Hey all! This is my first fanfiction on this account. Please R&R!
All around me, darkness. The air so still that it was almost as if it wasn't there. I was hanging there, limbs outstretched. The darkness seemed to be robbing me of the air in my lungs, my limbs were numb and unresponsive. Then out of the darkness I heard something, it was a deep and malevolent laugh. It sounded close, but how close wasn't clear. Nor where it was coming from, it sounded as if it was coming from everywhere, yet nowhere at the same time. Then suddenly I saw something appear out of the darkness; it was a mouth. It was twisted into a grin. "Why do you hide me Gray? With me you could become the most powerful wizard in the world"
"Who are you?" I yelled back.
"What, don't you recognize me?" it said back, "No matter, you'll find out soon enough"
The mouth returned to shadows. Then as if someone turned on a fan, I felt a wind blow into my face. And I began to have feeling return to my limbs, but then I began falling. Falling through the darkness. Eventually I saw a light; I was falling into it.
I jolted up. I looked around, breathing heavily. I was in my house, in my bed. The morning light beaming through the windows. The sunlight was painful to but I had to get up. I stood up, and put on my clothes and left. I began walking towards the guild. The morning air was warm, there was still a cool breeze but I used to it. On my way, I was thinking about my dream, it was weird; normally my dream's involved either fighting Natsu. As I turned a corner I saw Lucy at a dango shop. I decided to greet her,
"Hey Lucy!". She turned her head to face my direction; a look of surprise on her face.
"Hey Gray… What are you doing here?" she was acting weird, like she was hiding something but I didn't let it bother me.
"I always go this way." I said casually, trying to not show that I knew that she was hiding something.
"Oh… Well I was just looking for some breakfast."
"You're having dango for breakfast?" I asked raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah, so?" she asked.
"Nothing, but it won't fill you up you know." I said as we both began walking towards the guild.
As we continued walking I noticed that she wouldn't let me see the bag, or at least not long enough for me to see its contents. 'Strange' I thought, but I didn't let it bother me.
As we approached the guild I had the feeling that someone was watching me, although this wasn't exactly a rare occurrence for me; not since Juvia arrived anyway. Then I entered the building and looked around. I was looking for Erza, I had to ask her about something but she wasn't there so instead I walked towards the board. I had to choose something because I was running low on funds. I needed something short though, just enough for dinner. There didn't seem to be anything that really suited what I needed. It all seemed to be really far away; more than a day's travel. It kind of bummed me out, I was beginning to thing I was going to have to go hungry again. Then I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around greeted by Natsu's pink hair and his wide grin.
"What is it Natsu?" I asked
"Me, Lucy and Erza are going on this mission," he stated as he held up a flier "do you want to join?" I was tempted to say no; I didn't want anything that would take too long after all. But for some reason, I said "Yeah, sure"
"Yeahh! Well, we're leaving soon then. Meet you up at the doors when you're ready."
"Nah it's okay. I've not got anything to do before we leave anyway, let's just go already." I said. Natsu seemed really happy for some reason when I said that.
"Wait a second, what about Wendy?" I asked
"Oh yeah, I almost forgot to ask… Yo Wendy!" called Natsu across the hall to Wendy who was sitting at a table talking to Mira about something. She jumped.
"Y-yeah?" she called over.
"We're about to head out on a mission, wanna join?" he asked
"Ehhh~" she turned to Mira who gave a nod. 'I wonder what they were talking about.' I thought.
"Yeah! One second!" She yelled as she scraped something off of the table and placed it inside of her bag. It looked heavy. She ran over to us. Natsu showed her the flyer. She nodded and we walked towards the entrance. Erza and Lucy were already waiting.
Without a word we set off. I didn't know how long this would take us. As we walked next to the canal on our way out of town, I still had a strange sensation that I was being watched, but it seemed a little more intense, however I couldn't pin point it's source; there was no-one around. So I just ignored it as if it was a figment on my imagination. I continued to walk with the others but I wasn't able to shake the feeling. It was as if I was being followed but was being watched from all directions, even when I saw nothing.
"Is everything okay Gray? You seem a bit out of it today." Natsu asked looking concerned.
"Yeah I'm fine, guess I'm just a bit hungry is all." I said trying to wave it off as nothing. Natsu's face of concern didn't disappear as I thought it would, but instead he reached into his back and took out an apple.
"Here." He said as he passed it to me. His hands were to warm, almost like he was being warmed from the inside.
"Thanks." I said as I took the red apple out of his hands and took a bite out of it. I must have had something on my face as Natsu was still staring at me.
"What do I have something on my face?" I asked trying to whip whatever it was off my face.
"Huh?" asked Natsu as he shook his face, "Oh no. It's nothing, I was just thinking about something." He said as he turned around, although I could see his face beginning to turn red.
We were walking through the forest when suddenly Erza heard something. She began walking faster but didn't say anything. We were having trouble keeping up with her, Wendy worst of all. So even though she was twelve I lifted her onto my shoulders so that she wouldn't fall too far behind. Carla flying behind us so that she could keep an eye of all of us. We kept running, it was strange of Erza to run from anything but I suppose she could have just of wanted to avoid an unnecessary fight. However it started to rain, so we speed up; looking for shelter for the night. It was turning to dusk anyway. As we were running we came across a cave, so we settled there. Gasping for air, I put Wendy down. I dropped to the ground. I suddenly felt as if I was on fire. It caused me immense pain every time I tried to take breath.
"Gray!" I heard someone shout although I couldn't make out who it was. My vision began to blur and soon I was once again engulfed in darkness. I could still hear the voices of my friends but I couldn't distinguish them, they all seemed to blur into one. Soon even their voices began to fade. I was left in darkness again, almost completely cut off from the outside world; the only connection was the feeling I had in my skin; the cold hard floor of the cave.