a/n: Alright GrayZa fans, it's been a while since I wrote a one-shot, and it's been like never since I wrote a super long AU one-shot. So here's one!
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His mouth tasted like cat piss. Don't ask him how he knew what cat piss tasted like, it was a very stupid bet that he took with his best friend and it was just overly gross. Needless to say, his mouth tasted like something had crawled in and died in-between his teeth. Not only that, but his head hurt. It felt like someone was taking a hammer to the back of his brain, splintering his skull with every hit. It wasn't just his head that hurt, his limbs ached and felt overwhelmingly heavy.
His eyes were stuck together with some sort of goop, and it took him ages to pick up the strength to pry them open. The world swayed before him in a dizzying ensemble of wooden planks and candles, until everything was a brown orange blur.
"You're awake," a soft voice said, one that was feminine and smooth, one he didn't recognize.
"Who're you?" Gray groaned, his words meshing together in his exhaustion.
"My name is Erza," the voice said, as his mind began to swirl back towards unconsciousness. "Erza Scarlet."
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The next time he woke up, he was in considerably better shape. His head still hurt, but his mouth was less nasty and his eyes didn't blur when he opened them. He attempted to sit up, his legs groaning like he'd just run a mile. Two hands pushed him back to the ground gently, two small delicate hands.
"You'll only hurt yourself if you try to stand up," a voice chided, and he followed the hands up to the owners face.
She was beautiful, long red tumbling hair, big brown eyes, a determined scowl on her face. She was wearing a long white sundress, the ends stained with dirt. Her feet were bare.
"Are you Erza?" he asked, searching his brain for the name he'd heard when he was awake. The girl nodded.
"What's your name?" she asked.
"Gray Fullbuster."
"Well Gray, I'm glad to see that you're awake." She sat back, her hands curling around her knees.
"Where are we?" he asked, utterly confused. The last thing he remembered was convincing Natsu to go crash that party and watching him puke all over some blonde girl.
Erza shivered, and pulled her knees closer to her chest.
"We are in a cage," she said, totally serious.
"Ha-ha, very funny."
"I'm not joking," She furrowed her brow, "don't you remember being taken?"
"Being taken?"
"Ah, you don't remember do you?" she sat forward, interest in every line of her form. "Some pirates took us."
"Pirates?!"
"Yes, pirates."
"Pirates aren't real… are they?"
"Yes they are," she said impatiently, "and they took over the cruise ship we were on. I think they were—" she gulped, "I think they were planning on capturing or killing everyone, but the authorities arrived before they could grab anyone but well—"
"Us?" Gray suggested, and Erza nodded.
"It's because we were the only two on the deck where they boarded. I managed to tase a few—"
"Tase?"
"With my stun gun, yes."
"You have a stun gun?"
"Is that really the point?"
"No—continue."
"Well they managed to pin both my arms behind my back, and they had hit you over the head as soon as they had boarded, but my screams had alerted security. We were in port, so they had managed to contact the locals. The pirates jumped ship, but not without taking the two of us."
"Lucky us," Gray said, but part of him was a tiny bit ashamed that he had gone down that easily. "They haven't done anything to—"
"They only visit for food and water," Erza reassured him. "I know what you're thinking, but no. They want us for something, I'm sure of it, but I just can't figure out what."
"I'm just surprised they've managed to avoid the authorities for so long," Gray said, "I mean our names and faces are probably plastered across every news station—right?"
"I don't know," Erza said, rubbing at her face. "I wish I could tell you more, but they haven't seemed very interested in doing anything with us yet."
Gray shoved his way so he was in a sitting position, despite Erza's protests. He got a better look at the area around them; they were enclosed all six ways. Above them was a solid ceiling with a chandelier made entirely of candles, to one side there was a wall with a small porthole showing the ocean blue, to one side just blank wall, and the other side was full of bar to ceiling bars, like a jail cell.
"I saved you some food," Erza said, handing him a gross looking piece of bread. He contemplated throwing it away, but as his stomach grumbled he decided he'd better eat it. It tasted like dust.
"Who brings the food?"
"I don't know. They wrap their face so I can't see what they look like."
Gray raised a hand to probe experimentally at the back of his head; it was crusted with dried blood.
"I was to scared to do anything while you were asleep," Erza said, and came around to the back of his head, "I wasn't sure if I could somehow hurt you more."
"It's not bleeding anymore, is it?" Gray asked, and he felt Erza shake her head. She reached for a porcelain jug on the floor and slowly and carefully dumped it over the back of his head, making sure not to use more than necessary to clean the wound. He could feel her fingers parting his hair to get a better look at the cut, and the water ran down in trickles under his shirt.
"If only we had some cloth to bind it," she murmured to herself, and before she could say anything else, Gray lifted his shirt off over his head.
"Rip strips off of that," he commanded her.
"But you'll get cold—" she protested, and he shook his head.
"I'm from the north, I don't get cold easily."
She ripped off some from the hem, and then bound his head tightly, tying a knot just above his ear. He was almost 100% sure he looked completely ridiculous right now, but he couldn't bring himself to care. Instead he focused on other matters.
"Are you cold?"
Erza nodded, slowly. He picked up his shirt (which hadn't had that much torn off of it) and shoved it over her head.
"You're going to need that!"
"Not as much as you."
Erza was swamped in his shirt. Her scarlet hair was tucked into the collar as she glared at him, but instead curled her legs underneath her.
"I'm glad you're not dead," she said instead, "when they first brought you in, I thought you weren't going to make it."
"Well obviously you've never met me before," Gray boasted, "I've fallen down seven flights of stairs and still survived. I am not your average boy next door."
"And yet a solid whack over the back of the head knocked you out cold," Erza replied, a smile twitching at the corners of her lips. Gray went bright red.
"So what's our plan?"
"Plan for what?"
"Um…escaping? I don't know about you, but I don't exactly want to stay here forever."
"Oh you young foolish boy, escaping is not an option." Both Erza and Gray whipped around at the sound of a cruel cold voice leering at them from in-between the bars.
"And why is that?" Gray demanded, his voice rising up an octave. The figure had a hood pulled low over their face, and he couldn't make out any features.
"Because if you even try," the man said, stepping closer to the bars, "I will torture you both. You're lucky that we haven't killed you yet."
"Then why are you keeping us?" Erza demanded.
"You may still be of further use to us," the man shrugged, "I assure you though, we'll probably end up killing you in the end. It's just what we do." He shoved a plate full of food and a cup full of water in-between the bars. Then he turned and walked away.
"Well there goes that plan," Gray muttered to himself, and picked up a piece of the same bread he'd eaten earlier. He tore off a chunk and handed it to Erza. She took it warily.
"Are you sure that he's not trying to poison us?" she asked, as Gray took a bite of his bread. The boy shrugged.
"It's better than dying of starvation."
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Hours later, it became apparent that they would not be dying from poisoned bread. They had mostly kept quiet all that time, Gray watching the sea from their tiny porthole, and Erza keeping her head propped on her knees. The sun was setting, and he watched the golden beams of light turn spectacular colors as they set upon the blue waters.
"Where are you from?" she asked quietly, and he turned to look at her. "What?"
"You're looking like you've never seen a sunset on the sea before."
He moved to sit beside her, his back leaning against the solid wall.
"I'm originally from Iceland," he said quietly, "but after my parents died—and then my adopted mother died, I was transferred to this big 'lost children' house in Magnolia."
"So you have seen the sea," Erza said, and he shrugged.
"I don't spend a lot of time looking at sunsets. Where are you from?"
Erza toed the floor, looking slightly uncomfortable. "I don't know where from originally," she said, "but I grew up in an illegal orphanage."
"Illegal?"
"Yeah, apparently they kidnapped kids from their parents at a small age and attempted to brainwash them into their ways."
"How did you get out?"
"My Grandpa Rob," she explained, "not biologically related of course, helped me get out. I alerted the authorities to what was happening, and them they sent us all into foster care. How did someone from the lost children program end up on a cruise ship?"
Gray laughed. In this place, Magnolia and the story that came with it seemed far away. Like this was another life.
"My friend Natsu and I won some sort of contest, and they gave us the tickets for free." He laughed out loud, and Erza looked at him in surprise.
"What's so funny?"
"Natsu didn't count the ship as a moving vehicle until he was on it," Gray smiled to himself, "he gets some serious motion sickness. It's why I was on the deck alone."
"Ah," she leaned her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes. "This trip was some big party for my super rich friend."
"Lucy Heartfilia?"
"How do you know her?"
He looked sheepish. "Natsu and I may have tried to crash the party and Natsu maybe sort of threw up on your friend."
"That was you two?!" she demanded, and whacked him, hard.
"Ow!"
"She couldn't clean the vomit out of her dress," she snapped, crossing her arms over her chest childishly.
"Blame Natsu," Gray said wisely. Erza laughed, but the laugh was short lived and exhausted sounding.
"Let's take watches," she said, and he nodded.
"You sleep first," he commanded, and when she tried to protest he merely shook his head.
"I got to sleep for several days, just sleep."
Erza looked warily at him, but eventually sank to the ground and closed her eyes. She fell asleep almost immediately, which confirmed his suspicions that she was very tired.
He leaned back against the wall, and his eyes flickered around their cage. Seriously, how the hell did their lives turn into this? Who wakes up one day is thinks, I'm going to get kidnapped by pirates?
He certainly didn't expect for his life to turn into this. He rubbed at his eyes, thinking of the reactions back home to his disappearance. Natsu would probably be furious he missed out on the chance to fight some actual bad guys, Juvia would probably be crying her eyes out (despite the fact that he'd rejected her multiple times) Mirajane would probably be obsessively cleaning the kitchen and Cana would be drinking even more.
Not that it really mattered what they were doing back at home. All that mattered was getting out of this alive. His navy eyes darted down to look at Erza's slumped form, and realized she really was quite pretty. At least if he had to get locked up, he was with someone pretty.
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Erza was growing restless the next day. She paced back and forth, her bare feet slapping against the floorboards.
"Will you please sit down?" Gray asked, getting dizzy from just watching her pacing around.
"I can't," she protested, "I just need to find a way out of here."
"If you sit down, I'll tell you a story."
"A story? What am I, five?"
"It will be an epic story."
. She eventually sank to her knees next to him, her sundress trailing on the dirty wooden floor.
"It better be," was all she said as she leaned her head against his shoulder. He didn't push her away like he might've outside of this situation. In this terrible place, it was just better to stay close to someone warm.
"Once upon a time there was a magical guild," he declared, and Erza snorted softly.
"Magic?"
"All the good stories have it," he said, tapping her nose. "C'mon, haven't you read Harry Potter?"
"Yes of course I have. This better not be a retelling of Harry Potter."
"It's not," he said, shaking his head. "Just listen. Okay so Once upon a time there was a magical guild named Fairy Tail. T-A-I-L if you were wondering not T-A-L-E. Inside that guild there was a lovely knight with long scarlet hair. She was always getting into adventures with her friends, the ice mage, the fire dragon slayer, and the star wizard…"
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Over the next month, Gray and Erza tried to—unsuccessfully, plan an escape route. They didn't even have their original clothes anymore. Their favorite guard (he was totally being sarcastic) had thrown several pairs in the cell. After thoroughly examining their state and making sure they weren't entirely gross, they had changed into them.
Their old clothes had been getting increasingly dirtier and grosser. It wasn't enough that they were expected to go to the bathroom in a pot, but they had to go weeks without a change of underwear. Quite frankly, Gray would rather go naked. Of course that was his motto in life so…
He wondered if the world thought they were dead by now. He wasn't sure if he would believe he was alive if he was in his friend's shoes. It was an odd feeling, he considered to himself, being dead. Of course, it wasn't like they had access to computers or anything. For whatever he knew, they were on their way to rescue him and Erza right now.
Yeah.
Because those things happened.
Erza and he had gotten close in the last month; it wasn't like there were a lot of things to do. There was still of course, plenty of time to talk. He now knew that she had never managed to find her real parents, that she was with an abusive boyfriend for years, and that she was currently one year older than him. She hadn't told him much about that illegal orphanage she talked about before hand, and he didn't pry.
He hadn't told her the real details about his life, but instead described all of his friends to her in great detail. She seemed greatly interested in Magnolia, what he did there, everything. He had never even really thought that much about it before.
"You said your parents died," Erza said quietly, and he snapped out of his reverie to stare at her. "What happened?"
So much for keeping his past under wraps. It wasn't like he wanted to keep things like this from her, when she had been so open with him about well, everything.
" A man named Deliora blew up my hometown," he shrugged. "Something about the mayor owing him something."
"And your adoptive mother?"
"She was killed by Deliora too. He came after me you see, I was the only survivor. She saved me, and killed him too."
"Oh," her voice was small, and she tweaked her toes with her fingers. "Do you think we're ever going to make it out of this?"
"I don't know," he replied honestly, "We've cycled through every plan possible."
Erza's fists tightened on her knees. "I'll take first watch tonight."
He nodded and closed his eyes, moving to rest his head against he floorboards.
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He woke up to a scream of pain. His eyes flew open immediately, and he sat straight up, reaching for Erza instinctively. The light from the porthole had gone down, and he could only see her as a huddled mass on the floor.
"You stupid bitch," he heard a rough male voice cry, and Erza cried out again.
"Erza!" Gray leapt to his feet, and moved to pick her up from the floor. The man on the other side of the bars darted away before he could get a good look at his face.
It was still to dark to see, and their candles had gone out long ago. He slid his arms around her waist and held her to his chest. She was crying he realized, a broken hearted sound he'd never heard before. He felt something red and sticky drip onto his palm.
"Where are you hurt?" he asked her softly, but she didn't answer, only clung to him closer, getting blood all over his shirt.
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That night was spent in agony. He couldn't see for the life of him, but could feel the blood dripping down his arm, and Erza wouldn't tell him where she was hurt.
Finally the sun started to rise, and through the weak daylight he was able to see Erza's face. He gasped in horror; it looked like someone had taken a knife to her eye. It was forced close, blood dripping down the deep gash. She was too pale, but managed to clutch at him still like her life depended upon it.
He immediately tore off his shirt and wrapped it tightly around her bleeding eye. She cried out in pain, but he couldn't think of what else to do. They had to stop the bleeding somehow.
"It hurts," she moaned, slumping against him, resembling nothing of the strong girl he'd seen when he first woke up. Her cheeks were flushed, her one good eye feverish. When he put a hand on her forehead, she was burning up.
This was not good. He needed to get her to a doctor, and fast. If not, he shuddered to think what would happen.
"It's okay," he promised her, "Remember that story I told you? Do the bad guys ever win?"
Erza shook her head. "No."
"Well they're not going this time either," Gray said roughly, and set her down gently down on the ground. He was going to have to come out with a way out of here now.
"Save us Gray," Erza mumbled from the floor, her eyes fluttering shut. He was on his knees beside her in the next moment.
"Don't go to sleep," he said roughly, shaking her. She looked annoyed.
"I'm tired."
"Well to bad," he said, "because if you sleep you might die."
An idea came to him. He crossed the room and stepped close to the bars, sticking his face in-between them. "HEY!"
The dark cloaked man came down the hall, and he could practically sense the disgust radiating out.
"What is it?"
"Could you please get us some fresh candles?" Gray asked in annoyance, "I mean c'mon, we've been in the dark for ages." The dark cloaked man muttered something about spoiled prisoners, before turning around to bustle back down the hall. Gray grabbed him by the back of his head, and shoved him back, so the man's head slammed against the bars.
"What are you doing?" the man squeaked in a much higher voice than before.
"You're going to give me the keys to the cage now," Gray hissed, "Or so help me, I will slam you so hard against these bars that your brains will pour out of your eyes."
The man fumbled at his belt and passed the keys to Gray. Gray carefully unlocked the door with his hand still clenching the man's head. Once the door had swung open, he punched the man in the face. He slumped to the ground, and Gray had no time to lose as he bent and gathered Erza into his arms. It was clear she still wanted to sleep, but she kept her eyes open.
"Are you saving us?" she asked, and he nodded.
"I promise we'll get out of this."
He and Erza had considered this particular plan a while ago, but they had crossed it off their list of possible escape routes because who thought they could fight through an entire ship of pirates? It wasn't like he had a choice though, it was either do this or watch Erza die.
Once outside of their cell, he found himself in a rather long hall that was bordered by more cells than theirs. They were all empty. He carried Erza down it in a run, heading for the light and smell of seawater.
The end of the hall led to a large spiral staircase, and Gray took the steps two at a time, Erza nestled safely in his arms. Once he reached the top, he thanked whatever divine force was looking after him that it was empty. The deck was completely devoid of people, save a lone soul at the wheel. That person was sleeping, drool dripping out of their mouth.
Gray looked around, he assumed that it was to early in the morning for the crew to really be awake. It wasn't like they expected them to try and escape. Still, he snorted to himself. For people that could ruin his life with a whack over the back of the head, they were pretty pathetic.
Still, he could tell that they weren't anywhere near land, which was a problem. Clear blue sea stretched all around them, and it was with a resignation that Gray decided he would need to take the wheel.
The person asleep at the wheel woke up as Gray (Erza now slumped over his back like a rag doll) approached. It didn't take much to knock him out either, just a quick punch to the head. These were supposed to be pirates?
He supposed that the night guard was probably weaker than the day guard. He seized control of the wooden wheel, and tried to decide which was to go. It wasn't like he had GPS or anything—
He spotted a radio and let out a gasp, and then a big shit-eating grin covered his face. You could contact people with the radio; he'd seen it in movies. He pulled the device towards him and twisted the knobs expertly.
It wasn't just the movies that taught him this, but Mirajane had been convinced he and Natsu would need this skill on the cruise ship, so she had forced them to learn it. He was never more grateful.
"Hello?" a voice crackled out from the radio, "Molly, we've got an unregistered ship calling to us for help!"
"Hello?!" Gray called.
"State your name and location sir, we'll have a dispatch team escorted to you immediately."
"My name is Gray Fullbuster," Gray said hurriedly, worried that some of their captors might wake up and break off the call. "Me and a girl named Erza Scarlet were kidnapped by pirates a month back…? I don't know, we haven't been keeping track of dates, but I don't know our location but please help. Erza's injured—"
"Don't worry Mr. Fullbuster, we're tracking your location now."
Gray sighed and slumped back next to Erza. They were going to be okay. He closed his eyes in relief and let shaky breaths overcome him.
"What have you done?!" a horrified voice spoke from above them, and Gray was on his feet in an instant.
He was immediately surprised to find that it was a woman standing in front of him, a gaudy white dress and white hair to match.
He lunged forward and wrapped his hand around her mouth, drawing her back against him. He fumbled at her belt and withdrew a knife, holding it's edge to her throat.
"If any of your comrades find us and try to stop us from escaping," he snarled in her ear, "I'll slit your throat."
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"GRAY!" there was a loud shriek as Mirajane threw herself at him, wrapping her eyes tightly around him.
"Hey Mira," he said tiredly, patting her on the shoulder. He had known Mira since they were kids, and she was like his older sister. He had to say it was nice to see her when he thought he might never see her again.
After he had grabbed the woman on the ship, a lot of her comrades had come running after. None of them though, no matter if they were pirates, seemed to want to watch her die. An hour after that, the (he thought they were French?) authorities arrived and everything else was a blur.
"What the hell Ice-bastard?!" Natsu howled, stepping into the room. "You can't just let us think you're dead for months!"
"Months?" Gray asked, he could've sworn only one had passed. Mirajane nodded solemnly.
"It's been five months Gray," she said sadly, "They said that you might have some trouble remembering certain moments."
It was true, reflecting back he couldn't remember all of the details, like they'd slipped his mind forever. He could remember scarlet hair and a white sundress though, and he sat up straight, his IV pulling awkwardly at his arm.
"You have to sit back," Mira protested, but he shook his head.
"Erza," he said, "Where is Erza?"
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It was after Mirajane and Natsu had left that he snuck out of his hospital room to find her. They had assured him that the other girl was alive, and was expected to make an (almost) full recovery. When he pressed them for more details, he found out that she was in the room next door.
He knew that he was not supposed to be moving around, but he couldn't help it as he gently pushed her hospital door open and stepped inside.
She was lying in the bed, her scarlet hair the only bright thing amongst the grey machines and white crisp sheets. Half of her face was bandaged tightly, but the other half was relatively okay. She opened her other eye, and one corner of her mouth pulled into a smile at the sight of him.
"I was hoping you'd find me," she said, smiling, and he found himself grinning back.