Clear

"Oi, Gray! Where are you?" Natsu's voice resounded on the room, bouncing around the walls, disappearing among the rubble. He could hear the others doing the same. "I know he was here somewhere…" the fire mage muttered as he stepped into the room, kicking some small stones as he made his way in. He let out a huff. "I think he came here…"

A small noise startled him, debris falling, and Natsu hurried to it. An arm was sticking from under the garbage, there was a small rivulet of blood in it and Natsu distantly mused about not having scented it – though the overall unpleasant stench was reason enough for that. In no time he was pushing away the debris, uncovering a slowly awaking Gray.

"Hey, ice brain. You with me?" Natsu shook the ice mage's shoulder.

"S-shut up!" the other grumbled, slowly coming to a sitting position.

"You gave us quite a scare." Natsu stood and extended his hand.

"Pffft. I was just kicking some ass, nothing to worry about." Gray scrubbed at his face with his hands before looking up.

"Shit! What the fuck happened?" Natsu all but shouted, a shocked expression on his face.

"What are you talking about?" Gray asked, confused.

"Your eyes! They're transparent! Or something like – like ice. What the fuck happened?" he leaned down to inspect the strange eyes.

"Hey!" Gray glared at Natsu, standing with a huff. "Stop looking at me like I'm weird."

"But you are weird. You're not seeing what I'm seeing. It's so strange. What happened?"

"I don't have a clue. I mean… I was fighting and then there was a light and… nothing?" the ice mage ran a hand through his hair, a small cloud of dust emerging from the motion before he started sneezing.

"Hm… there was a weird wave of magic, I noticed it… but maybe the girls know more… now, come on. Let's go meet them. We better get back to the guild." The fire mage grasped Gray's forearm and started dragging him in the direction he'd come from.

The girls were relieved to see that Gray was wall but the change in his eyes was received with shock.

They hurried back to the guild.

Not that what they were told was hopeful… there was more to this condition than was noticed at first.

Something that Gray knew not long after returning to consciousness…

His magic was gone.

It had been stolen and the only sign of that were his eyes.

That weird transparency Natsu had mentioned – it was weirding everyone out.

And that, in turn, only made Gray feel worse.

It wasn't only that he'd been robbed of his magic, no, it felt as if so many of the bits and pieces that assembled to make him, well, himself were gone too.

And he was tired.

That bone-deep kind of tiredness that so many people felt when they were lost in the middle of a blizzard, the beckon of sleep, the chilly embrace. He now felt something similar, pulling at his bones, telling him to just close his eyes.

But Gray fought. He couldn't let himself be taken down, he would not fail Ur and her teachings.

He couldn't lose that last piece from her.

The air in the infirmary was heavy due to the news. Porlyusica and the Master had left the room not long after the diagnosis had been made. They were somber and muttering between each other. But somehow, Lucy managed to overhear something that made her morose expression lighten up, hope flaring momentarily.

She hastened out of the room without a word, leaving her friends looking at her confusedly.

When she returned, holding a large tome, she could barely contain her excitement.

"Guys, I think there might be a solution to this."

Makarov and Porlyusica entered the room in that moment, sharing a glance. They walked towards the young celestial mage.

"Yes, there might be a way…" Porlyusica began haltingly.

"But it's not an easy way. Some debate about the veracity of what Lucy intends to tell you about… no-one can confirm for sure." Makarov continued gravely.

"Still, there might be a solution." Lucy interjected.

"So tell us about it!" Natsu's voice boomed across the room, making everyone look at him. "What?" he replied with bravado. "I'm just saying what everyone wants to know."

There were silent nods all around.

"What is it, Lucy?" Gray finally asked.

"Well…"

A/N: Marking this as complete for now because I don't exactly know if people want to read more about this, since feedback to my stories is usually kind of... not. So yeah... *shrugs*