the brink of death" erza said as others ran astounded.

"but it means that all of us were wrong and were blaming him for nothing" gajeel said as they saw Natsu fighting some cloaked people who were standing in front of some big glass wall from which's behind bright white light was being emitted. They reached there to be horrified at what they saw. Gray was hung in between some intersection of some runes with his body also covered by them. All of them were glowing blue-white as power was being sucked from gray who hung their motionless with his head bowed down and his bangs covering his face from everyone. His whole upper body was covered in a variety of injuries. His legs were hidden by his jeans but blood was there proving that his legs were no good either.

"gray!" lucy said horrified at what her friend had became. She summoned Sagittarius.

"what can I do for you moshi moshi" Sagittarius said as lucy saw laxus enter the cell and stand just below gray.

"Sagittarius break both of those chains!" lucy ordered as he fired two arrows at the chains. Just as the arrows struck the chain it broke down causing the unconscious gray to fall down. Just before he fully fell down laxus caught him and went out of the cell with gray now safe in his arms. Natsu, gildarts and erza were fighting joseph and his team while gajeel was destroying every equipment present their.

"roar of the fire dragon!" Natsu said as he blowed half of the army out. joseph was already defeated, courtesy of gildarts while erza was slashing everybody left. Suddenly the rune knights arrived and arrested joseph and his followers.

"lets head back! He willn't be able to hold much longer! Virgo had already did the first aid but it's critical" lucy explained as everyone went back. They straightaway went to the hospital where gray was admitted. It wasn't all that far from guild hall just barely a walk of 15 minutes. The doctor came out after checking and curing gray.

"he is in coma. I don't know when he will wake up. It can take hours, days, weeks, months or even years. His body was treated really badly with the loss of magic forcefully harming his vital organs also. But he will live and I'm sure of it." The doctor said as he went away to see other patients also.

"thank goodness" lucy sighed in relief as she wiped away the tears that were threatening to fall. They were all also patched up and ready to head to the guild. Gildarts stayed there while everyone else went back. Just as they entered juvia was the first one to arrive.

"are you both okay erza san, Natsu san? Is gray sama okay? Where is he?" she said frantically as mira calmed her down.

"so what was the outcome? And where is gray?" makarov said as he came to them. Erza explained everything as juvia suddenly ran away to her gray sama with everyone else also following her.

~gray~

Gildarts was sitting near gray's bed when gray came back to consciousness which was no less than a miracle.

"oh you are awake" gildarts said as he looked down to gray who was now gazing at him all confused. He looked around at his surroundings and sighed.

"a..are .. " he asked raspily as his throat was all dry. Gildarts helped him sit up and poured him a glass of water which he drank more like coughed. Gildarts patted his back in an attempt to help seize the coughing.

"my my, just look at what you had made yourself. Now just wait as everyone comes to scold you. I sympathysize with you. But what you pulled off was none sort of a good stunt. I know it must've been rough for you but you should've atleast told even one person about this gray" gildarts half scolded gray who was just sitting with his head bowed down gazing at his bandaged hands and torso.

"yeah..i kno.w…it..wasn't.. go..good..idea…I'm…sorry..for…what i..did."gray said he still sat with his head bowed down.

"sorry you should be but I'm not all that angry with you little buddy and I bet others will also be not but I can't say that for erza though" gildarts said as he helped gray lie down again. Just as he lied down the door opened to reveal juvia who was crying like hell but she was happy. She just jumped inside and hugged gray who wasn't even able to move his hands because both his shoulders were broken.

"gray sama! Juvia is so happy to see you!" she squealed as she hugged gray. Gildarts chuckled as gray sent him a look of help.

"now now, juvia you willn't want him to get any worse will you" gildarts said as juvia immediately left gary who thanked gildarts.

"no juvia will never want her gray sama to be in pain!" she declared as she stopped hugging gray just as others also came.

"gray! What the hell were you thinking pulling a stunt like that!" erza bellowed as she came to stand just beside gray's bed who cowered from her.

"be ready for punishment after you get well but for now I'm happy to see you alive." She said as she hugged him in her style which caused gray's head to collide with her armor as other winced slightly. The next ones were Natsu, lucy, happy and makarov with wendy and Charles in tow.

"ice bastard what were you trying to do huh?! Trying to take all the show light on yourself! Why didn't you let me join you in the first place—" Natsu said as he was quieted down by an angry erza. Happy was currently sitting on gray's chest facing gray as he rambled on and on about how he and his fishes were sad when he wasn't around or how his tummy willn't stop growling. Just like this everyone except for happy, loki, Natsu and gajeel ahd tried to give gray some piece of their mind by scolding him and reprimanding him but in the end everyone was really happy for their comrade to be back safe and sound.

It was after 1 month that gray was finally able to walk and perform magic. He was recovering really fast as the time for his healing to this state was likely 5 months but it was all in 1 month. A party was declared in the guild as everyone drank and ate to their delight as it was all free of cost. On the night everyone had stayed in the guild hall only and slept together.

'I think it was good that I was able to escape alive instead of the suicidal plan' gray thought as he also gave in to sleep with a smile on his face. He was now with his friends, his family happy and alive.

THE END