A boy's story
by Elysium97
~O~
She had cried over him in a debris of the world.
Her rain resonated in the calm silence, washing away the devious laughter of the man. She poured onto him like a storm, ice he ferociously cut through with a simple glance of his eye; yet, she returned, stronger, angering the beast.
However, she was far more gentle with the one broken on the ground.
Gray Fullbuster was laying on the piece of dissolving ice, in the pool of crimson blood. He couldn't hear the drops that hit him in monotonous caresses, a thumping sound of his fading heart lulled him like a mother's voice did to a child. He stared at the grey sky without reason, empty at mind, too broken to live and too proud to die. Yet, Gray could feel her cry onto him, her sadness almost palpable, vivid - mother? Juvia? Ul? No. Ultear. She was the only one before whom he dared cry.
He was that boy again, from a little house on the hill, with mother's eyes and father's soul. He was 'Silver's devilish brat' that wrecked gardens and houses in a play, a boy who stole flowers for his mother and a blonde girl next door. A little kid his father taught to eat Caramade Franks and chase girls, the same one Patricia smiled at when he would hold her hand or help her around the house. Gray was that boy - and the one who held onto Silver's form when the hell broke loose.
There was fire carried by the breeze - blood and piercing screams that tore apart his image of heaven. He saw red and brown - yellow and black, a ghastly shadow towering the church. A dragon, they shrieked as they ran, forgotten. A dragon. He broke before the dragon when a little house on the hill exploded like fireworks in the night. Silver carried him without a word uttered, and in seconds, Gray had seen the light chase them. A world went silent as they collided, falling apart. And they were over - he became the boy who clang onto what remained of his father. And he was that boy again. Defeated.
He shook like thunderstruck when the word swam on the surface, engulfing him. He wailed like a child over a lost blanket in realisation it was not coming back. He was defeated; his pride wounded of all things, and he sobbed knowing it meant death from Deliora's hand. Silver's hand. He will stare at the life demon stole from him, unable to claim it anew, voiceless because all he would feel - and feels - is a freezing fear. His legs were cut off and his hands were no more. He was his. He was Deliora's all over again.
Gray did not realise when she had walked into his view, clearly a shadow, he could tell, by the way her light did not fit into the dark world. She stood above him like her mother did back in the days and he softly cried her name. Ultear did not look nor disperse - but she was made out of light alone, a mere ghost.
"I didn't think you would give up so soon, Gray." She sounded like the woman he remembered, though her voice was as distant as the rain that did not pour onto him anymore, still, it lingered in the world. "You were never the one to give in before the stronger opponent. You took pride in your magic and who you were and now, before the calamity, you take a bow."
"He killed Ul."He gritted his teeth, but violet haired wraith seemed to overhear him. Her gaze was focused onto something in the distance, something Gray was unable to see because of the fog closing in on their world. Ultear was still, like a statue.
"My mother once told me we are the heroes of our own stories, characters able to chose ending befitting ourselves and pass our stories onto ones we loved. My mother gave you the ability to finish her story - she taught you her magic, gave you her life. And like my mother, I handed you my life to carry it on. I live inside you, Gray, yet another story you have the ability to finish your own way, but you choose to give it up before the Zeref's demon."
"You don't understand!"he screamed, coming to sit. Ultear glanced over her shoulder like he was but a mouse clinging to her cloth. "He killed Silver and Patricia! He killed Ul, your mother!"
She didn't even shiver at the mention of her own beloved person - her response came, as composed as he had thought it would be. "Everyday a human dies - death is a simple part of an existence. Dead leave memories in our hearts. But you, Gray, remember the emptiness they left, but not the warmth their life caused in you when they were still he-"
"STOP!" She froze, staring at him as he panted, hiding the tears. His jaw threatened to crack the more he growled, but the look in the woman's eyes refused to acknowledge him. "He took him."he spat, silently. "He is in my father's body. That's why...I... He..." He bled. A red trace caressed his fist, falling in dark drops to the icy ground. Ultear followed the crimson river with her eyes locked onto a puddle of blood beside him. He bled from his chest and, by the look of it, his back. Nevertheless, she did not pity him.
"They gave their lives to seal the darkness of your heart." He tensed, but she knew he would eventually seek her gaze. "However, another cannot cleanse your own soul like we cannot breathe without our own effort. You are not alone, Gray, in anything you do, but there are things that require only your touch."
He laughed at her. "You died." She was startled by the sudden despise in his tone. "You gave up on your life before the burden of your sins. Why should I listen to you, Ultear?"
Ultear Milkovich rested, silent. A gentle laughter grazed her features as she exhaled, giving in on the younger boy. He had never seemed this young to her; a stubborn child urging her to wonder upon her own decisions, causing her grief - and yet, she had never loved him more. 'It was for this', she decided as her feet slowly turned to finally face him like he deserved, 'To see your pure heart once again.'
"Before I died," He looked at her, surprised by the difficulty with which she formed her words. "I wished to take an innocent human's life." The corners of her lips twitched as if fighting between a grimace and a smile. "I didn't change. Not even a life committed to solving crimes and saving the world could change the witch's sins, nor heart. I was wrong Gray. I was wrong from the very beginning of my journey. However, I died to protect my beloved people - to give you a time I did not have."
"It could've been different."he argued. "You shouldn't - you shouldn't have done that. You had Jellal and Meredy. You had me."
She cried, not knowing. "You deserved as much, Gray. You helped me on my path and saving you was my own way of repaying the favor. I wanted you to live because I loved you. And I want you to live now because there is a person who loves you as I did."
He swallowed his sob. "Ultear...I..." Her eyes widened for a second before she closed them, covering her mouth.
"You don't have to say it."she whispered. "I know, Gray - I've always known. And you don't know how happy that makes me."she managed to utter, holding back. "But she needs you more than I do - and you need her too."
Sounds of a battle engulfed them. Ultear turned, her eyes looking past the fog, past the face of destruction, right at the two persons battling, one stronger than the other. Gray could sense the magic coming from the spot - her magic. And that man's.
His fingers balled into fists. 'She needs me.', he realised.
"How do I defeat him?"he questioned, feeling the older woman's presence beside himself. Her palm was pressed against his cheek and her smile was like a ray of sun to a tired man's eyes.
"You should know."her other hand rested against his heart. "Your every answer is here, but if you are unable to find it, it is as if it never existed. Do you understand?"
He laced their hands, smiling at the sudden resemblance he felt this woman shared with Erza. "I do. I guess I do."
Ultear closed her eyes, breathing him in. "Mark you leave in a person's heart is the proof you had lived your life."she whispered against his lips. "Then, I have no regrets."
She vanished in the darkness before he got to hold her, but her presence tingled on his lips like a dusty memory never to fade. Gray reached for the last particle of light and watched as it fell apart, so feeble at the touch. Sunrays bathed him and he laughed, sensing her smile. He breathed to feel alive again, before taking a bite on the ice.
~O~
She was swept away by a single movement of the devil's hand, a broken rag doll in the bed of shattered ice. Blissful rain framed them in the picture of utter chaos - bloodied, bruised and broken, barely holding on. Juvia Locksar drew breath after breath in blinding pain whilst she rapidly searched for a pair of eyes.
Silver Fullbuster rested behind her with an amused chuckle.
"Still eager to die, are we?" The woman shivered at the coldness of his voice, unable to turn his way or form a response, her body hurt too much for her to bear.
"Lyon-sama..."she muttered, still unaware of the man's closeness. "Lyon-sama, wake up...please."
"He cannot hear you."Silver hissed, shoving his foot into the woman's abdomen. Juvia cried, spitting a streak of blood onto the translucent ground. "I took care of him long ago."
Blunette crawled against the wall, struggling to force an attack at him, even a smallest amount of water, but he broke into laughter when she suddenly slumped, betrayed by her broken leg. He enjoyed the look of pain she had carved into her facial muscles and the pants she let out like a humble dog before its master. Her determination intrigued him the most, like a death wish of a toy soldier.
"A mere human cannot harm a demon, girl."
She continued to stare at the unconscious figure of a silver-haired man laid out only inches before her, ignoring the man who came to overshadow her. In a single movement of his foot - before she breathed - he sent her flying with a loud thud when her back collided with the ice. Juvia swallowed her screams.
His fingers found a way to her slim neck and crashed her head against the wall - once, twice. Thrice. The woman stared at his eyes, seeing only them in the giddy world, Gray-sama's eyes that shone with malice that scared her.
"They are dead."he smiled at his accomplishments and the desperate look in her eyes as she dug nails into his hand. "I silenced them. Both your Gray-sama and Lyon-sama. They are dead - and you will be too, soon enough."
Juvia coughed blood, staining his arms. He merely eyed it, tightening his hold - her neck was far too delicate against the coarseness of his hands he almost felt remorse for bruising it. However, she carried that gleam, that hope he had once seen in a woman; it froze the life inside his veins and the thought of a mere human intimidating him rose the fury in him like vomit. The blunette gasped in his trembling grasp.
Deliora formed an icicle in his hand, smiling down on the girl.
"Goodbye."
She heard a movement on her left before her eyelids closed convulsively to greet death - second after, Silver was swept away and Juvia found herself on her knees, desperately catching breath. It took her time to recover, but she knew it was his magic when it crashed against the wall.
"Gray-sama..."
She saw them - silhouettes dancing in the bright castle of ice. Her eyes sought sings of the one she loved to either confirm or discard the ill thoughts, but they were hurricanes constantly clashing in a cacophony of ridiculed screams. Their movements were winter she could not keep up with. The moment their fists met froze her lungs, as air became ice falling to the ground.
Juvia would catch a glimpse of the younger man every now and then, but Gray would dissipate in crystals and come to be in the white storm he created with the demon. Both men carried a veil of magnificent determination Juvia herself had never felt - it was almost as if they were magnets destined to collide. But what scared her the most was the zeal in their eyes, the unyielding thirst for another's life. With every icicle sent they promised - sought - death; yet both held on to life.
Blunette's heart threatened to burst when blood began to paint the castle's walls - she wished to shout, but pain silenced her. Torn and bloodied, the woman barely held her own ground, however, her own fate did not matter as she stared at the two men in the middle of the field.
'I can see him.' she winced, sensing the demon's presence beside herself. He did not breathe and she could not feel the cold touch of his scythe pressed against her abdomen, but she could hear every syllable clearly whispered. 'Losing hope again in front of the calamity...and eventually making the same choice as his master.'
Lyon-sama had told her once of a woman named Ul and how much she changed the dark in Gray, made him look at the world without carrying hate. Juvia never asked about her death and Gray never talked, but she was utterly thankful to the woman who saved the man that took her rain away. And to repay her kindness, Juvia was determined to keep him breathing.
"You refuse to die, don't you?!"Deliora hollered at the boy protected by thin ice. It broke into million pieces under the demon's touch, but the boy was gone the same way he came, like shadow. Shots of swords coming from behind startled the beast, pinning him to the ground without any greater damage.
He rose to his feet swifter than before and sent a corresponding blast towards the younger mage. "You will not live to see tomorrow!" The boy was gone before any of the swords reached him, Silver held his ground - he could sense the overwhelming aura his magic left on the walls around them, even the air trembled from the touch of ice that protected the boy he wished he had killed earlier.
Gray materialised again, clashing with the demon.
"Your magic..."Silver hissed as he fought to push him away. With a force of an earthquake, he sent him into the wall. Juvia gasped, holding back tears.
Her Gray-sama came like lightning, striking the demon. Deliora aimlessly fell to the ground, hollering at the human.
A sudden storm rose, swirling around the two, pulling in everything in the world. Juvia held to the broken wall, taking in the sight of Gray basked in white, a pure image of destruction laughing at the demon's wry face.
"As I expected, you realised it!"he yelled for the man to hear him, sweeping away everything standing on his way. Juvia watched the world freeze, disappearing in white she couldn't see through, until the very end when she couldn't see Gray himself.
"My magic..."Deliora roared, staring at the ice that rose from nothing, creeping its way towards him. "What have you done?!"
"Simple." Gray licked his lips before slapping his abdomen in a manner a certain Fire Mage did many times before him. "I ate your ice."
Deliora's eyes widened in a pure terror."You...?"
"It is quite simple."Younger mage nodded his head. "I gave up on all of my magic so I could take your curse."
Demon snickered, recovering from the boy's confession. "Humans cannot obtain curses, boy."
"I told you." He stretched an arm towards him, closing his eyes. Wind blew faster and icicles cracked walls as if they were made of paper. Deliora couldn't avert his gaze from a curse well-known to him. "I got rid of my magic in order to obtain your curse. Which means, I am no longer a 'mage', in a sense."
Silver glared at him. "It can't be..."
Gray uttered no word in response, instead, he crossed his arms - right above the left and roared: "Secret art of the Devil Slayer: Iced Shell!"
The world was painted white.
Juvia held onto Lyon's body as winds threatened to take them and particles of Gray's magic took down walls and spilled in crystals, scintillating on the light. Woman stared at the ferocious figure in the middle, at the silver hair and every ounce of water that swayed as he ordered, becoming a castle of ice to befall them all. Juvia wished she could scream for him to hear her, but every wasted breath hurt and every tear froze in the dimension he created. For a moment Juvia believed her Gray-sama had decided to let the ice swallow them both, himself and the demon.
Unlike her, Deliora stood, observing the waves that slowly froze his bottom. His jaw remained still and he did not move to save himself or kill the boy before the child finally trapped him once and for all. Somehow, the demon couldn't bring himself to land the fatal blow.
"You still hanging on, Silver?"he chuckled, feeling the man's eyes on his form. He could sense him in the freezing whiteness like a lurking ghost. "That Ul raised a good kid, wouldn't you agree?"
No response came, and Deliora hissed when ice froze his lower half, rendering him completely useless. He laughed, lifting his head towards the clear sky.
"He will learn the truth one day, Silver."he yelled to the god. "You cannot protect him forever! And not now,"he gave one last glance to the boy, his eyes glistening. "When he finally became what you were not."
It ended as it was born, rapidly and unsteadily. Juvia cried into Lyon's shoulder as clouds of white died and a lone figure stood by the man trapped in eternal ice. Her head instantly jerked his way, and before Lyon reacted or confirmed her thoughts, she was up, her feet carrying her to him. A boy older than he had ever seemed, drained and threatening to wither away.
"Gray-sama!" The helplessness in her voice reached him before anything else - it took so much strength just to order his feet to move so he could see her - and the sight of her urged him to shiver. She was covered in blood all over, with barely any of her skin the color he remembered, but seeing how she looked at him and the way she came to smile, he could only smile back.
"Ju...via." His legs gave in, but her warm touch stopped him from clashing with the ground. He breathed in her scent - the blood on her skin and a never ending smell of rain which always seemed to linger in her pores. She hugged him - once, twice, she hugged him in disbelief, happy to see him, crying like a newborn child. Gray laughed at her puffed cheeks and wide, deep blue eyes. She was Patricia and he was the boy with a bruise on his knee.
'A kiss of the one you love mends all wounds', his mother would tell him before showering every bruise with butterfly kisses as laughter filled the room. A kiss was on his mind as he stared at the Water Mage's lips uttering unrelated nonsense he had no strength to listen nor interest to hear. He burned under the touch of her hand around his shoulders, and her slim fingers wound in the raven of his hair. He thought about kissing her, just tasting her, if only she would stop babbling.
"Gray-sama, Juvia was so worried! Juvia thought you were...you were...going to - Juvia cannot even say it! And Juvia wouldn't be able to take it, not after what happened at the Grand Magic Games, no! So Juvia came here after her fight with the necromancer and met Lyon-sama on the way. Lyon-sama helped Juvia find Sil-Deliora. Then Juvia and Lyon-sama fought Deliora and the demon almost killed Juvia, but Lyon-sama protected Juvia and ended up being badly wounded. Juvia thought Lyon-sama was going to die like Gray-sama, but Juvia needed to believe so Juvia did. Juvia believed Gray-sama would come save her! Juvia never stopped believing in Gray-sama, never, not even for a second! Gray-sa -"
He registered only his name in the cloud of words she spun over and over, and he took it as an invitation, a clear call.
He kissed her - and the time seemed to fade.
Juvia stared at his eyes, closed, shut before the world and her too. She stared at his hair and drank in the tickling of his breath against her nose, the way his lips moved, eager to get her own to move against his. Her hands fell to her sides as she trembled, unable to force a single movement. Her heart fluttered as she was immersed in immense warmth just this man could make her feel - Juvia felt bare before him, his lips melted every layer that ever parted her and the world, and slowly made his way in, where she was vulnerable the most. The blunette was stunned when he framed her face, shedding silent tears.
It took a moment for Gray to realise the presence of the salty taste, but when the Mage opened his eyes to look at the frightened girl, Juvia instantly moved.
She kissed him with every ounce of fear she had ever felt about losing him. She kissed him with passion of months she spent waiting for him to see, with care of the woman who loved and love of a dedicated lover. But most of all, she kissed him with gentle care a happy woman kissed her long-lost man - and Gray returned her kiss. His consciousness drifted away the more he let go of precious air - but he wasn't willing to let go of her presence, not even when their tongues collided and he laughed, causing her to softly bite him.
He could kiss her all day - Juvia Locksar tasted like a rain in summer - and Gray Fullbuster loved rain.
Lyon Vastia gazed at the pair with a trace of a fond smile - he swallowed every moan and shiver his body barely gave in to. A slight touch of the softest breeze hurt like a hit in the damaged lungs, but Lyon held to the smile.
'I guess I've seen him to the end, Ul.', he thought as his body shook and he finally jerked his head to look at the wound that almost had him parted in two. It was quite a sight, Lyon himself chuckled - a wound covered the whole left side of his abdomen, reeking of blood with a tinge of rot. Ice Mage couldn't discern if it were remnants of his crushed spleen or simply dried bloodstains - nevertheless, it was as red as the wine Baba-sama had often made Jura drink.
Lyon coughed a guttural laugh at the memory of Cheria's merry face, her meek actions and the vows of love Sherry would encourage. He wondered if she would be the one in the years to come, when she matured enough - but the pain caused him to discard the thought. The man held back tears at the memory of Yuka and Toby's indispensable duo he grew with - and the dozens of times he restrained himself from hitting either of them. Lyon was certain Yuka would hate him after this day, doubtlessly. Nevertheless, Lyon was not a man fond of heartfelt goodbyes; effortlessly, he reclined against the wall. He cursed the world for turning as bright, though he felt himself relax at (it appeared to him) the utter of his very name in Ul's voice.
He shouldn't make her wait.
Lyon Vastia was a man who could say he had no regrets in his life - he loved, he lost, he lived to die for the precious woman - he had no regrets, but a lone one.
He wished he had said a suitable goodbye to his silly little brother and the woman he loved.
AN: Hello everyone :) Well, I hope this was as a good read as much as I liked writing it. Please, feel free to leave a review! Have a nice day :D